Chapter 12

Introduction to Microsoft Office 2007

 

This chapter familiarizes the reader with the latest version of Microsoft Office named Microsoft Office 2007, which has entirely new look and feel from that of previous versions. The new user interface of Microsoft Office 2007 makes the most features you need readily accessible as well as you can find other useful features that you might not already know very easily. Thus, it helps in getting more work done, more easily and in a more efficient manner. The chapter begins with the introduction of new features and applications included in Office 2007. The discussion continues with highlights of new user interface of Office 2007 such as quick access toolbar, Ribbon, command tabs, command sets, and many more. Finally, it concludes by discussing some new and enhanced features included in common applications of Office 2007 such as MS Word 2007, MS Excel 2007, MS Access 2007 and MS PowerPoint 2007.

12.1 INTRODUCTION

Office 2007 is the latest version of Microsoft's productivity suite. Other than the applications in previous versions, it includes new applications like Groove 2007, OneNote 2007, and Communicator 2007. Some new server-side tools like Office SharePoint Server 2007 have also been added in Office 2007. In addition, it offers a variety of new and exciting features. The most noticeable features that are common to the core applications in the Office 2007 include the new task-oriented graphical user interface, the new Office XML formats, and the ability to easily attach custom XML data to a file. In this chapter, we introduce the Office 2007 user interface and discuss some of the new features or enhancements made in its core applications.

12.2 INTRODUCTION TO OFFICE 2007 USER INTERFACE

Microsoft has made significant changes in the user interface of most of the applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook (in the composing and reading window) of Office 2007. In the earlier versions of MS Office, there were menus and toolbars using which a user could find the features and commands to get the desired task done. In Office 2007, a new interface named as Office Fluent has been introduced in which these menus and toolbars have been replaced with the Ribbon and Office button. This new user interface is more intuitive and easier to navigate. Some of the highlights of this new interface are discussed in this section (Figure 12.1).

 

Office Button:    The Office Button () is located at the top left corner of the Office program window. It provides quick access to the basic commands that are common to all Office programs like creating, opening, saving, printing and closing a file. Other than these basic commands, it has some more commands like Prepare, Finish, and Publish depending on the program being used. Using this button, you can also access a list of documents you have most recently worked with and a set of various program options (Figure 12.2).

 

 

Note: In Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, the Office Button is displayed only when you read or create a message, task, contact, or calendar item.

Quick Access Toolbar:    The Quick Access Toolbar is a customizable toolbar located to the right of the Office button on the Office program window. By default, it contains Save, Undo, and Redo buttons. You cannot only add or remove the buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar but also move the Quick Access Toolbar below the ribbon (that is, near the work area).

You can customize the Quick Access Toolbar by using the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button () which is present immediate right to the Quick Access Toolbar. When you click this button, a menu appears that contains a list of the commands. To add a command in the Quick Access Toolbar, select it from the menu. A check mark beside the command name indicates that the command is added to the Quick Access Toolbar. To remove a command from the Quick Access Toolbar, deselect the name of the command in the menu. You can also search for more commands to add to the Quick Access Toolbar by clicking the More Commands button in the menu (Figure 12.3).

 

Ribbon:    As stated earlier, in some of the applications of Office 2007, the menus and toolbars have been replaced with the Ribbon. The Ribbon is located just below the title bar. It is designed specially to provide quick access to commands that you need to complete a task. It consists of the commands which are organized into logical groups; these groups are further organized under tabs. The ribbon along with its components is shown in (Figure 12.4).

 

 

Note: You can minimize or restore the ribbon by pressing Ctrl+F1.

Command Tabs:    A command tab or simply tab consists of commands that are related to a specific type of activity. For example, Page Layout tab consists of the commands related to the layout or formatting of a page or pages in your document. By default, the commands under the Home tab are displayed on the ribbon. You can view or use the commands under a different command tab by simply clicking on that command tab.

Command Sets:    The commands in a command tab are organized under a group according to their functions. The group of commands related to the selected tab in the program window is known as command set.The commands specific to the formatting of font like Font, Font size, Bold, Italic, etc. are grouped under the Font command set. The name of the command set is displayed below the commands. The command sets under Home tab are Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles, and Editing.

