Office O7

I have a moral conundrum. When teaching someone how to use the new features in Office 2007, is it OK to show them how to install a “classic” user interface to regain the old menu structure? A product such as Ribbon Customizer allows a user to do just that with a free version of their Office 2007 plug-in (advanced features can be had for an additional $29).

There are numerous new tools now available in Office 2007, and the new Ribbon structure to the menus makes this functionality more accessible. The company marketing RibbonCustomizer admits that “If one defers learning the Ribbon, one will eventually be simply behind.” I choose to look at it much the same way I view nicotine patches… not great in their own right, but a useful tool for someone looking to change their habits.

Microsoft has an interactive web site that shows you where a feature in Microsoft Word 2003 can be found in Microsoft Word 2007.  Just click on a toolbar button or menu item and the site shows you where that feature can be found in the new version.

Here’s how to control your recent documents list in Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

If you type one particular sentence or phrase over and over and want to make your life more pleasant AutoCorrect is one way to do it.  Sure, you can set it up so that it fixes your odd typos (for instance, if you type “fshi” every time instead of “fish”) but you can also make is so that every time you type in “CTLT” it autocorrects to “The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology.”

Here’s a quick tip on how to prevent the page number from showing up on the first page of a document.

Feeling nostalgic?

Here’s how you can change your default font to Times New Roman or whatever you’d like.  You can also change your paragraph settings and a few other things if you’d like.

Word is like Prego, the good stuff is in there, but it’s going to take a little while to find until you get use to the new interface.  Until then here’s a quick tip on how to find where to turn off password protection.

10+ tips for boosting your Word 2007 productivity | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com

We’ve put together a collection of tips from our Office Suite newsletter that will help them acclimate to Word’s new functionality and show them how to perform their everyday tasks using Word 2007 tools and techniques. You can download the collection as a PDF or follow the links below to read the tips individually.

If you want to get tips and tricks straight from the horse’s mouth than this is the place to do it. The very people responsible for writing the code behind Word 07 have a blog where the give you advice on how to use it. The site is searchable and each post is tagged with keywords to make browsing by subject easier.

SmartArt graphics add color, shape, and emphasis to your text and data, and they’re a snap to use. You can easily try out a variety of SmartArt graphics to see which one works best for getting your point across.

This is a souped up version of WordArt which allows animation and has a number of applications. This demonstration is available as video or text.