Office 2007 Highlights

Highlights: Microsoft Office 2007

Try-before-you-buy By all accounts, Office 2007 is a winner but will take a bit of getting used to. Vendors are now shipping PCs with a 60-day trial version, or you can download it yourself.

New User Interface The user interface has been substantially redesigned, the most striking difference being the Ribbon (shown at bottom), which replaces toolbars and menus. The Ribbon changes depending on the programme and context, and is intended to give quick access to commands previously hidden behind menus.

Groove Groove is newly added software that facilitates collaboration nd communication for small groups. Users can create shared workspaces and invite others to join. Copies and changes are synchronized, tracked, and updated.

Changes in Outlook Outlook can now text cellphones and in some editions has better anti-spam and email search tools. The user interface retains some of the old menus.

The Suites Microsoft is marketing 8 versions of Office 2007. Publisher, Access, SharePoint and Groove are only available in Ultimate and up. To compare editions, go to Office Editions.

System requirements and backwards compatibility Office 2007 works with Windows 2003 and newer. Earlier versions can't read Office 2007 documents, but users are automatically prompted to download a conversion programme.

More at Office 2007 demo.

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