New features Microsoft Office 2007

1 new features

1.1 user interface

1.1.1 office button
1.1.2 ribbon
1.1.3 contextual tabs
1.1.4 live preview
1.1.5 mini toolbar
1.1.6 quick access toolbar
1.1.7 other ui features


1.2 smartart
1.3 file formats

1.3.1 office open xml
1.3.2 pdf
1.3.3 xps
1.3.4 opendocument


1.4 metadata
1.5 user assistance system
1.6 collaboration features

1.6.1 sharepoint
1.6.2 groove


1.7 themes , quick styles

new features
user interface

the new user interface (ui), officially known fluent user interface, has been implemented in core microsoft office applications: word, excel, powerpoint, access, , in item inspector used create or edit individual items in outlook. these applications have been selected ui overhaul because center around document authoring. rest of applications in suite changed new ui in subsequent versions. default font used in edition calibri. original prototypes of new user interface revealed @ mix 2008 in las vegas.

office button

the office 2007 button, located on top-left of window, replaces file menu , provides access functionality common across office applications, including opening, saving, printing, , sharing file. can close application. users can choose color schemes interface. notable accessibility improvement office button follows fitts s law.

ribbon

the ribbon, panel houses fixed arrangement of command buttons , icons, organizes commands set of tabs, each grouping relevant commands. ribbon present in microsoft word 2007, excel 2007, powerpoint 2007, access 2007 , outlook 2007 windows. ribbon not user customizable in office 2007. each application has different set of tabs exposes functions application offers. example, while excel has tab graphing capabilities, word not; instead has tabs control formatting of text document. within each tab, various related options may grouped together. ribbon designed make features of application more discoverable , accessible fewer mouse clicks compared menu-based ui used prior office 2007. moving mouse scroll wheel while on of tabs on ribbon cycles—through tabs. ribbon can minimized double clicking active section s title, such home text in picture below. office 2007 not natively support removing, modifying or replacing ribbon. third party add-ins, however, can bring menus , toolbars office 2007 or customize ribbon commands. add-ins restore menus , toolbars include classic menu office, toolbartoggle, , ubitmenu. others ribboncustomizer enable customization of ribbons. office 2010 allow user customization of ribbon out of box.

the ribbon in microsoft powerpoint 2007 running on windows vista


contextual tabs

some tabs, called contextual tabs, appear when objects selected. contextual tabs expose functionality specific object focus. example, selecting picture brings pictures tab, presents options dealing picture. similarly, focusing on table exposes table-related options in specific tab. contextual tabs remain hidden except when applicable object selected.

live preview

microsoft office 2007 introduces feature called live preview, temporarily applies formatting on focused text or object when formatting button moused-over. temporary formatting removed when mouse pointer moved button. allows users have preview of how option affect appearance of object, without applying it.

mini toolbar

the new mini toolbar small toolbar basic formatting commands appears within document editing area, context menu. when mouse selects part of text, mini toolbar appears close selected text. remains semi-transparent until mouse pointer hovered on it, avoid obstructing underneath. mini toolbar can made appear right-clicking in editing area or via ≣ menu key on keyboard, in case appears near cursor, above or below traditional context menu. mini toolbar not customizable in office 2007, can turned off.

quick access toolbar

the quick access toolbar (by default) sits in title bar , serves repository of used functions, such save, undo/redo , print. customizable, although feature limited, compared toolbars in previous office versions. command available in entire office application can added quick access toolbar, including commands not available on ribbon macros. keyboard shortcuts of commands on toolbar customizable, similar previous office versions.

other ui features

super-tooltips, or screentips, can house formatted text , images, used provide detailed descriptions of buttons do.
a zoom slider present in bottom-right corner, allowing dynamic , rapid magnification of documents.
the status bar customizable. users can right click status bar , add or remove want status bar display.

smartart

smartart, found under insert tab in ribbon in powerpoint, word, excel, , outlook, new group of editable , formatted diagrams. there 115 preset smartart graphics layout templates in categories such list, process, cycle, , hierarchy. when instance of smartart inserted, text pane appears next guide user through entering text in hierarchical levels. each smartart graphic, based on design, maps text outline, automatically resized best fit, onto graphic. there number of quick styles each graphic apply largely different 3d effects graphic, , graphic s shapes , text can formatted through shape styles , wordart styles. in addition, smartart graphics change colors, fonts, , effects match document s theme.

file formats
office open xml

microsoft office 2007 introduced new file format, called office open xml, default file format. such files saved using x letter in extension (.docx/xlsx/pptx/etc.). however, can still save documents in old format, compatible previous versions. alternatively, microsoft has made available free add-on known microsoft office compatibility pack lets office 2000, xp, , 2003 open, edit, , save documents created under newer 2007 format.

office open xml based on xml , uses zip file container. according microsoft, documents created in format 75% smaller same documents saved previous microsoft office file formats, owing zip data compression.

files containing macros saved m letter in extension instead (.docm/xlsm/pptm/etc.).

