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#1
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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? -- JMB |
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#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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. -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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. -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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. -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#5
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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. -- Paul Gauci "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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. -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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. -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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 "Paul Gauci" wrote in message ... 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. -- Paul Gauci "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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. -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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. -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
If you still have access to a PC with Word 2003 - see if
http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm helps. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Paul Gauci wrote: 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. 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. -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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. -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#8
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:00:00 -0800, JMB wrote:
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/archiv..._/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?) -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. |
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#10
Posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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 "CyberTaz" wrote in message .. . 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 On 12/26/07 10:00 PM, in article , "JMB" wrote: 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. |
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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 On 12/27/07 5:53 AM, in article , "Terry Farrell" wrote: 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 "CyberTaz" wrote in message .. . 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 On 12/26/07 10:00 PM, in article , "JMB" wrote: 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. |
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#12
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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. -- Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP "JMB" wrote in message ... 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. -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#13
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
Herb and all other responders:
Thanks for all the lively feedback. I'm almost as overwhelmed by it as I am/was by the new and improved Office 2007 interface. I say "am/was" because I've been sweating hard in recent days to experiment and get familiar with the new interface and I think I'm slowly getting used to it. Sint ut sunt aut non sint - accept them as they are or deny their existence. Denying their existence is a luxury that Bill Gates et al won't let us afford ... A few observations: - Customizing toolbars etc. has never worked well for me. Partly a personal thing, and partly because it tends to make interactions with company provided user support even more complicated than they already are. - Everything in Office 2007 is very visual now - almost exclusively. That may work well for most people but not for all. Like me for instance. I just liked the option in previous versions to use text-based pull-down menus without having to glance all over the screen to find some cute little darn icon until my eyes start to hurt. - Some new features I really like, e.g. the long overdue citation insertion and bibliography creation will come in very handy. - Pity they still they did not fix some of the chart issues (funky aspect ratio issues). Guess that will never be addressed. Thanks again! -- JMB "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#14
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
Herb: I bought your book yesterday and am finding it useful so far, but I've
still got a LOT to learn about Word 2007. Something I've been curious about: How do people such as yourself write a book on new software programs or editions of those programs? Do the software companies provide you and other software guide manuals' authors with their documentation generated when they were developing the program, or what? "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#15
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
I'll be interested in Herb's answer, but my impression is that authors have
to figure it out mostly for themselves, working with a beta version and just trying out all the program features. To be sure, they build on their knowledge of previous versions, but discovery of new features, I think, is left up to the author. If MS provides any guidance, I'd be interested to hear about it. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "Jim Vaught" wrote in message ... Herb: I bought your book yesterday and am finding it useful so far, but I've still got a LOT to learn about Word 2007. Something I've been curious about: How do people such as yourself write a book on new software programs or editions of those programs? Do the software companies provide you and other software guide manuals' authors with their documentation generated when they were developing the program, or what? "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#16
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
That's something I don't understand then, because you would think they would
want "how to guides" out on the market ASAP to increase sales of the software. I assumed they at least provided documentation to authors in order to facilitate that process. "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: I'll be interested in Herb's answer, but my impression is that authors have to figure it out mostly for themselves, working with a beta version and just trying out all the program features. To be sure, they build on their knowledge of previous versions, but discovery of new features, I think, is left up to the author. If MS provides any guidance, I'd be interested to hear about it. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "Jim Vaught" wrote in message ... Herb: I bought your book yesterday and am finding it useful so far, but I've still got a LOT to learn about Word 2007. Something I've been curious about: How do people such as yourself write a book on new software programs or editions of those programs? Do the software companies provide you and other software guide manuals' authors with their documentation generated when they were developing the program, or what? "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#17
