Office files come in several different "flavors" depending on the program. In Word, files you create are referred to as documents, but in Excel, they are called workbooks. In PowerPoint, files are presentations, whereas in Access, they are known as databases. In Publisher, the files you create are publications. In Outlook, you do not really create files, per se, although you can export various components, such as address books and calendars. Regardless of the official name, an Office file is simply the stored data you save in a program.
Because files are such a basic part of using an application, they share a lot of the same elements and tasks. For example, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher share a similar Save As dialog box from which you control the file name, format type, and storage location. With the exception of Outlook, the Office programs also share a similar-looking Open dialog box from which you choose what file you want to open.
There are lots of other things you can do with your files besides just save them and open them again. For example, in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint you can control the default Save location for your files. If you always save your files to a particular work folder, for example, you can add the folder's path to the program so it saves files to that location by default, unless you direct otherwise.
You can also control the hidden data saved along with your files, called properties. You can activate security features, save files as PDF documents, and more.
This chapter shows you several different tasks that apply to Office files. Office 2010 has retooled the old Office button (introduced in Office 2007) into a File tab on the Ribbon that, when clicked, displays a whole screen full of options for working with your files, so make it your first stop in seeing what sort of tasks you can perform on or with your Office files.
Change the Default File Save Location. 22
Check Document Compatibility. 24
Save Office Files as PDF Documents. 26
Assign Document Properties. 28
Remove Sensitive Document Information. 30
Encrypt a Document. 32
Add a Digital Signature. 34
Control Author Permissions. 36
Mark a Document as Final. 38
Recover an Unsaved Document. 40
You can tell Microsoft Office programs where you want to store files you create. Ordinarily, when you open the Save As dialog box to save your files in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, these programs select the Documents folder as the default working folder for storage. You may prefer to use a different destination folder. For example, you may have a work folder set up to hold all the Excel workbooks you create. Instead of manually selecting a different folder from the dialog box each time you save, you can tell the Office program to list a default folder instead. This can save you some time and effort when saving your files.
You can control the default file location through the Office program's Options dialog box. For Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the default file location is listed under the Save options. In Access, you can find it in the General options, and the setting is called the Default database folder.
When specifying a new default folder, you can type the full path to the folder. In Word and Access, you can also use the Browse button to navigate to the destination folder. A folder path includes the drive label and any hierarchical folders the destination folder is listed under, such as C:UsersBobWork Stuff.
The program's Options dialog box opens.
In Access, click the General tab, if it is not selected already.
In Excel and PowerPoint, you must type in the full folder path. You can triple-click inside the Default File Location box to select the existing text and type the new path.
In Access, click the Browse button next to the Default Database Folder box.
Tip
Customize It!
You can also specify a default file format to save to each time you save an Office file. Each Office program saves to a particular file type. For example, Word automatically saves documents as a Word Document file type (.docx) unless you choose otherwise. You may want to save all your documents as plain text files (.txt) or Microsoft Works files (.wps). You can set a different file type as the default type to save yourself a step. For Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, open the program's Options dialog box and click the Save tab. Display the Save Files in This Format drop-down menu and choose a different file format. For Access, open the Options dialog box and click the Default File Format for Blank Database drop-down arrow in the General tab to change the file format.
One of the first things users worry about with every new software release is compatibility. Will my old files work with the new program? Or more importantly, will my new Office files work for others who have older versions of Office? The answer is yes, but Office 2010 includes a feature you can use to check for compatibility issues in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
When you first open Word, for example, it opens a blank, new file in Compatibility mode; note the label [Compatibility Mode] next to the file name in the title bar. You can certainly work on the file as you normally would, but some of the newer Office 2010 features may not work with the file. If you convert the file to a 2010 format, the compatibility mode is removed and you can utilize all the program's features. The good news is that any Office 2010 files you save are compatible with older versions of the program, so users with Office 2003 can still view your files.
If you frequently share files with others who use earlier versions of the software suite, you can check the file for compatibility issues. The Office Compatibility Checker scans your file for any features not supported by earlier versions of the program. Alas, the Compatibility Checker cannot fix any issues it finds; you must make sure any issues are resolved, but it does do a good job of telling you what impact the issues may have. This feature is available for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Note
The Convert option only appears when you open a document saved in an earlier version of Word.