Note: In addition to commands, some command sets have galleries. A gallery provides you various options that you can apply on selected text or object.

Dialog Launcher:    MS Office 2007 also provides traditional style dialog boxes for some command sets on the Ribbon. The dialog boxes for the command sets are indicated by the presence of a small arrow () at the bottom right corner of a command set (known as dialog launcher). Clicking this arrow, you can open the dialog box that allows you to access the commands of that command set. For example, if you click the dialog launcher at the bottom of the Paragraph command set under the Home tab, a Paragraph dialog box appears (Figure 12.5).

 

Contextual Tabs:    All the available tabs do not appear on the ribbon; some tabs appear only when needed. Such tabs are called contextual tabs. These tabs become visible when you create or select a specific object in your document. For example, when you insert or select a table, the Table Tools section with Design and Layout tab appears on the Ribbon (see Figure 12.6). The Design tab consists of a variety of command sets that allow you to format a table the way you want it to appear. The Layout tab provides command sets that allow you to position and organize data in the cells in the way you want. The purpose of the contextual tabs is to reduce cluttering of commands on the ribbon.

 

KeyTips:    Like earlier versions of Office, Office 2007 also provides keyboard shortcuts to access the commands quickly. However, the users need not remember the keyboard shortcuts. Office 2007 provides you KeyTips that show a way to access the commands via the keyboard. KeyTips are nothing but the indicators that display the keyboard shortcuts for the commands. To activate the KeyTips, simply press Alt key. On pressing the Alt key, the KeyTip will appear on the Office button, tab names, and all command buttons in the Quick access toolbar (see Figure 12.7). Note that a KeyTip can be a single letter, digit, or a combination of letter and numbers.

 

 

You can use the desired features by pressing the corresponding KeyTip. For example, if you want to insert a picture in your document, press N to activate the Insert tab. Doing this displays the KeyTip over each command under the Insert tab (see Figure 12.8). Now to insert picture, press P. Similarly, you can use any command under any tab.

 

Super ToolTips:    A very convenient feature provided by the Office 2007 is the Super ToolTip. A Super ToolTip is the small window that provides information about a command along with an image. It is displayed when the user rests the mouse pointer on the command, as shown in (Figure 12.9). It can be considered as the enhanced form of the ToolTip as it has larger window that displays more descriptive text than a ToolTip and can have a link to a Help topic. To hide the Super ToolTip, simply move the mouse away from the command.

 

 

Note: Whenever a user points the mouse over the dialog launcher, the Super ToolTip displays an image of the dialog box that will appear if you click that dialog launcher.

Mini Tool bar:    A mini toolbar is a handy, miniature, and semitransparent toolbar that appears when you select some text in an Office program. It contains the basic text formatting commands including Font, Font styles, Font size, Font Color, etc. It allows you to quickly access the commands that are frequently used while working in an Office program. When you move the mouse pointer over some command in the mini toolbar, it becomes non-transparent. Mini toolbar also appears above/below the pop-up menu that appears when you right-click the selected text (Figure 12.10).

 

 

Note: You cannot customize the Mini toolbar.

Live Preview:    The Live Preview feature enables you to see the effect of the selected option from the drop-down menu or gallery on the selected object or current document before actually applying it. To use this feature, simply move the mouse pointer over an option. The effect of that command will be shown in the work area of application, thereby allowing users to try different options quickly and select the one that works best before actually applying it to the document. It saves time by avoiding the process of formatting, undoing, and redoing repeatedly to get the desired results.

12.3 MICROSOFT OFFICE APPLICATIONS

Microsoft has not only made changes in the user interface of Office 2007 but has also added new features as well as enhanced some existing features in each program also. This section covers the enhancements made in the four main Office 2007 programs including Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint.

