Word 2007 Learning Curve

[JMB]

I'll make an honest attempt to give this question/feedback a positive twist.
I have been using Word/Excel etc. for years now and consider myself somewhat
of an expert user. Now I have a new computer with Vista and Office 2007. And
I essentially find myself facing this predicament of going up an enormously
steep learning curve, i.e. relearning how to wordprocess and spreadsheet
almost from scratch all over again. The new and improved of Office 2007 apps
may look much more "politically correct" than in previous versions, but so
far my experience has been that it can hardly get any less user friendly and
more convoluted than this. I'm giving it a very serious try here, but I'm
also beginning to think about throwing in the towel. Anybody out there that
can offer any useful advice as to how I can actually start using the Office
2007 applications without letting all my previous experience and know-how
completely go to waste?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm not using Office 2007 yet, so I'm still an outsider looking in, and from
here I've seen a lot of pain like yours reflected in these NGs. One
suggestion I can offer is that any keyboard shortcuts you may have learned
(including the Alt+ shortcuts for navigating menus) will still work. You may
also find the interactive command reference
(http://office.microsoft.com/assista...t=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA100744321033
for Word) of some limited utility.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

When I agreed to write a book about Word 2007, I faced exactly the same
problem you're facing. But, because Word 2007 was the object rather than the
means, I had no choice in the matter. At the outset, I was using Word 2003
to write the book, but at some point, critical productivity mass was
achieved, and I found that new Word 2007 features made me more productive,
and so I wrote the last half of the book using Word 2007.

I don't know if there are "classic" interface tools for Excel, but there are
several for Word 2007:

http://www.addintools.com/english/menuword/

http://pschmid.net/blog/2007/04/20/111

I believe that the second option is free. So, for Word, at least, you have
at least three choices:

1. Bite the bullet and learn Word 2007, knowing that Word 14 will surely
build on Word 2007/12 rather than on Word 2003/11; this is the best option
if you need to keep up with future versions of Word. If it's hard to get
used to the new interface now in Word 12, it will only be more difficult
several years from now with Word 14.

2. Use a classic interface tool, relying on it when you're in a hurry, but
otherwise dabbling and gradually learning the ribbon approach. This is a
good option if Word 2007 has features that you need, but you don't need to
learn Word 2007 in a hurry. There are other learning aids you can use, as
well, such as the interactive guide that shows you where to find Word 2007
commands and features:
http://office.microsoft.com/assista...t=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA100744321033.

3. Revert to Word 2003. This is a good option if Word 2003 provides
everything you need and if you won't need to work with documents that rely
upon Word 2007-specific features that aren't preserved when using the Office
2007 Compatibility Pack.

A 4th option--not incompatible with #1 and #2--is to set up Word 2007's
Quick Access Toolbar so that it contains your most-used tools from Word 2003
(do the same for Excel 2007). This is the approach I use for my everyday
work, and it has alleviated a lot of Word 2007's ergonomic inefficiencies.
One approach to this is shown here:

http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2007/05/02/making-word-2007-a-little-more-familiar/

 

[JMB]

Herb and Susan, thanks for the useful feedback. Like Herb I have no choice,
with my company about to make a massive migration to Vista and Office 2007.
And I can't afford to loose much time and productivity because of this. Hence
my present preparatory work at home in my spare time. So I'll have to bite
the bullet, but this looks like it is going to be a very tough and bitter
one. Quite frankly I fail to understand what Microsoft was/is thinking.
Preparing a new document or spreadsheet seems to be all about coping with the
user interface and appearances now, and in the meantime many people seem to
forget what it is really about, i.e. the contents of the message ... The next
release has been aptly code named MS Office HAB (Hot Air Balloon). On the
other hand I suppose it is also fair to point out that I'm not getting any
younger and possibly my flexibility to adjust is no longer what it used to be.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Use the QAT as much as possible to collect your most frequently used tools.
One good thing about Office 2007 is that it's really easy to add items to
the QAT. Right-click what you want, and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
The other thing that will make it less of a pain (literally) is to move the
QAT to below the ribbon. That way, it will a shorter mouse journey, and
easier to access. (Right-click the QAT and choose "Show QAT Below the
Ribbon".) The QAT has been my salvation.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Herb and Susan, thanks for the useful feedback. Like Herb I have no choice,
with my company about to make a massive migration to Vista and Office 2007.
And I can't afford to loose much time and productivity because of this. Hence
my present preparatory work at home in my spare time. So I'll have to bite
the bullet, but this looks like it is going to be a very tough and bitter
one. Quite frankly I fail to understand what Microsoft was/is thinking.
Preparing a new document or spreadsheet seems to be all about coping with the
user interface and appearances now, and in the meantime many people seem to
forget what it is really about, i.e. the contents of the message ... The next
release has been aptly code named MS Office HAB (Hot Air Balloon). On the
other hand I suppose it is also fair to point out that I'm not getting any
younger and possibly my flexibility to adjust is no longer what it used to be.

For the "why", you may want to read the 8-part series by Jensen Harris, the lead
of the UI team, starting from the "table of contents" at
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archi...07+UI+Posts/Why+the+New+UI_3F00_/default.aspx.
It may help to have some of this background.

For the most part, I find that I do things in Word 2007 the same way I did them
in earlier versions; only the locations of the commands are different. Yes, it
takes some effort to store the new locations in permanent memory. And despite
the "new is better" facade, it's clear that some things aren't in logical
positions -- but they weren't necessarily in logical places before, just ones
that we were used to. (What the heck is a "Tools" menu, anyway? Isn't everything
a tool of one kind or another?)