A warning box opens letting you know the document's layout may change.
The Compatibility Checker opens and checks the document.
Tip
Did You Know?
Documents you create with Office 2010 are saved with an x at the end of the file extension — for example, .docx for Word files, .xlsx for Excel files, and so on. The x extension was introduced with Office 2007 as part of the new XML formats. Earlier versions of Office files use a slightly different file extension. Office 2007 files were not backward-compatible unless you saved them in another format, but Office 2010 files are backward-compatible. Not all the new functions or layouts may work, but users can still read your 2010 files.
Try This!
You can save your Office files to other file formats that users of earlier versions of Office can read using the Save As dialog box. Click File, Save As, and change the Save as Type drop-down menu to the format you want to apply. For example, if you want to save a Word document as a file for Microsoft Works, change the format to Works 6–9 Document or Works 6.0 to 9.0.
Saving files as PDF documents is one way to keep a file's content intact without requiring the recipient to have a copy of Office 2010 installed on his or her computer. PDF (Portable Document Format) is a popular file format from Adobe for sharing documents just as they were intended to be viewed, including all the content, formatting, and page layout elements. In essence, the PDF format captures all the elements of a document much like an electronic image that you can view, navigate, and print.
Anyone can open a PDF file using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. PDF files are ideal for sharing on the Internet, easy to print using professional printer services, and the PDF open standard lets users share files regardless of what program or platform was used to create the file. In previous versions of Office, you needed an add-in to convert documents. Office 2010 includes a built-in PDF writer to help you save your files to the PDF format.
When creating a PDF document, you have the option of creating an XPS document. Microsoft's own version of PDF-like documents are XML documents, commonly called XPS, short for XML Paper Specification. Like the PDF format, XPS documents include information defining the document's layout, appearance, and printing information. Unlike PDFs, however, XPS documents can be opened only by Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 users.
The program's Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box opens with the PDF file format selected by default.
The PDF document opens in the Adobe Reader window. If it is an XPS document, it opens in an XPS viewer.
Tip
More Options!
For more publishing options for PDF files, click the Options button in the Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box. This opens the Options dialog box where you find controls for setting the page range, choosing what items are published, and what nonprinting information is included. Click OK to apply any changes.
Did You Know?
You can also save your Office files as Web pages. In the Save As dialog box, click the Save as Type drop-down arrow and select either Single File Web Page or Web Page. The Single File Web Page option creates a single document without any supporting files for graphics and other elements. The Web Page option creates a folder for supporting elements along with the HTML file.
Office automatically embeds certain document properties, or metadata, such as the size of the document, the date it was created, and so on, in the document file. In addition to these default properties, you can supply other document properties, which you can then use to organize and identify your documents, as well as search for documents at a later date. For example, you can enter an author name, a title, a subject, keywords, a category, status information, and comments. You can also add custom properties, such as the client name, department, date completed, and even typist.
You can view document properties through the Info tab, part of the new Backstage view that appears when you click the File tab on the Ribbon. You can also open the Document Panel (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and add properties, or you can open the Properties dialog box (available in all the Office programs except for Outlook) to do the same and view additional properties.
In earlier versions of Office, you could control document properties only through the Properties dialog box. You can still access the dialog box, if you prefer, or you can use the Document Panel to enter properties such as keywords, comments, subject, and title. The panel opens directly on-screen, just below the Ribbon.
Note
Document properties are not available in Outlook.
Note
The Document Panel is not available in Access or Publisher.
In Access, click the View and Edit Database Properties link to open the Properties dialog box.
Note
Document properties are not available in Outlook.
The Properties dialog box opens.
Tip
Customize It!
You can use the Custom tab in the Properties dialog box to add custom fields to the properties. You can choose from existing fields or create a new one. To add a new field, click in the Name box and type the field name. Type a value for the property in the Value box, such as a name or number. Click the Add button to add it to the list, and then click OK to exit the dialog box and apply the new property to the document.
Did You Know?
In addition to enabling you to set custom properties, the Properties dialog box also enables you to see a general summary of the properties set, as well as statistics about the document, such as the page count, word count, and even whether the document has been printed. Some of this information already appears on the Info section of the File tab.
If you plan to share an Office document with others, whether via e-mail or by some other method, you might want to first ensure that the document is void of personal, company, or other private information that may be stored in the document's metadata or in the document itself.
