Conversion to 2007 very difficult

G

Gene

Is anyone else unhappy with the conversion to Office 2007 version, or did I
miss that discussion? I am struggling to unlearn patterns that Microsoft so
carefully nurtured, and struggling again to figure out how to do what I used
to be able to do, like add a file path to a footer in Word, or even where to
find out what version of Word 2007 I am using. I shouldn't have to go the
the MS Knowledge base to figure out how to add a file path in a footer! Does
anyone have a handle on whether this is worth it or not? I enjoy using and
writing software, but I do not enjoy being forced to re-learn something.
Relearning a radically reconfigured software package is harder because you
have expectations that are constantly thwarted. I am really concerned about
introducing it to the rest of my staff and wondering if we should just
simplify to online word processing because we really only type letters. We
do have a sophisticated Access program we wrote, and I dread thinking about
having to make any changes to that.
Gene
 
B

Beth Melton

Oh, the "I hate Office 2007" discussions have been going on for at least a
year now. ;-)

I felt the same way when I first started using Office 2007. My trusty menus
and toolbars were gone and it seemed like it took more clicks to accomplish
a task than the previous versions. I hated it, I hated every minute I spent
with it. BUT then I started discovering the new features that were
introduced and ever since then I've never looked back. The key is two-fold:

1) If you are trying to use the applications exactly as you did in the past
you may find it more cumbersome. 2) While some tasks take more clicks other
tasks, many tasks that used to involved several changes have been reduced to
a couple clicks. I found the time-saving steps are a bit of a trade-off.

Take the Margin galleries for a quick example. If you need to modify your
margins, several frequently used options are available on the Page Layout
tab in the Margins gallery for Word and Excel. All you have to do is open
the gallery, click your selection, and the margins are changed for you.
I suspect once you learn how to efficiently use the new UI then you'll
discover as I did, and numerous others who hated it initially too, things
you wondered how you ever lived without. :) Here are a few tips and
resources that may help:

- Learn more about the Quick Access Toolbar (the small toolbar next to the
Microsoft Office Button that has Save and Undo on it by default). It's easy
to customize and add those commands you frequently use. To add a command,
right-click the command, either on the Ribbon or those found under the
Microsoft Office Button, and then click "Add to Quick Access Toolbar". To
add an entire group, such as the Font group on the Home tab, right-click the
group name instead of a command in the group. To remove a command,
right-click it and you'll see the Remove command. To reorganize commands,
right-click the Quick Access Toolbar and then click "Customize the Quick
Access Toolbar". I set mine up in the beginning so it looked exactly like
the first part of the old Standard toolbar and the first part of the
Formatting toolbar. What a difference that made!

- Right-click *everything*. Unlike previous versions, some commands can only
be found by right-clicking a command. This includes the Galleries as well.

- Use Interactive Guides to help you find commands you're unable to locate.
They can be found in Help or by using these links:

Excel : http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx

PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx

Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744321033.aspx

- Spend a little time on Office Online. It contains a wealth of resources
from tips and tricks to training.

Regarding your question about including a path in the footer, unfortunately
that was an oversight and there isn't one available. Here's a link to a
template I created for this that you can use. (download the template and
follow the directions provided):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC300002951033.aspx?pid=CT101446261033

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

....and there's the manual method. Click where you want the filename & path
to appear, then:

Press Ctrl+F9 (inserts field braces)

Type filename \p (between the braces)

Press F9.
 
J

Jgreen

I replaced 2002 when it crashed and have no idea where to find my templates.
Many of my files were gone after the change. I have found some but had to
recreate others. I'm an occasional user that was supposed to be helped by the
new program but thus far it has been frustrating.
 
D

DL

Depends what you mean by crash & what caused it, it may be that files were
destroyed during this event.
Personally I've upgraded Office through several versions & never lost any
data, but then as with anything PC related you should allways have backups
of data, if you dont you are bound to lose data at some stage,
 
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