 

[CyberTaz]

In addition to the excellent suggestions from others, I've found it quite
helpful to pay particular attention to the "Dialog Launcher" buttons that
appear on the right end of the group name bar of many of the tabs - they
look like a little square with a diagonal arrow within it... In most cases
the dialogs or Task Panes they evoke are virtually identical to what you're
accustomed to using in previous versions.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Terry Farrell]

Bob

And how I wish these 'dialog launchers' were activated by clicking anywhere
in the group title bar rather than having to aim for the piddling little
arrow at its end. After all, the bar is functionless other than for display
the group title.

Terry

 

[Terry Farrell]

The others have given you some great tips to start off with: namely use the
old keyboard shortcuts and modify the QAT to be useful for your style of
working.

I feel your pain as I have already been through it. Personally, I am all in
favour of the new Ribbon, but at least three quarters of the tools on the
ribbons are redundant for my way of working. This was the same as previous
versions of Word, but at least in those cases I was able to remove the
redundant tools and add the tools that I find productive (or create a custom
toolbar). Now I am stuck with all the junk stealing my screen real estate.
At least the QAT is easy to edit and you can collapse the Ribbon when not
needed.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hey Terry -

Do ya think that maybe they're trying to discourage people from using them
because they eventually intend to yank the dialogs out?;-)

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Beth Melton]

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.

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/

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Bob,

Having listened to Jensen Harris in person, reading his blog, and suffering
through the beta, I think I can promise you that they aren't going to "yank the
dialogs out" although they will probably give some of them a facelift the next
time around. I think the tiny size of the launchers was a mistake, probably in
an overzealous attempt to "hide the complexity from new users". Believe me,
they're hearing plenty of feedback about it!

 

[Terry Farrell]

After all the 'waffle' we were given about usability and how the whole area
around the Pizza in Word and Start Menu in Vista are 'sensitive' areas so
the users don't actually have to hit the buttons dead-on, it is a shame that
the team designing the dialog selectors hadn't been party to the same
brainwashing.

Terry

 

[John Hanley]

Here are a couple of learning tools for Word 2007 that helped me:

http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC100664431033

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/CR100654561033.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/trainin...ID=RP100664491033&CTT=5&Origin=RP100664381033

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/msoffice/?p=146

 

[Paul Gauci]

Yes Ok I have tried the QAT approach but I disovered that some of the icons
for different commands look exactly alike and there is no fast-and-easy way
to edit the icons as we were able to do with 2003.

I am now trying out the pschmid Ribbon Customiser. However, I still have to
find out how to customise the ribbon.

 

[Terry Farrell]

Paul

That is yet another serious shortcoming of the implementation of the new
interface. I am amazed that Microsoft could not foresee that if the Ribbon
is locked for mere mortals (standard Users) to edit and that they are
'supposed' to use the QAT, there needs to be a way to distinguish between
the buttons - just like on the Ribbon!

But the user research team employed at huge expense by Microsoft said that
normal users never change their toolbars and such. Obviously they were not
monitoring real users and took the results at face value.

Terry

Yes Ok I have tried the QAT approach but I disovered that some of the
icons
for different commands look exactly alike and there is no fast-and-easy
way
to edit the icons as we were able to do with 2003.

I am now trying out the pschmid Ribbon Customiser. However, I still have
to
find out how to customise the ribbon.

 

[Gordon]

But the user research team employed at huge expense by Microsoft said that
normal users never change their toolbars and such. Obviously they were not
monitoring real users and took the results at face value.

I have to say as an Advanced Excel user and a not-so advanced Word user /I/
never bothered with customizing the tool bar in previous versions - just as
I don't bother customizing IE or Firefox.....

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you still have access to a PC with Word 2003 - see if
http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm helps.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Terry Farrell]

In previous versions, I always modified the Toolbars. Many of the tools I
never used (such as cut, copy, past, bold, italics underline, etc.) I always
dragged off and added useful tools that were hidden (such as
ParaPageBreakBefore, Doc Properties, File New... and custom macros, etc.).

I always like that there were always so many different ways to work in Word
that allowed users to customize and work in a way that suited themselves and
their principal tasks. To me, much of this choice seems to have been
removed. I was privileged to be shown demos of the proposed Ribbon before it
went beta and was enthusiastic as I could see that so many more commands
could be made available for users, rather than having to dig deep to find
the hidden nest of tools available. But I wasn't aware of how rigid the
Ribbon was to be until beta testing started. I was deeply disappointed and I
still am. And I will remain disappointed until the Ribbon is user
customizable out-of-the-box.

Terry

 

[Gordon]

In previous versions, I always modified the Toolbars. Many of the tools I
never used (such as cut, copy, past, bold, italics underline, etc.) I
always dragged off and added useful tools that were hidden (such as
ParaPageBreakBefore, Doc Properties, File New... and custom macros, etc.).

I always like that there were always so many different ways to work in
Word that allowed users to customize and work in a way that suited
themselves and their principal tasks. To me, much of this choice seems to
have been removed. I was privileged to be shown demos of the proposed
Ribbon before it went beta and was enthusiastic as I could see that so
many more commands could be made available for users, rather than having
to dig deep to find the hidden nest of tools available. But I wasn't aware
of how rigid the Ribbon was to be until beta testing started. I was deeply
disappointed and I still am. And I will remain disappointed until the
Ribbon is user customizable out-of-the-box.

Terry

I hear what you say, but from a support perspective in a commercial
environment, a User customising ANYTHING on an individual basis turns into a
support/helpdesk nightmare.....