Re: Word 2007 -- How Alone Am I?

One more question -- when I open the directory in Word (control O), there
used to be an icon (an up "arrow") that would let me go up one level to the
previous place you were in the directory -- I've not found this in yet. I
seem to have to go back to the "tree" along side the directory. I know I'm
not explaining this well. Can you help?

Jann

BTW, I am doing better, many thx. :)

"Beth Melton" wrote:

You're welcome. :-)

I think they changed the wording as an attempt to add more clarity for new
users. I agree, it's frustrating when you are familiar with the old terms.

You can still use the keyboard, all of the keyboard shortcuts that were
available in Word 2003 still work in Word 2007. You can also use Alt key
navigation, called Key Tips. If you press your Alt key you'll see Key Tips
display above each command in the Ribbon and for each tab. Commands on your
QAT are assigned a Key Tip by the position of the command. Alt+1 is for the
first command, Alt+2 for the second, and so on.

You'll also see the keyboard shortcut identified in the Screen Tip for many
of the commands. Not all are identified, though, even if it has a shortcut
assigned. In that case, you can look up "keyboard" in Help for various lists
of keyboard shortcuts. Here is a link that may help:
http://office.microsoft.com/client/helppreview.aspx?AssetID=HP101476261033&QueryID=uusB5xNEL0&respos=6&rt=2&ns=WINWORD&lcid=1033&pid=CH100965071033#2

All-in-all, after using Office applications for over 20 years I do think
Office 2007 is worth the time to learn. I'm not just saying that, either.
There was a time I was saying quite the opposite. lol There are so many
great aspects that I wish the rest of the world would take the leap so I can
start implementing the new features.

If you want an example of a couple features I find the most exciting in
Word, I think Content Controls and Building Blocks will provide more
efficient methods of document creation - this is where you really start
finding time-saving steps. Using a content control, a type of data entry
contol, you can bind it a data source. The data can be used elsewhere in the
document and even extracted for database import. If you want an example of
this, create a new document based on one of the Reports in the Installed
Templates, click the Microsoft Office Button and then click New. Equity
Report would make a good example.

The reports contain content controls in the document and in the
headers/footers. Fill in the information on the cover page, such as the
title, year/date, subtitle, company name, etc. Scroll through the document
and note how the data you added to the first page was automatically updated
on subsequent pages. AND you can modify the data anywhere in the document.
Better yet, updating the document to reflect the changes is not necessary.
Then, on the Insert tab, click Cover Page and select another cover page.
This will swap out the current cover page and all of the previously typed
data will display in the new cover page.

If you want a little more insight on what is happening exactly in the
template and cover page, they contain bound document property fields which
are displayed in Content Controls. You can find these fields under Quick
Parts on the Insert tab. Once inserted, if you modify the data in the
content control it's automatically added to the Document Properties. So if
you add the same document property field again there's no need to add or
modify the data and you can view and modify the document properties outside
the application and update the file contents. Similar to how the bound
document properties work, you can create your own data bindings and fields,
if you will, for specialized documents using content controls.

Since you are in the legal field, consider how your legal documents could be
created using similar methods - a few clicks to insert content that is
already pre-populated AND formatted. Combine this power with the power of
SharePoint and I could continue typing for at least another printed page!
lolol

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/

"Jannr" <Jannr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:EA2AAD1F-875B-4BF5-B0C9-B44F0DB5C628@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Beth, thanks so much for your time in helping me to see some different
values
in Word 2007. What you wrote will be very helpful. Much of my
frustration
stems from going to help for answers only to get information that
references
things in a new way that sends me back to help to understand the "help" I
am
getting -- thus I'm going in circles. What I don't understand is why
certain
things have been renamed, i.e., in the control panel why "display" became
"personalization" -- I felt like a complete idiot as it took me forever to
find it until I discovered several other people including a tech who had
the
same problem, as well as why certain things needed to be eliminated, like
easy access to information re what keystrokes activate what commands (I'm
finding more and more people have come to realize that keystrokes are
faster
than removing your hands from the keyboard and using the mouse). I'm all
for
advancing and improving the functionality of Word but at the same time it
does seem that to a certain extent it is being revised with the
non-business
user in mind versus those of us to whom it is a staple of our work day --
at
least that seems to be the consensus in my field of law.

Again, thanks Beth for a productive response to my question.

Jann

"Beth Melton" wrote:

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/

"Jannr" <Jannr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1221ADF6-144D-45DB-9402-AE7006CDA2B9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I know I'm not alone, but I'm wondering how "not alone" I am in thinking
that
Word 2007 must have been "designed by committee," in terms of that
phrase
denoting a negative. I honestly would like someone who uses Word for
the
majority of their work day to tell me if they have found any
advantages.
I
realize new software always takes time to learn, but this seems
counter-intuitive to me and laborious to use, wasting time. For the
record,
I temped for a long time and was used to switching from all versions of
Word
to to WordPerfect, as well as using and switching between dozens of
other
software programs. I am fairly savy on catching on quickly, but this,
well,
as they say in the Land of Oz, is a horse of a different color.






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