Product

My First Look At MS Office 2007

38 Comments

Three years ago I went to a presentation at a company that was showing some brief clips of the Office 2007 package items. I have to admit that it looked alien to me, and I pretty much told myself that it was something I wasn’t going to be considering at any time soon.

Fast forward to now. I’m presently working on a big project, and, of course, many of the files I received were in the newer format. I actually had the program laying around for about a year that someone had given me, and I figured it was as good a time as any other to load it to see what it was all about for myself. I loaded it into a totally different directory, though, so it wouldn’t erase what I already have.

Then it was time to go, and I pulled up Excel first, since most of what I was going to be doing was on that. I can’t lie; it still looks alien to me. Microsoft decided to go with what they call a “ribbon” look rather than the words we’re used to seeing, and man, was I confused! I couldn’t even figure out how to open a file, so I double clicked on the file and had it ask me if it could connect to this new program, which of course I agreed to.

Working within the spreadsheet itself is just like it’s always been, but after that it takes time to figure some things out. For instance, instead of headings I know very well like “file”, “edit”, and “format”, they now use “home”, “page layout”, “formulas” and “review”. They kept “data” and “insert” and “view”, thank goodness. When you click on one of the headings in Excel 2007, instead of a list of stuff you get the ribbons. But there’s a lot more stuff, and it might not be worded like what you were used to. It took me almost 30 minutes before I could figure out all the basic things I needed.

The same thing occurred with Word, but not to the same degree. That’s probably because I’ve never quite known how to do all those things that Word supposedly can do for you; I’ve always been more of a numbers guy, so I use Word mainly just to write.

I haven’t even tried to open PowerPoint or Access yet; no need, since I rarely use either one. I will say this, though; I do believe that once I’ve had more time with Excel 2007 that I’ll like it just fine. I assume the same might be true for Word 2007 at some point as well. Thing is, there’s supposedly an Office 10 version coming, and they’re not going backwards, which means the ribbon is going to be staying. This is one of those times where we’re going to have to change our technology at some point, kicking and scratching if necessary.

I know many of you have already switched, but I’m betting the majority haven’t, which is why I’m writing this now. If anyone else has positives or negatives they’d like to share, by all means please do. And this points out why it might be a good thing to at least pop in to the webinar I’m doing with my friend Renee, as she talks about Excel 2007.

Microsoft Store

38 thoughts on “My First Look At MS Office 2007”

  1. I felt the same way like you did, when I first started using Office 2007 🙂 Luckily I switched to Mac soon after, so I haven’t been using Office 2007 since, except maybe a few times if I had to help somebody.

    I wonder if they still use the ribbon thingy in the next version of Office? I guess they do.
    .-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Review: Sony MDR-NC300D Noise Canceling Earbuds =-.

    1. You and your Macs, Klaus. lol Actually, though I’d stick with PCs for different reasons, one of the main reasons is because my clients and potential clients all use Office stuff, so I need to be compatible with them. This was my first client using Office 2007.

  2. Several years back the #1 IT person where I worked [I was actually #2, funny] and I were trying to figure all of this out. It took a few days to figure out the windows insignia in the upper left is the go to place for most of our issues. Personally, it has good points and bad, but such massive changes should have included massive simple shortcut tutorials so those of us who actually had to work with this could without having to waste time relearning the whole thing.

    I can give you one tip, though. If you would prefer to work in your old version, just save the files in the new version as .doc files, work with them in the old, then re-open in the new, make sure everything looks right, then save as the new .docx [or Excel] format.

    All in all, once you figure out where everything is you’ll have no issues. Sorry I’m not of much help, I switched from PC to Mac and no longer use Office.
    .-= Anne Bender´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday ~ All This And She’s Smart Too! =-.

    1. Anne, I wasn’t sure if formatting would change if I went from the old file to the new, which is why I stuck with the one format. Not like I was doing anything fancy, though, so it would probably be fine.