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
Jim
In a different era, MS provided manuals with the applications. They dropped that idea (probably some tree-hugging evangelist's idea) and replaced them with Help files. However, the help files still have a long way to go to meet most users' requirements. There is far more on line content available through the Help button, but finding it is horrendous. Terry Farrell "Jim Vaught" wrote in message ... That's something I don't understand then, because you would think they would want "how to guides" out on the market ASAP to increase sales of the software. I assumed they at least provided documentation to authors in order to facilitate that process. "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: I'll be interested in Herb's answer, but my impression is that authors have to figure it out mostly for themselves, working with a beta version and just trying out all the program features. To be sure, they build on their knowledge of previous versions, but discovery of new features, I think, is left up to the author. If MS provides any guidance, I'd be interested to hear about it. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "Jim Vaught" wrote in message ... Herb: I bought your book yesterday and am finding it useful so far, but I've still got a LOT to learn about Word 2007. Something I've been curious about: How do people such as yourself write a book on new software programs or editions of those programs? Do the software companies provide you and other software guide manuals' authors with their documentation generated when they were developing the program, or what? "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#18
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
I think you'll find that manuals such as Herb's appear almost simultaneously
with the apps, but at the expense, sometimes of accuracy if features are changed (or dropped) at the last minute (a drawback of working with beta software). I recall that Herb had to redo a bunch of screen shots because the look of some dialog or other was changed at the last minute. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "Jim Vaught" wrote in message ... That's something I don't understand then, because you would think they would want "how to guides" out on the market ASAP to increase sales of the software. I assumed they at least provided documentation to authors in order to facilitate that process. "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: I'll be interested in Herb's answer, but my impression is that authors have to figure it out mostly for themselves, working with a beta version and just trying out all the program features. To be sure, they build on their knowledge of previous versions, but discovery of new features, I think, is left up to the author. If MS provides any guidance, I'd be interested to hear about it. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "Jim Vaught" wrote in message ... Herb: I bought your book yesterday and am finding it useful so far, but I've still got a LOT to learn about Word 2007. Something I've been curious about: How do people such as yourself write a book on new software programs or editions of those programs? Do the software companies provide you and other software guide manuals' authors with their documentation generated when they were developing the program, or what? "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote: 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/assistan...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 he http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2...more-familiar/ -- Herb Tyson MS MVP Author of the Word 2007 Bible Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com Web: http://www.herbtyson.com "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#19
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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/assistan...HA100744321033 for Word) of some limited utility. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#20
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
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/ex...491511033.aspx PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/po...490761033.aspx Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...744321033.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/boo...x#AboutTheBook Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/ MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/ "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#21
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
Here are a couple of learning tools for Word 2007 that helped me:
http://office.microsoft.com/training...RC100664431033 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...654561033.aspx http://office.microsoft.com/training...RP100664381033 http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/msoffice/?p=146 "JMB" wrote in message ... 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? -- JMB |
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#22
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
JMB
I can relate to your frustrations. And I can offer you this piece of advice. Everything takes time. Unfortunately, when it come to computers everything is an exact science. There's always an answer for some issue or concern. Your prior experience will help you digest new stuff. It may not always work the same way. But at least you've got a sort-of head start. You know something about the language being used, so you might have some insight on how to proceed or what to look for in an answer. Look, I am also dealing with a learning curve too. And I just can't believe how much information there is to learn and comprehend. However, here's something I find helpful. When things really start to "burn your brain" take a break! Get away from it all. Come back later. You'll be refreshed and feel better. I used to teach in the computer field a few years ago. And you don't lose stuff you've learnt in the past. It just helps you learn new stuff in the future. Be patient with yourself. You'll figure it out. It just takes time. "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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#23
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
You may find the Microsoft interactive guides helpful. The screen display
is the familiar Word and Excel 2003 screen. By pointing and clicking on a feature you want to use, a help tag pops up and tells you where to find this feature in 2007. Give it a try and see if it helps. Click on the START THE GUIDE button about halfway down each page. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...491511033.aspx http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...744321033.aspx "Liontamer" wrote in message ... JMB I can relate to your frustrations. And I can offer you this piece of advice. Everything takes time. Unfortunately, when it come to computers everything is an exact science. There's always an answer for some issue or concern. Your prior experience will help you digest new stuff. It may not always work the same way. But at least you've got a sort-of head start. You know something about the language being used, so you might have some insight on how to proceed or what to look for in an answer. Look, I am also dealing with a learning curve too. And I just can't believe how much information there is to learn and comprehend. However, here's something I find helpful. When things really start to "burn your brain" take a break! Get away from it all. Come back later. You'll be refreshed and feel better. I used to teach in the computer field a few years ago. And you don't lose stuff you've learnt in the past. It just helps you learn new stuff in the future. Be patient with yourself. You'll figure it out. It just takes time. "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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#24