pdf

initially, microsoft promised support exporting portable document format (pdf) in office 2007. however, due legal objections adobe systems, office 2007 did not offer pdf support out of box, rather separate free download. however, starting service pack 2, office allows users natively export pdf files.

xps

office 2007 documents can exported xps documents. part of service pack 2 , prior that, available free plug-in in separate download.

opendocument

microsoft backs open-source effort support opendocument in office 2007, earlier versions (up office 2000), through converter add-in word, excel , powerpoint, , command-line utility. of 2008, project supports conversion between odf , office open xml file formats 3 applications. according odf alliance support falls short , substantial improvements still needed interoperability in real-world situations. third-party plugins able read, edit , save iso-standard open document format (odf) available separate download.

office 2007 service pack 2 adds native support opendocument format. odf alliance has released test results on odf support of office 2007 sp2, concluding office odf support, both sp2 , other add-ons, have serious shortcomings that, left unaddressed, break open standards based interoperability marketplace, governments, demanding . particularly, sp2 has no support encrypted odf files , has limited interoperability other odf spreadsheet implementations.

the iso/iec 26300 opendocument standard specifies encryption of files, based on sha1, blowfish, , rfc 2898. microsoft office 2007 sp2 not support reading , writing encrypted (password protected) odf files. users presented message: “cannot use password protection using odf format.”

the iso/iec 26300 opendocument standard has no spreadsheet formula language included (or referenced) in standard specification. office 2007 sp2 uses spreadsheet formula language specified in iso/iec 29500 office open xml open standard when creating odf documents. according odf alliance report odf spreadsheets created in excel 2007 sp2 not in fact conform odf 1.1 because excel 2007 incorrectly encodes formulas cell addresses. section 8.3.1 of odf 1.1 says addresses in formulas start [ , end ] . in excel 2007 cell addresses not enclosed necessary square brackets. iso/iec 26300 specification states semantics , syntax depends on used namespace, implementation dependent, leaving syntax implementation defined well.

microsoft stated consider adding support official odf formula language (openformula), once future version of iso/iec 26300 standard specification includes one.

microsoft s odf spreadsheet support in sp2 not inter-operable other implementations of opendocument, such ibm symphony, use non-standardized openoffice.org 2.x formula language, , openoffice.org 3.x, uses draft of openformula. company had reportedly stated odf 1.1 ambiguous or incomplete, office implementation can guided current practice in openoffice.org, mainly, , other implementations including koffice , abiword. peter amstein , microsoft office team reluctant make liberal use of extension mechanisms, though provided in odf 1.1. want avoid appearance of embrace-extend attempt.

the eu investigated microsoft office opendocument format support see if provided consumers greater choice.

metadata

in office 2007, microsoft introduced document inspector, integral metadata removal tool strips word, excel, , powerpoint documents of information such author name , comments , other metadata .

user assistance system

in microsoft office 2007, office assistants have been eliminated in favour of new online system. 1 of features extensive use of super tooltips, explain in 1 paragraph each function performs. of them use diagrams or pictures. these appear , disappear normal tooltips, , replace normal tooltips in many areas. content directly integrates searching , viewing office online articles.

collaboration features
sharepoint

microsoft office 2007 includes features geared towards collaboration , data sharing. such, microsoft office 2007 features server components applications such excel, work in conjunction sharepoint services, provide collaboration platform. sharepoint works microsoft office sharepoint server 2007, used host sharepoint site, , uses iis , asp.net 2.0. excel server exposes excel services, allows worksheet created, edited , maintained via web browsers. features excel web access, client-side component used render worksheet on browser, excel calculation service server side component populates worksheet data , perform calculations, , excel web services extends excel functionalities individual web services. sharepoint can used host word documents collaborative editing, sharing document. sharepoint can used hold powerpoint slides in slide library, slides can used formatting template. notifies users of slide automatically in case source slide modified. using sharepoint, powerpoint can manage shared review of presentations. sharepoint hosted document can accessed application created document or other applications such browser or microsoft office outlook.

groove

microsoft office 2007 includes groove, brings collaborative features peer-to-peer paradigm. groove can host documents, including presentations, workbooks , others, created in microsoft office 2007 application in shared workspace, can used in collaborative editing of documents. groove can used in managing workspace sessions, including access control of workspace. collaborate on 1 or more documents, workspace must created, , work on must invited. file shared on workspace automatically shared among participants. application provides real-time messaging, including one-to-one group messaging, , presence features, monitoring workspace activities alerts, raised when pre-defined set of activities detected. groove provides features conflict resolution conflicting edits. schedules collaboration can decided using built-in shared calendar, can used keep track of progress of project. however, calendar not compatible microsoft outlook.

themes , quick styles

microsoft office 2007 places more emphasis on document themes , quick styles. document theme defines colors, fonts , graphic effects document. can inserted document automatically styled match overall document theme creating consistent document design. new office theme file format (.thmx) shared between word, excel, powerpoint , outlook email messages. similar themes available data reports in access , project or shapes in visio.

quick styles galleries range of styles based on current theme. there quick styles galleries text, tables, charts, smartart, wordart , more. style range goes simple/light more graphical/darker.