Microsoft Office 2007.

[UpstateNYBill]

Anyone has it?

If so, how do you like it and have you notice any big time bugs?

I like the fact that Excel has increased the number of rows and columns it has and am womdering if it's worthwhile getting it.

[RalphVa]

If you do any bookkeeping, mathematics or do some heavy duty columnar type work that is cumbersome in MS Word, you can use Excel. It was the major tool for when I worked as an engineer. I've set up whole plant simulations on it and a complete bookkeeping system for a small business that my wife ran in Baton Rouge.

I now have the bookkeeping of our housing association on it. My wife keeps a monthly/yearly ledger on it that I set up for her. Before that, she'd do a double entry ledger completely by hand.

It'll do some fairly heavy duty database stuff, and I find it FAR more user friendly than the really heavy duty ones like Access.

I set up the church database on it. It's far easier to go to a directory from Excel than from Word. You can lay out where you want all the entries to appear, etc. and end up with an MS Word directory. It's far easier to make the corrections, etc. in Excel though. You can easily search for things and sort things in Excel.

[RichNH]

Actually, we were kind of hoping you would get it and find the bugs for us... http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/laugh.gif

Rich

[MJ_KC]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RalphVa:
It'll do some fairly heavy duty database stuff, and I find it FAR more user friendly than the really heavy duty ones like Access. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I consider that comment kind of funny. Access is a very light duty database. That it why it is part of MS Office.

A better database is MS Visual FoxPro and even better is MS SQL.

[brainyguy9999]

I work in IT and I've asked around with other IT Pros. The general consensus is "don't upgrade to Office 2007 unless you find that 2007 has a particular feature that you need".

At this point, Office 2002 or 2003 are more stable and will suit 99.9% of the people out there. Office 2007 adds some bells and whistles, changes the interfaces some, but most people won't need the additions and you will lose more worker productivity trying to teach them the new interface than it is worth.

My company is sticking with Office 2003 running on WinXP until at least mid-2008. We'll re-evaluate it then.

Hope that helps.

Stay nude.

bg

[PascoDoug]

I use OpenOffice

It's free, does just about everything that MS Office does for my needs..

And it's not Microsoft!

www.openoffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org)

[OZJames]

We upgraded to Office 2007 recently and have not found any serious "improvements'. Mostly things are just changed around but in effect , do the same.

I agree with the above, don't upgrade to Office 2007 if you already have Office 2003.

One bug which has carried forward from 2003 is in Excel. Sometimes if a cell is clicked on the selected cell is stuck and when I move the mouse away from the cell it holds the selection and just makes all cells that the mouse moves over also selected. The only way I found to stop it is to move back to the original cell selected and repeatedly press the roller wheel.

http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/beam.gif <span class="ev_code_RED">JAMES</span> http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/beam.gif

[Tampanude]

Any ideas on an effective Spam blocker?

[NakedGary]

Tampanude,

Your tech question would probably be better served in the new forum "Tech Talk" that PascoDoug initiated recently. I'll move it for you if you don't mind.

Check the links below for "Spam Blockers"

Microsoft has a couple of free Down Loads on the 1st link, and Cnet and Zdnet have several good ones available as free D/L's

If you need a very good [and free for home use] Anti "Virus, Worm, and Trojan" Scanner and program check out AVG Ver 7.5 listed on ZD as well as Cnet downloads or by search on any Search Portal.

Hope you find something that suites your needs.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Microsoft+Spam+Blocker

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?qt=Spam%2BBloc...g=dl-20&search=Go%21 (http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?qt=Spam%2BBlockers&tg=dl-20&search=Go%21)

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=Fr...pam+Blocker&tag=srch (http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=Free+Spam+Blocker&tag=srch)

http://downloads.zdnet.com/search.aspx?q=Spam%2BBlockers

http://downloads.zdnet.com/search.aspx?q=AVG+anti+virus

http://downloads.zdnet.com/download.aspx?&q=AVG+anti+virus&docid=232917
.

[johny]

As further I live as more I feel that best softwear WAS such like Windows 3.11 and Office 6.0 http://oakhurstonline.com/icon/happy.gif

[dbansal]

Hey,

Im an engineering major at a major university in the US. There is somewhat of a learning curve upgrading to 2007, but i think its well worth it. I think after you learn to use it, you will find that it has TON more features. Everything just looks so much better and it has buttons to do everything for you. One major improvement is image editing. Its a breeze to edit pics in office now. If you have any particuler questions feel free to PM me.