  3. It’s all Greek to me! I never have to use any of those programs. Just HTML editors and FTP clients, and such. I’m a total idiot when it comes to the word and spreadsheet programs.
    .-= mel´s last blog ..Last wishes! =-.

    1. Luckily Mel, I’m not bad with all of them. 🙂 Well, except Dreamweaver; never could figure it out, and didn’t like it anyway.

  4. Mitch Man… I am still struggling with Office 2007 at work place. At home, I am using the most comfortable Office 2003 still on the most comfortable OS the XP.

    I don’t know why Microsoft did that illogical grouping of tab menu items. I struggle to find what I am looking for! It’s definitely not a simple user experience – at least for me!
    .-= Ajith Edassery´s last blog ..Should students blog? =-.

    1. I’m with you for the most part, Ajith. It was probably the most drastic change they made since Office 95.

    1. The problem, Sire, is that at a certain point the older programs won’t be compatible anymore, and I can’t afford to be that far behind the curveball and still hope to succeed at what I do.

  6. The same thing happened to me also when I started using microsoft office 2007. Not only with 2007 but office 2010 is also not that much good

    1. I’m probably going to be many years behind Office 10, William. Heck, gotta figure this thing out first.

  7. Damn man, I haven’t used MS in YEARS. Open Office is the same and better and free. lol
    .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.

    1. I doubt it’s better, but it’s definitely free. However, it won’t open all the files I get from my clients, so it doesn’t work for me.

      1. They have to be using really old versions of MS.
        .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.

      3. Then…..that makes no sense. lol
        .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.

  8. Even though some people might consider MS Office 2007 a bit outdated editor it’s still my favorite editor and yeah “Jarte” ..

    Not many people use Jarte this days. It’s free as well.

    Evelina

    1. Thanks Evelina; I’d never heard of Jarte, so I had to go take a look. Man, there’s just to many programs, aren’t there? This one looks like it could replace Word Pad, but I don’t know anyone who’s really ever used Word Pad.

    1. No Mike, I can honestly say it’s never occurred to me. I never even remember there’s a program called Open Office until I see messages like yours.

    2. If you use or have used MS Office, just download and start using Open Office; you can run your own comparison. 🙂

      Warning – it’s a huge download as you might imagine.
      .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Will DEDC Comments Remain Do-Follow? It’s Up To YOU! =-.

      1. Dude, it’s not happening. It’ll be someone else doing this comparison. Don’t have the time nor the inclination, if you know what I mean.

      2. LOL good to know; I was actually talking to Mike though. 😉
        .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.

      4. Just get the hat.
        .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! And a Bonus for YOU!! =-.

    1. I want to get where you are, Michelle; maybe one of these days my mind will be there.

  11. I don’t know why programs move and rename the menu items – if it was logical before then it’s just going to be confusing and create more of a learning curve.

    I’m with Dennis – I use Open Office – I haven’t had a document sent to me that I couldn’t open. And if that happens you can use google docs to open it or Zamzar to convert it – Zamzar is a really great online conversion tool.
    .-= Kim´s last blog ..Spread the Word =-.

    1. Thanks for the tip on Zamzar; never heard of it. 😉
      .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..DEDC Remains DoFollow – BUT… =-.

    2. I have to admit, Kim, that I have this distrust for things like Google Docs, especially if I’m working with confidential materials. And I don’t know about Zamzar, though I have to say that when I first saw this, I thought you were talking about Zamfir, that pan-flute playing guy. lol

  12. As I said Amy, it all comes down to time, and it’s something I just don’t have the time to do. That, plus adding software I really don’t want to my computer just seems like a pain. 🙂

    1. That idiot copied my comment above; shes everywhere, even on my blog copying my comments lol…delete.
      .-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..TweetMeme Installed! I Have Some Questions… =-.

      1. Sorry Dennis; I didn’t even notice that, though it did look familiar. She’s gone now!

Comments are closed.