12.3.1 Microsoft Office Word 2007

Today, MS Word is the most popular word processor that helps you produce professional-looking documents. Using Word 2007, you can create and format your document effortlessly than the earlier versions. Some of the new features/enhancements made in Word 2007 are as follows:

• Charting: The new charting and diagrammatic features of Word 2007 allow you to create high-impact graphics, thereby producing an effective document. These features include transparency, drop shadows, contour effects, etc.
• Document Comparison: In Word 2007, you can compare two versions of a document quickly. It allows you to find what changes were made to a document by marking the deleted, inserted, and moved text in the third version of the document.
• Digital Signature: Word 2007 allows you to add digital signature to your document, thereby ensuring the authenticity, integrity, and origin of the document. Once a digital signature has been added to the document, it becomes read-only so that no modifications can be made to its content.
• Mark as Final: The Mark as Final feature of Word 2007 prevents readers from making changes in a document by making it read-only. When this command is applied to a document, all the commands related to the editing are disabled or turned off and a Mark as Final icon appears in the status bar to indicate its final status. Note that it only conveys to the readers that you are sharing a final version of a document. Anyone who receives the document that has been marked as final can edit that document by removing Mark as Final status from the document.
• Conversion of Word Documents to PDF or XPS: Word 2007 allows you to save files in portable document format (PDF) or XML paper specification (XPS) which are the common file formats for sharing documents. Both these formats ensure that formatting of document remains intact whenever the document is viewed online or printed and its contents cannot be modified easily.

12.3.2 Microsoft Office Excel 2007

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 allows you to analyse, manage, and share the data easier than the earlier versions. Some of the new features/enhancements made in Excel 2007 are as follows:

• Increased Number of Rows and Columns: To manage large amount of data in a worksheet, the number of rows and columns has been increased. Excel 2007 provides you more than 1 million rows and 16 thousand columns in a worksheet.
• Conditional Formatting: In Excel 2007, conditional formatting can contain up to 64 conditions instead of only three conditions as in earlier versions of Excel. Moreover, it also provides new conditional formatting types like colour scales, data bars, or icon sets.
• Easy Formula Writing: In Excel 2007, writing formulas has become easier because of several enhancements like resizable formula bar, Function AutoComplete, and structured references. The formula bar is resized on entering long, complex formulas, which prevents other data from being hidden by the formulas in your worksheet. Function AutoComplete feature allows you to quickly write the proper formula syntax. Excel 2007 also facilitates to use the structured references to reference named ranges and tables in a formula. This makes it easier to work with table data while using formulas that reference a table, either portions of a table or the entire table.
• New OLAP Formulas and Cube Functions: In Excel 2007, some new OLAP formulas and functions have been introduced to work with multidimensional databases (such as SQL server analysis services). Using OLAP formulas, you can build complex, free form, OLAP data-bound reports. New cube functions can be used to extract OLAP data from analysis services and display it in a cell.
• Enhanced Sorting and Filtering: Excel 2007 allows you to arrange the data in some specific order more quickly and easily than the earlier versions of Excel using enhanced filtering and sorting features. In Excel 2007, you can sort data up to 64 levels instead of only three levels. You can filter data by a specific format also, such as cell colour, font colour, or dates instead of text only.
• Easy-to-use PivotTable and PivotCharts: Excel 2007 allows you to create PivotTables with much ease. You can create a PivotTable by simply selecting the fields that are needed instead of dragging the data as required in earlier versions. Once a PivotTable is created, you can sort, group, and calculate totals for a large amount of data with ease using new and enhanced features. Like PivotTables, PivotCharts can be created easily to observe comparisons, patterns, and trends. In addition, Excel 2007 offers many tools and menus specific to the PivotChart that makes the analysis of chart data easy.
• Saving to New File Formats: Like Word 2007, Excel 2007 also allows you to save files as PDF or XPS.

12.3.3 Microsoft Office Access 2007

Microsoft Office Access 2007 provides a wide variety of professionally designed database templates and other useful features that increase the productivity of the user as well as make the user learn faster. Some of the new features/enhancements made in Office Access 2007 are as follows:

• Layout View: Access 2007 includes a new layout view that lets you make design changes in forms and reports while viewing them. You can add or remove a field or apply formatting without switching to the design view as in earlier versions.
• Enhanced Quick Create by using the Create Tab: The Create tab on the ribbon lets you create new objects such as forms, reports, tables, SharePoint lists, queries, macros, etc. quickly. When you create an object, Excel 2007 considers the active object. As a result, a new object can be created quickly based on the active object. For example, if a table is opened, a new form can be created based on that table in just two mouse-clicks.
• Easy to Create Tables: In Access 2007, designing a table has become faster and easier due to the improvement in Datasheet view. You can add or remove a field to/from the table in the Datasheet view, that is, without switching to Design view as required in earlier versions. Moreover, Access infers common data types such as text, number, date and time, etc. when the first data is entered in a new column. Thus, you are no longer required to specify the common data types.
• Attachment Data Type: Access 2007 provides a new Attachment data type that allows you to store all types of documents (pictures, graphics, Office files, binary files, etc.) in your database. You can store multiple attachments with a single record. Moreover, Access automatically compresses the attachments whenever required, thereby maximizing the memory usage.
• Easy to Import and Export data: In Access 2007, you can perform import and export operations efficiently that you use on a regular basis. It lets you save the details of import and export operation that is needed to repeat the operation as a specification. Moreover, while saving the specification, Access offers the option to schedule the operation.
• Export to PDF and XPS: Access 2007 also allows you to save files in PDF or XPS.

12.3.4 Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 comes with new interface, new templates, and enhanced formatting options that enable you to give a professional look to your presentations. Now you can quickly and easily design an impressive presentation that catches the attention of your audience. Some of the new features/enhancements made in PowerPoint 2007 are as follows:

• SmartArt Graphics: With SmartArt graphics feature, you can create designer-quality illustrations quickly and easily without the aid of a designer. PowerPoint 2007 lets you choose a type of SmartArt graphic while creating it. Each type contains several different layouts. After you choose a layout, you can easily switch layouts to try different layouts to find the best one that illustrates your information. Most of your text, text formatting, colours,styles, and effects are automatically applied to the new layout.
• New Graphics Effects: PowerPoint 2007 allows you to give professionally designed look to your presentation by adding 3D effects like reflection, shadow, glow, soft edges, rotation, etc. to shapes, SmartArt graphics, tables, text, and WordArt.
• Presenter View: One of the new exciting features offered by PowerPoint 2007 is the presenter view. Using this feature, you can deliver your presentation on two monitors; you can run your presentation on one monitor and the audience can view it on a second monitor. In this view, you can create a customized presentation for your audience by using thumbnails to select slides out of sequence.
• Slide Libraries: Using PowerPoint 2007 Slide Libraries, you can share and reuse the content of slides. You can store presentations as individual slides on a centralized storage (Slide Library) where you can publish your slides and reuse the slides on it.
• Mark as Final: Like Word 2007, in PowerPoint 2007 also, you can use the Mark as Final feature to prevent readers from making changes in a presentation by making it read-only.
• Export to PDF and XPS: PowerPoint 2007 allows you to save files in PDF or XPS.

Note: Yo u can store, share, and reuse slides in a Slide Library only if Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 is running on your computer and is connected to a server running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server2007.

Let Us Summarize

1. Office 2007 is the latest version of Microsoft's productivity suite. Other than the applications in previous versions, it includes new applications like Groove 2007, OneNote 2007, and Communicator 2007. Some new server-side tools like Office SharePoint Server 2007 have also been added in Office 2007.
2. In Office 2007, a new interface named as Office Fluent has been introduced in which these menus and toolbars have been replaced with the Ribbon and Office button.
3. The Office Button () is located at the top left corner of the Office program window. It provides quick access to the basic commands that are common to all Office programs like creating, opening, saving, printing, and closing a file.
4. The Quick Access Toolbar is a customizable toolbar located to the right of the Office button on the Office program window. By default, it contains Save, Undo, and Redo buttons. You can not only add or remove the buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar but also move the Quick Access Toolbar below the ribbon (that is, near the work area).
5. The Ribbon is located just below the title bar. It is designed specially to provide quick access to commands that you need to complete a task. It consists of the commands which are organized into logical groups; these groups are further organized under tabs.
6. A command tab or simply tab consists of commands that are related to a specific type of activity. By default, the commands under the Home tab are displayed on the ribbon.
7. The commands in a command tab are organized under a group according to their functions. The group of commands related to the selected tab in the program window is known as command set. The name of the command set is displayed below the commands.
8. MS Office 2007 also provides traditional style dialog boxes for some command sets on the Ribbon. The dialog boxes for the command sets are indicated by the presence of a small arrow () at the bottom right corner of a command set (known as dialog launcher).
9. All the available tabs do not appear on the ribbon; some tabs appear only when needed. Such tabs are called contextual tabs. These tabs become visible when you create or select a specific object in your document.
10. Office 2007 provides you KeyTips that show a way to access the commands via the keyboard. KeyTips are nothing but the indicators that display the keyboard shortcuts for the commands.
11. A Super ToolTip is the small window that provides information about a command along with an image. It can be considered as the enhanced form of the ToolTip as it has larger window that displays more descriptive text than a ToolTip and can have a link to a Help topic.
12. A mini toolbar is a handy, miniature, and semitransparent toolbar that appears when you select some text in an Office program. It allows you to quickly access the commands that are frequently used while working in an Office program.
13. The Live Preview feature enables you to see the effect of the selected option from the drop-down menu or gallery on the selected object or the current document before actually applying it.
14. Using Word 2007, you can create and format your document effortlessly than the earlier versions.
15. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 allows you to analyse, manage, and share the data easier than the earlier versions.
16. Microsoft Office Access 2007 provides a wide variety of professionally designed database templates and other useful features that increase the productivity of the user as well as make the user learn faster.
17. Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 comes with new interface, new templates, and enhanced formatting options that enable you to give a professional look to your presentations. Now you can quickly and easily design an impressive presentation that catches the attention of your audience.