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
You may also find it helpful to the Office 2007 add-in that helps find
commands in Word, PowerPoint and Excel. It's a prototype developed by Microsoft Office Labs and they want to get lots of feedback to understand how it is used. You can get it from this link: http://www.officelabs.com/projects/s...s/default.aspx -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "BK" wrote in message ... You may find the Microsoft interactive guides helpful. The screen display is the familiar Word and Excel 2003 screen. By pointing and clicking on a feature you want to use, a help tag pops up and tells you where to find this feature in 2007. Give it a try and see if it helps. Click on the START THE GUIDE button about halfway down each page. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...491511033.aspx http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/wo...744321033.aspx "Liontamer" wrote in message ... JMB I can relate to your frustrations. And I can offer you this piece of advice. Everything takes time. Unfortunately, when it come to computers everything is an exact science. There's always an answer for some issue or concern. Your prior experience will help you digest new stuff. It may not always work the same way. But at least you've got a sort-of head start. You know something about the language being used, so you might have some insight on how to proceed or what to look for in an answer. Look, I am also dealing with a learning curve too. And I just can't believe how much information there is to learn and comprehend. However, here's something I find helpful. When things really start to "burn your brain" take a break! Get away from it all. Come back later. You'll be refreshed and feel better. I used to teach in the computer field a few years ago. And you don't lose stuff you've learnt in the past. It just helps you learn new stuff in the future. Be patient with yourself. You'll figure it out. It just takes time. "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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#25
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
"Liontamer" wrote in message ... JMB I can relate to your frustrations. And I can offer you this piece of advice. Everything takes time. Unfortunately, when it come to computers everything is an exact science. There's always an answer for some issue or concern. Your prior experience will help you digest new stuff. It may not always work the same way. But at least you've got a sort-of head start. You know something about the language being used, so you might have some insight on how to proceed or what to look for in an answer. Look, I am also dealing with a learning curve too. And I just can't believe how much information there is to learn and comprehend. However, here's something I find helpful. When things really start to "burn your brain" take a break! Get away from it all. Come back later. You'll be refreshed and feel better. I used to teach in the computer field a few years ago. And you don't lose stuff you've learnt in the past. It just helps you learn new stuff in the future. Be patient with yourself. You'll figure it out. It just takes time. "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB Well I've been using Word since Word 3.0 and I am finally throwing in the towel on Word 2007. I cannot express how disappointed I am in how needlessly complicated Microsoft has made this program. I will stick with Excel and PowerPoint 2007, although they didn't improve them either. Word, however, is my bread and butter - it's what I work in all day and what I work in at night. I just can't get it to customize appropriately, no matter how many ways I try. I finally got the AutoText imported and AutoCorrect entries, but my custom toolbars and menus are lost. I get them to appear once in a while, but they never stick, no matter how many different convoluted ways I tried to get them to show up. My macros are okay - they were easy to find, but everything else, which I've worked so hard to fine tune exactly the way I wanted them, is just buried under way too many clicks in this new version. I love learning new software, but I'm throwing in the towel for the first time ever. It's back to Word 2003 for me both at home and at work. I'm beat, done, finished. I've never cried "uncle" before with any new software, even Vista, but I've wasted far too much time and come to the conclusion that Word 2007 will never meet my needs. Ever. |
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#26
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
I'm so glad to have read all of this...here is what I had posted which seems
to reach most of your comments. As an experienced legal secretary, Information Technology Support Specialist and soon-to-be on-the-job trainer in a renowned legal firm, I believe it is mandatory for me and for Microsoft Word users in this work environment (and others similar to it)to share my opinions and observances of the totally remodeled Word 2007 interface. Although I am now an advanced Word user, I was once a devoted, passionate and unconditionnal WordPerfect user and was for many years. I believed and still believe that Wordperfect was really user friendly, easy to customize, flexible, and mostly, transparent with regards to the logic used in the structure and management of word processed documents. All of which I believe Word does not have. My transition to Word was done with teeth-grinding, frustration,and regrets. With years of hands-on experience (and sweating), extensive and diversified training, and a huge microsoft library (books, videos, learning software and cd's and dvd's) .... I have finally managed the use of advanced functions in creating long complex documents, in this not-so user friendly interface and rigid structure. I now know most of the workarounds necessary to function with Word. Last year, almost converted to Word, I had the shocking experience of meeting with the new Microsoft Word 2007 new interface. Past the initial shock, I did extensive reading of your Microsoft Office 2007 books, visited numerous specialized Word sites, and used Office 2007 for a year. Before writing this email, I was still trying to convince myself that I would adapt sooner or later, and forget this transition. However, I am convinced I will work with Word 2007 because I have to, but will never appreciate the interface that has been totally remodeled considering (no doubt)the needs and opinions of beginner users. I believe, the new interface has been developed on the basis (according to my analyses and experience)of answering the needs of beginner users to create fancy and good looking documents rapidly. This would be fine if the sale of document processing software was intended for a clientele of beginner users and high school students who