This information might include comments, tracked changes, or annotations; information about the document's author, status, category, keywords, and so on; hidden information (such as text, rows, columns, worksheets, or what have you) or content marked "invisible"; server properties; custom XML data; and more. This type of information is often called metadata. (Note that if you remove hidden data from a document, you might not be able to restore it.) To locate and remove this data, you can use the Office Document Inspector. The Document Inspector is available only in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
When the Document Inspector dialog box opens, you can control what type of content is inspected. Once the information is inspected, the dialog box displays any potential issues and allows you to remove the items. Be aware that the particulars of using Document Inspector vary slightly depending on whether you are using it in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
Note
The Document Inspector is not available in Access or Publisher.
The Document Inspector dialog box opens.
The document is inspected and any issues are listed.
The Document Inspector removes the sensitive information.
Tip
Caution!
If you are not sure whether you want to remove the information flagged by Document Inspector, cancel the inspection and use the appropriate Office tools to view the information. For example, if document properties are flagged, view the document properties to see whether you want to eliminate them from the document. You cannot undo the effects of removing information with Document Inspector. You can, however, restore the removed information by closing the document without saving the changes that the inspection process made.
Important!
The Document Inspector does not remove metadata found in protected or restricted files, such as a document with a digital signature or restricted permissions. To get around this, be sure to run the Document Inspector before restricting or protecting the file.
If you are working on a document that contains sensitive information, you might want to encrypt it. That way, for someone to open the document and view its contents, he or she needs to enter a password, which you set. When you encrypt an Office document, you set a password for it; to open the document, the password is required.
Be aware that if you forget the password, you cannot open the document, even if you are the person who encrypted it. For this reason, it is imperative that you choose a password that you will not forget, or that you write the password down and keep it in a safe place. That said, the password should not be easy for others to guess. The strongest passwords contain at least eight characters and are composed of a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Avoid using common passwords such as pet names, birth dates, and so on.
The encryption feature is not available in Publisher or Outlook.
In Access, skip step 3 and click the Encrypt with Password button.
The Encrypt Document dialog box opens.
The Confirm Password dialog box opens.
The next time you open the file, a prompt box appears for you to enter the new password.
Tip
Remove It!
To unencrypt a document, open it and revisit the Encrypt with Password feature. Click the File tab, click Info, and click a protection option (Protect Document, Protect Workbook, or Protect Presentation, depending on the program). Next, click Encrypt with Password. In the dialog box that opens, delete the password and click OK. This removes the password from the file.
Try This!
You can also assign a password to a file using the Save As dialog box. Click File, Save As to open the dialog box. After assigning a file name and storage location, click the Tools button and click General Options. Type a password in the Password to Open box and click OK. Retype the password again and click OK to assign it to the file. You can also use the General Options dialog box to restrict file sharing options for the document with a password to modify. Users cannot edit the document without knowing the password.
To authenticate an Office document, you can add a digital signature to it. First, however, you must create a digital ID and have a current digital certificate, which is a means of proving identity. A digital certificate is issued by a certificate authority, which is a trusted third-party entity. For a fee, you can get a digital signature from the Office Marketplace. (If you do not have a digital ID, you are prompted to create one as you complete this task.)
A digital signature contains a message digest, which contains a reduced version of the document's contents, and a private key, which is used to encrypt the message digest on the signer's computer. When you sign a document, the encrypted version of the message digest is appended to the document; the digest is then decrypted by the recipient using the public key, included in the digital certificate associated with the signature. In this way, the recipient can confirm the origin of the document and that the contents of the document did not change during transit.
If you do not have a digital signature, this prompt box appears.
The Sign dialog box appears.
A Signature Confirmation prompt box appears.
Tip
Important!
You are not required to obtain a digital certificate from a certificate authority in order to create a digital ID and sign your Office documents; instead, you can create your own. To do so, click the Create Your Own Digital ID option instead of Get a Digital ID from a Microsoft Partner in the Get a Digital ID dialog box, which is shown automatically if no digital ID is present on your computer. Then, in the Create a Digital ID dialog box that appears, enter the requested information — name, e-mail address, organization, and location — and click Create. Note however, that when you share a file signed with a digital ID you created, it cannot be authenticated by users on other machines.