Exercises

Fill in the Blanks

1. In Office 2007, a new interface named as ......................... has been introduced.
2. Using ........................., you can also access a list of documents you have most recently worked with and a set of various program options.
3. The group of commands related to the selected tab in the program window is known as .........................
4. ......................... become visible when you create or select a specific object in your document.
5. The command sets under ......................... tab are Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles, and Editing.
6. ......................... are the indicators that display the keyboard shortcuts for the commands.
7. The ......................... feature enables you to see the effect of the selected option from the drop-down menu or gallery on the selected object or the current document before actually applying it.

Multiple-choice Questions

1. In Office 2007, a new interface named as Office Fluent has been introduced in which the menus and toolbars have been replaced with ..........................
   1. Ribbon
   2. Mini Toolbar
   3. Office Button
   4. Both (a) and (c)
2. Which of the following keys is used to activate the KeyTips?
   1. Ctrl
   2. Alt
   3. Shift
   4. Ctrl+Alt
3. Which of these programs do not support new file formats like PDF or XPS?
   1. Word 2007
   2. Excel 2007
   3. Access 2007
   4. None of these
4. Which of the following tab(s) appear when you insert or select a table?
   1. Design
   2. Layout
   3. Format
   4. Both (a) and (b)
5. Which of the following features makes a document read-only so that no modifications can be made to its content?
   1. Digital Signature
   2. Mark as Final
   3. Inspect Document
   4. Document Comparison
6. In Excel 2007, you can sort data up to ......................... levels instead of only three levels.
   1. 10
   2. 32
   3. 64
   4. 24
7. Using ........................., you can deliver your presentation on two monitors.
   1. Layout View
   2. Design View
   3. Presenter View
   4. Both (a) and (c)

State True or False

1. You cannot move the Quick Access Toolbar.
2. A mini toolbar is a handy, miniature, and semitransparent toolbar that appears when you select some text in an Office program.
3. KeyTip can be considered as the enhanced form of the ToolTip.
4. In Word 2007, you can compare two versions of a document quickly.
5. The document that has been marked as final cannot be edited.
6. In Excel 2007, you can filter data by text only.
7. Access infers common data types such as text, number, date and time, etc. when the first data is entered in a new column.

Descriptive Questions

1. How does the user interface of Office 2007 is different from the earlier versions?
2. Discuss the various components of ribbon.
3. How can you customize the Quick Access Toolbar?
4. What is the purpose of contextual tabs?
5. Why SuperToolTips are considered as the enhanced form of the ToolTip?
6. What are structured references? Explain their significance?
7. For which purpose, Presenter View is used?

ANSWERS

Fill in the Blanks

1. Office Fluent
2. Office Button
3. Command Set
4. Contextual Tabs
5. Home
6. KeyTips
7. Live preview

Multiple-choice Questions

1. (d)
2. (b)
3. (d)
4. (d)
5. (a)
6. (c)
7. (c)

State True or False

1. False
2. True
3. False
4. True
5. False
6. False
7. True