[richinoregon]

I purchased MS Office Home & Student 2007 (Excel, Word, Powerpoint, & One Note) shortly after it became available. [the newest version I had at home was 97 :( ] While I will agree with many of the posters that it doesn't do a whole lot more than Office 2003, the new interface just blows me away. It is evident to me that Microsoft spent a lot of time and money determining where people expect to find the function that they want. My wife, who usually doesn't like re-learning how to do something really thinks that Office is now more sensibly arranged than before.

I noticed that Microsoft took a page from the Shareware world. You can download a fully functional version of Office and use it for ninety days. I did notice one odd thing though, it was $20 cheaper to buy a physical copy than to purchase a license to keep the downloaded copy running.

[unitednudist]

I too have Microsoft Office 2007 and 2007 for my mac. I think the new design and the new features are great but the size of the program is almost double of MS Office 2003. I had to install it on my server because of its large size.

[RalphVa]

I've received files from folks using MS Word 2007 that I couldn't read. Think there's an option to Save As Office 2003 that you need to use to share files with others. Think the new file type is called Docx.

Those with Vista apparently can't read the WAB files generated out of Outlook Express. I had to convert one to a CSV file for the Vista user to be able to use it.

[Codewize]

I have to add that Dell has fully acknowledged that Office 2007 is NOT compatible on a Vista machine. If you order a Dell with Vista and Office 2007 they will NOT install Office. They'll ship you the software separately.

Personally I haven't seen any reason what so ever to upgrade to either of them but hey, who am I anyway.

[krcNY]

At work we have a Vista OS and we are using Office Professional 2007. It seems to be working properly. I love it, I have been making all sorts of new signs and interoffice documents. I set up Access for our client list and am pretty happy with that.

Since I work part time; I also email docs between work and home (home I am using Office 2003). I uploaded an Office 2007 Compatibility Patch and I can open and fix my 2007 docs here at home and email them back to the office.

I cannot wait to have Office 2007 here at home:)

[usuallylurk]

I can tell you that in the business world, at least from my viewpoint, Vista hasn't been widely embraced by users.

Most of my customers are on Windows XP Pro or Windows 2003.

[Codewize]

As things evolve we see now that MS at least recognizes the error of their ways with Vista. It's as broken and unstable as ME was.

[lordshipmayhem]

As things evolve we see now that MS at least recognizes the error of their ways with Vista. It's as broken and unstable as ME was.

The latest testing of the alpha of Windows 7 indicates that it takes exactly the same length of time as Vista does for most common tasks, including booting up.

The implication: it's warmed-over Vista with the additional advantage of breaking even more applications. This does not sound like they actually learned anything - if anything, they've learned the wrong lesson.

Microsoft is a marketing-driven company, making marketing-driven, not programming-driven decisions. They "learned" that they need to speed up the apparent boot-up speed. They haven't changed the actual boot-up speed at all, just how fast it feels.

[Stu2630]

I have Office 2007, but it's the OS X version because both my desktop an mt laptop are Mac.

Word and Excel are file - pretty much the same as earlier versions. PowerPoint is horrible: you have to learn it over again because it's so different and it takes me twice as long to create a decent presentation.

Stu

[lordshipmayhem]

I have Office 2007, but it's the OS X version because both my desktop an mt laptop are Mac.

Word and Excel are file - pretty much the same as earlier versions. PowerPoint is horrible: you have to learn it over again because it's so different and it takes me twice as long to create a decent presentation.

Stu

I'll stick to OpenOffice.org or its equivalents: they use Open Document Format, which means the data inside belongs to me, not to Microsoft. Check out the Office EULA, which insists you should only open their document formats with their properly-licenced, bought-and-paid-for software.

Plus that, OpenOffice.org can open .doc and .xls files that Office throws up its hands at as "hopelessly corrupted".

After all, it's your data, not some proprietary software company's.

[nosockstoday]

I have used Office 2007 on multiple Vista machines for about a year, one is a Dell but doesn't have a Dell load. The biggest thing I've noticed is the interface change. I mainly use Outlook, Word and Excel. I compare the interface changes to the differences between XP and Vista, mostly the same with more of a MAC looking interface on top. Oh and bigger, fatter and slower also.

