Office 2007 Tips

When upgrading to Office 2007, be prepared to find a lot of changes in the layout. This document is
offered as help in your transition. There are 3 main things right off the bat that you need to know:

1. The Print and Save options are found by clicking the round button in the top left corner of Word, Excel,
   Access and PowerPoint. Other applications are basically as they were before.
2. When you save a file, be sure to save as an Office 97 compatible file. For example, save as ".doc" or ".xls"
   instead of the defaults of ".docx" and ".xlsx". To make this task easier, you can change the default file-type.
   View instructions here.
3. Office 2007 now groups commonly used items into categories that are easier to access from the
   main interface.
4. To convert a Word document to pdf or other file formats, click the Microsoft Office Button , then
   • Click Save As.  Note: If you point to Save As, the menu that appears does not show a complete list of file formats. To view all of the possible file formats, you must click Save As to open the Save As dialog box.
   • In the Save As dialog box, click the arrow to the right of the Save as type list, and then click the file type that you want.
   • For more information see: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100445041033.aspx.

For those who want to have the old "classic menus and toolbars", here are two options:

1. The free RibbonCustomizer™ allows you to customize the Ribbon User Interface with only a few mouse clicks.
2. A demo from AddInTools is available here. It adds classic menu and toolbar. The full version costs $29.95.

Below are screenshots of the above 3 examples. Also, for more detailed instructions on all the Office 2007 applications,
view the Office 2007 Podcasts.

If you are using MS Office 2007, one of the most frustrating things for users is the fact that the default saved file format is .pptx (PowerPoint Files) and .docx (Word Files). What that means in a nutshell, is that anything saved in PowerPoint 07 format will not easily open in any earlier version of PowerPoint. And likewise for Word 07 and Excel 07. This tip will show you how to change the default save file format back to something compatible with older versions of MS Office.

1. Start PowerPoint, Word or Excel
   (you will have to do this for each)
2. Left-click the Office Button
   (figure 1, step 1)
3. Left-click the PowerPoint/Word/Excel Options button (figure 1, step 2)

figure 1

   figure2

1. From the left panel, select Save (figure 2)
2. Navigate to the right panel and the SavePresentations section
3. From the “Save Files in the format” Drop-down menu, select PowerPoint Presentations 97-2003
   (or the equivalent for Word and Excel) (figure 2)

Training

Office 2007 courses are available for a fee through http://training.umd.edu/. Choose "UM Classroom Training",
then Log-in, and click on "Desktop productivity" in the catalog. Each product is a separate class (ie, Word, Excel, etc).