When you create a file, anyone can access the file and make changes to the content. Office 2010 offers you several features you can use to control who else can work with your file. You already learned how to protect a file with a password in the task "Encrypt a Document" earlier in this chapter. Among the other options you can apply are restriction settings that limit who can access or what can be done to a file.
In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you can utilize the Restrict Permission by People feature to set up a Windows Live ID to restrict permissions. You need to create your own Windows Live ID in order to use this feature. You can restrict Read permissions to allow users to read the document, but not allow them to change, print, or copy the content. You can restrict Change permissions to allow certain users to read, edit, and change the content, but not print the document.
You can also set up additional options for setting an expiration date for the document, add printing and copying capability, and allow others to request permission to use the document.
If you do not have a Windows Live ID, you are prompted to create one before pursuing this feature any further.
The Select User dialog box opens.
The Permission dialog box opens.
Permissions are now assigned to the file.
Tip
More Options!
Because so many people author documents, Word offers an extra feature to control what types of changes other users can make to a file, called the Restrict Editing option (also listed under the Permissions options). When activated, this command opens the Restrict Formatting and Editing pane, and you can choose what formatting restrictions you want to apply to a document. You can restrict editing to certain styles, tracked changes, comments, and even specify what users can freely edit the document.
Remove It!
To remove restricted access, display the Info options in Backstage view again, click the Protect button, and then click Restrict Permission by People and Unrestricted Access. This returns the file to its unrestricted status again, which means anyone can view and edit the file.
After you finish working on a Word document, Excel workbook, or PowerPoint presentation — that is, you have proofread it and accepted any revisions made with the Track Changes feature — you can mark it as final. If you are working on a file in a group project situation, this technique is handy to let everyone know that work on the file is complete. You can find the Mark as Final option as part of the file's Permissions options.
Marking a document as final makes the file read-only, thereby preventing changes from being made to the file. The file can, however, be opened and read by others.
Keep in mind that marking a file as final is not a security feature. That is, it does not permanently and irrevocably lock the document to prevent further edits. Anyone with access to the document can revoke the Mark as Final status. Steps for revoking Mark as Final status appear among the tips at the end of this task.
A prompt box appears telling you the file will be marked as final and saved.
Another prompt box appears when the process is complete.
Notice the Ribbon is hidden from view because all the editing functions are disabled.
Tip
Remove It!
You revoke the Mark as Final status the same way you apply it: by clicking the File tab, clicking Info, clicking the Protect Document button, and clicking Mark as Final. Revoking Mark as Final status means the document can again be edited just like any other document.
Did You Know?
If you really want to lock down a document and prevent changes, you may want to restrict permissions or assign a password instead. When you restrict permissions, you can utilize the Windows Rights Management feature to assign read-only status to a document. To learn more about restricting permissions, see the previous task, "Control Author Permissions."
Office 2010 introduces a new feature to help you recover documents you did not save in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For example, perhaps you spent a great deal of time editing a Word document only to accidentally click Don't Save instead of Save when asked to save your changes. You can now recover your unsaved work with a few clicks.
By default, Word, Excel and PowerPoint are set up to automatically save versions of your file as you work on it, and keep a list of those autosaved files from your current session ready for recall. Autosaved drafts are stored in the DraftFiles folder. The autosaved versions are available only for a short time, however. Versions are kept for four days or until you reopen the file again.
If you close an editing session without saving, the Office program keeps the last auto saved version of the file and lists it in Backstage view among the Info settings. You can also find draft files listed in the Recent Documents list. A third way to locate drafts is through the Recover Unsaved Documents feature, which opens a dialog box where you can browse for files among the UnSavedFiles and DraftFiles folders.
The recovered file opens.
A prompt box appears warning you that you are about to overwrite the previously saved version of the file.
Tip
Customize It!
By default, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are set up to automatically save a file every 10 minutes. You can change this setting, if needed. To do so, click the File tab and click Options to open the program's Options dialog box. Click the Save tab to view the AutoRecover settings. You can change the amount of time for auto-saving, or you can turn off the feature entirely.
Remove It!
If you have been working on the same file for quite a while, you may have accumulated many drafts. You can delete them all if you no longer need them. Open the Backstage view and click the Info tab. Click the Manage Versions button and click Delete All Draft Versions. A prompt box appears asking if you are sure; click Yes or No.