I like the interface changes (look and feel) and if you have a newer, faster CPU and lots of memory, it's not too bad.

[Cheri]

I'm a subscriber of what was Woody's world and now Office Watch & Office for Mere Mortals. This is one of the emails from August. They do alert you to important things and give some great hints. I will not buy a machine with VISTA on it. I'm going to have to have someone build me a laptop with XP on it this coming spring.

Flag this messageOfMM 9.10 - Office 2007, new look, same shortcutsMonday, August 25, 2008 1:22 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified "Office for Mere Mortals" <wow.robot@woodyswatch.com>View contact details To: cheridonna@prodigy.netOffice for Mere Mortals The beginners Microsoft Office newsletter, since 2000.

Vol. 9 No. 10 - 25 August 2008

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In this issue:

Office 2007 - new look - same shortcuts
Going Back
Access full dialog boxes menu from the shortcuts
Don't Wait
Outlook isn’t catching ‘CNN.com Daily Top 10’ phishing trap
Opening Office documents from removable storage
Two Outlook patches – which one to choose?
Keep Office Watch Alive and Free | Administrivia | Editorial | Advertising

Office 2007 - new look - same shortcuts
view this article online here and here on the Office-Watch.com web site.

In Office 2007 you have the same menu shortcuts as in earlier Microsoft Office products even though the appearance of the screen and menus is quite different.

Office 2007 not only has keyboard shortcuts but in many ways they are better than previous versions of Microsoft Office. For the most part the shortcuts you used in Office XP and Office 2003 will work in Office 2007 also - despite the very different look of the screen.

The trick is to hold down the Alt key - that will reveal little shortcut reminders for each option on the current ribbon.

For example here's what you'll see when you press the Alt key in Excel 2007.



The Office button on top left has an F so if you press Alt then F it will open than menu. F might seem like a strange choice until you remember that Alt + F took you to the File menu in earlier versions of Excel.

The shortcuts can go many levels deep, the little tags that appear after pressing the Alt key will change as you make each selection. Press Alt then G brings up the Design ribbon in Powerpoint 2007 and shows that, among other things, pressing Alt G and O will change the slide orientation.


On top of all that, the Ctrl key shortcuts are all there too - Ctrl + O still opens the File | Open dialog and so on.
Going Back
Press the wrong shortcut key? Press Escape to go back one level and retain the shortcut tip display. You don't have to go back to the start.

This trick is also useful for exploring the new interface to see what's available via shortcuts

Access full dialog boxes menu from the shortcuts
We've talked before about how the ribbon is a new look hiding the standard Word dialog boxes that are still present behind them.

The key to accessing the dialogs is the little arrow icon on the bottom right of appropriate ribbon sections. Here's the one on the Font section of the Home ribbon in Word 2007:



There are shortcuts to these dialog boxes, just like anything else on the ribbon. Here's the Font section of the Word 2007 ribbon with the shortcut reminders:



Among all the reminders is the one on bottom right (covering the dialog box icon) to the dialog box. In this case it's Alt H (to the Home tab) then F and N to reach the full Font dialog box.

Don't Wait
You don't have to wait for the reminder tags to appear when you press the Alt key - the tags are there to help you remember your commonly used shortcuts. Over time you should be able to just click a few keys to get where you want.

If you know the shortcut combination just press the keys and you'll get where you want to go even if the reminder tags don't appear.

Elsewhere in Office Watch
The Office Watch web site is regularly updated with MS Office news and tips. Here’s some of the recent articles:

Outlook isn’t catching ‘CNN.com Daily Top 10’ phishing trap
A new phishing message is arriving in Inboxes and mostly not being caught by Microsoft Outlook’s anti-spam and phishing filters. We have details and how to block the fake emails. click here for more ...

Opening Office documents from removable storage
Can or should you open Office documents directly from removable storage like floppy disks, portable hard drives, USB 'sticks' etc? click here for more ...

Two Outlook patches – which one to choose?
Microsoft currently has two overlapping and potentially conflicting patches available for Outlook 2007. Trying to work out which one to use is made more difficult by a less than open response by Microsoft click here for more ...

DomainKeys comes to Office Watch
Office Watch newsletters now include DomainKeys authentication. click here for more ...

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