use word sporadically for basic tasks. However, I believe, that word processors are destined for intermediate to advanced users evolving in the professional workplace to answer to the demands of professionals who make it possible for users to have access to expensive and rapidly changing software. The new concept of a "contextual" working environment does not favor a logical use of Word and the mastering of its functionalities. According to me, (and many experts) this concept has left, experienced intermediate and advanced users looking and searching for tools and functions necessary to the logical structure of documents in Word. Tools now made available in this new contextual environment are limited too the particulars of the document being worked on. Therefore, focusing user-actions to be task and document-specific rather than promoting and facilitating structured, logical and methodical working methods which result in well-structured, logical, stable, efficient and professional documents through the use of templates, styles, outlining and numbering. Also, this new concept does not create, a smooth-flowing and efficient work-flow process obtained by the acquisition of automation processes resulting from the repeated execution of actions in a logic and methodical way. The only work-around suggested for this major obstacle is to create customized toolbars (which most experienced users do not use anyways, because it is much more efficient to use keyboard shortcuts) and go back time and time again to the Microsoft Home button. Note, that inexperienced users usually do not take the time to create a customized environment. My main concern here, is not only that this new interface, may cause document processing to become a nightmare and encur lost of time and money for users, consequently businesses, but that it may also compromise companies' strive to achieve and maintain a professional, consistent and unified corporate image. The basics of marketing will be at peril. If you wish to obtain specific examples in support of what I have advanced I can supply you with them, but Word specialists have written books and books bringing out the importance of understanding and mastering complex document structure mechanics to achieve long, complex, stable documents. Several specialists also mention the increased efficiency of document production when using keyboard shortcuts. Why go back to using the mouse more often with toolbars, buttons, contextual menus and contextual work interface. For a final Word, why not change the programming of your interface (Word 2008 maybe?)to the one used by Wordperfect programmers? Why try to reinvent when a majority of users agree that Wordperfect was the most user-friendly word processing interface. I thank you for taking the time to read me, and I sincerely hope that I will be able to reignite my passion for long complex documents. -- Andre Support representative (Law Firm -- Andre Support representative (Law Firm) "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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#27
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
I have a problem when I save a word file that I have downloaded off of the
internet site where I do online teaching. If I click save as, I then choose the location in my computer. And it works fine. If I download the file, and then click save, and then edit the file, and then click save, and then close the file, it disappears. I can not find it anywhere in my computer. The search option in my startup menu will not find it. Where is it? How do I get to it? Help, please. -- DDE "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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#28
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
You may have opened the Word file directly from your browser without
saving it first to a folder. The browser will download the file to a temporary internet directly to open it and that is where it gets saved when you don't use "save as". You need to either right click the link and save it to a specific folder or once in the word document do a "save as" to specify to save it somewhere other than the temporary internet folder that your browser has placed it. If you do a save as from MS Word from within the document, you can also usually determine where the temporary folder is located. Regards, Ben DDE wrote: I have a problem when I save a word file that I have downloaded off of the internet site where I do online teaching. If I click save as, I then choose the location in my computer. And it works fine. If I download the file, and then click save, and then edit the file, and then click save, and then close the file, it disappears. I can not find it anywhere in my computer. The search option in my startup menu will not find it. Where is it? How do I get to it? Help, please. |
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#29
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
Ben wrote:
You may have opened the Word file directly from your browser without saving it first to a folder. The browser will download the file to a temporary internet directly to open it and that is where it gets saved when you don't use "save as". You need to either right click the link I meant to say that the browser will download the file to a temporary internet *directory* (i.e. folder). The word "directly" was a typo. Regards, Ben |
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#30
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
When you open a document from an e-mail attachment it opens as a temporary
file. You make and save your changes to that temporary file and when you close Word the temporary file is gone - so don't do it! See also http://www.gmayor.com/outlook_attachments.htm -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org "DDE" wrote in message ... I have a problem when I save a word file that I have downloaded off of the internet site where I do online teaching. If I click save as, I then choose the location in my computer. And it works fine. If I download the file, and then click save, and then edit the file, and then click save, and then close the file, it disappears. I can not find it anywhere in my computer. The search option in my startup menu will not find it. Where is it? How do I get to it? Help, please. -- DDE "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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#31
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Word 2007 Learning Curve
If you don't use SaveAs and choose a location, the file will be in the
Temporary Internet Files - and usually there are many thousands of these on a busy computer. Nor are they indexed, so finding them using Search is tricky too. -- Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP "DDE" wrote in message ... I have a problem when I save a word file that I have downloaded off of the internet site where I do online teaching. If I click save as, I then choose the location in my computer. And it works fine. If I download the file, and then click save, and then edit the file, and then click save, and then close the file, it disappears. I can not find it anywhere in my computer. The search option in my startup menu will not find it. Where is it? How do I get to it? Help, please. -- DDE "JMB" wrote: 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? -- JMB |
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