Report Card: Does Office 2007 make the grade?

BY DEBORAH GILJUM

You may have heard rumors about Office 2007 being completely different.

They’re true.

Even though it’s 2008, many people have not yet upgraded to Office 2007, but that is hardly unusual. For most, Microsoft Office software primarily means Word, Outlook and Excel. Those who once worked in WordPerfect, switched to Microsoft Word and then upgraded to Word 2003 probably have a sinking feeling at the thought of upgrading again to Office 2007. It often seems that as soon as you really master a program, they change it on you.

For those who are upgrading, we have both good and bad news: The good news is, just about everything that you do in 2003, you will be able to do in 2007. The bad news is, you’re going to have to seek and find to do it. Microsoft has changed the entire format of commands from menus to “ribbons” for almost everything. Their official rationale for the sweeping changes in Office 2007’s programs is that people do not use menus, so why bother having them? This argument is a little like saying that people don’t read, so let’s stop making books. Once upon a time, street lights flashed STOP and WALK. Now, there are little pictures of men stopping and men walking. Gradually, that outlook of catering to the less literate has invaded the entire world. Now, it’s hitting our computers, the very epitome of human “cleverness.”

In Word, you will find the most dramatic changes Microsoft has made. Since Microsoft feels that users are apparently unable to read menus, they have kindly removed them and given you what they call ribbons (which are actually more like tabs at the top of the screen). On each ribbon, you have a series of buttons relating to that ribbon’s subject--mostly. For example, in Word, you will still find “Picture” on the “Insert” ribbon, but you will also find “Macros” under “View,” one of the last places you’d expect. Your old “Page Set-Up” and some “Format Paragraph” options have been lumped together on the “Page Layout” tab, but it also contains several “Drawing Objects” options, despite the fact that Word has a “Drawing Tools” ribbon. If you want to insert a drawing object, that’s on the “Insert” tab. To select a drawing object, go to the “Home” tab. Why drawing objects would be split up under four different tabs and not placed together on the “Drawing Tools” ribbon, we may never know.

In the new Word, if you want to insert a section break, you don’t go to the “Insert” tab, but to the “Page Layout” tab. If you want to change your header/footer, you go to “Insert,” and pick either “Insert Header” or “Insert Footer,” not both--regardless of the fact that you just want to edit, not insert. If you want to save your document in another format (say 2003), and you click on the Office 2007 icon, and then on Save As, you will not get the same options as you would if you hover your cursor over Save As and wait for the additional box to show up.

On the whole, I’d give Word 2007 a “C.” I know we’ll get used to it in time, but that doesn’t mean we’re happy with its major changes. A program as complex as Word should not be so completely overhauled all in one fell swoop.

Outlook 2007, on the other hand, did much better. While it, too, has ribbons in new e-mails, it still has the menu in your inbox. Outlook 2007 adds some new features, but it doesn’t have to include the ton of options that Word does, so it can’t stray too far. Outlook 2007 also allows you to do things with e-mails that were difficult, or impossible, in Outlook 2003. You can apply quick styles. You can insert your calendar. There are also greater graphic options that are fairly easy to use.

Outlook 2007 deserves an “A.” You’ll still have to do a little searching, but there’s less to look through, and they did leave the menu bar on the inbox. Once you get used to the e‑mail ribbons, you’ll find that Outlook, at least, truly has improved.

Excel falls into a similar category as Word, but not quite as bad. Maybe it’s because Excel doesn’t have to cram in quite as much. There are a few new features, too. If you have a large worksheet and want to check on a formula, click on “Evaluate Formula” and hit “Evaluate” on any of its parts, and it will show you what the values are in the cells being referenced. There’s also a “Watch Window” that will open a small box that displays what’s happening to a specified cell or range as you edit numbers elsewhere in the document. As far as we can see, though, there’s still no way to insert a true footnote. I give Excel a B.

For most users, Office 2007 will probably rate a B overall. For people who work heavily in Word, maybe a B- (there’s only so much Outlook can do to counterbalance Word’s problems). Of course, that overall grade might lower a bit more when you realize that Microsoft threw in one more little trick on its customers--Office 2007 saves all files with a whole new extension format. Instead of .doc, it saves as .docx, and so on. By doing this, it makes sure that opening these files in older versions of the software is much more difficult. Let’s face it, they’re in the business of selling software. And that’s why as soon as you master a program, they “upgrade” it.

You can reach Deborah Giljum at crtl_alt_divas@hotmail.com.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Have you upgraded to Office 2007? What grade would you give it? If you haven't, what's holding you back? Sound off in our forum.