See also

• Up to speed with Word 2007
• Up to speed with Excel 2007
• Up to speed with PowerPoint 2007
• Up to speed with Outlook 2007
• Which file format should I use in Access 2007?
• What's new in Microsoft Office Access 2007?
• Guides to the 2007 Office system user interface
• Change the screen resolution
• Keyboard shortcuts in the 2007 Office system

Why changes were made in the 2007 Office system design

• Instead of having 30 or so undisplayed toolbars, and commands buried on menus, you now have one control center that's brought the essentials together and made them very visual.
• People using Microsoft Office favor a core set of commands, which they tend to use over and over. Those commands are now the most prominent.

• Some commands are not always visible, but instead appear only in response to an action you take. For example, when you insert a picture in Word, the Picture Tools appear, and the commands you need for working with the picture are displayed on the Format tab. When you are through working with the picture and click away from it, the Picture Tools and the Format tab and its commands go away. If you need the tab again, you simply click the picture.

Put your own commands on the toolbar

If you often use commands that are not as quickly available as you would like, add them to the Quick Access Toolbar, which is above the Ribbon when you first start your Office program.

Quick customization   

The Quick Access Toolbar can be customized in several different ways:

• You can add buttons to it by right-clicking any button you want and then clicking Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
• You can click the command Customize Quick Access Toolbar, which appears when you right-click any button. In the dialog box that opens, choose from the commands available.
• To move the toolbar to its own row just below the Ribbon, click the arrow on the end of the toolbar, and then click Show Below the Ribbon. To move the toolbar above the Ribbon, follow the same steps but click Show Above the Ribbon.

Delete a button from the Quick Access Toolbar

1. Right-click a button on the toolbar.
2. Click Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.

More options if you need them

When you see a small arrow (called the Dialog Box Launcher) in the lower-right corner of a group, it means there are more detailed or advanced options available for the commands in the group. Click the arrow to open a dialog box or a task pane where you can work with the available options.

Different screen resolutions can change what you see

If the screen resolution on your computer is low, for example 800 by 600, a few groups on the Ribbon may display the group name only, instead of all the commands in the group. In that case, click the arrow on the group button to see the commands in the group.

The groups that display just a name in smaller resolution tend to be those with commands that are less frequently used.

What happened to the File menu?

In the several 2007 Office system programs, the File menu has been replaced with the Microsoft Office Button . Click this button, in the upper-left corner of the window, to get the same basic commands as before to open, save, and print your documents.

You'll also find the program settings that control things like your preferences for correcting spelling.

Click Excel Options, or Word Options, and so on, at the bottom of the menu, and then click any of the categories in the list on the left. For example, in Excel, click Formulas to turn the R1C1 reference style on or off. In Word, click Proofing to turn on or off the feature to check spelling as you type.

In earlier versions of Office, you could set options in the Options dialog box, opened through the Tools menu. Many of those options can now be found when you click the Microsoft Office Button, where they are more visible and conveniently close at hand when you start work on old files or new ones.

Using the new keyboard shortcuts

The new keyboard shortcuts have a new name: Key Tips. You press ALT to make the Key Tip badges appear. You'll see Key Tips for all Ribbon tabs, the Quick Access Toolbar, and the Microsoft Office Button.

Press the key for the tab you want to display. This makes all the Key Tip badges for that tab's buttons appear. Then, press the key for the button you want.

Keyboard shortcuts of old that begin with CTRL are all still intact. For example, CTRL+C still copies to the clipboard, and CTRL+V still pastes from the clipboard.

Note    Most of the old ALT+ menu shortcuts still work. However, you will need to know the full shortcut from memory — you'll have no screen reminders of what letters to press.

Think back to a previous version of Office, when you pressed ALT+E to open the Edit menu and then you pressed the underlined letter in one of the commands on the menu. You can still press ALT, and then press one of the old menu keys E (Edit), V (View), I (Insert), and so on. But a menu won't open. Instead, a box will pop up saying you're using an Office 2007 access key. If you know the entire key sequence, just carry on and initiate the command. If you don't know the sequence, press ESC and use the Key Tip badges instead.

What about the new file formats?

In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 there's a new file format. Why? Increased security for your files; reduced chance of file corruption; reduced file size; and new features.

• You can open a file that was created in Office 95 through 2003.
• When you save a file created in a previous version, the default in the Save As dialog box is to save the file as a previous version. You can also select to save the file as a 2007 version.
• When you save a file as a previous version, a Compatibility Checker will let you know of any 2007 features that may be disabled, or matched as closely as possible.
• Colleagues who have Excel versions 2000 through 2003 (and the latest patches and service packs) can work in your 2007 files. When they click on your document, they will be asked if they want to download a converter that will let them open your document.

Access also has a new file format: .accdb. New databases you create in Access 2007 automatically use the format. You can open and work with the old .mdb format, if those files were saved in Access 2000 or Access 2002-2003. To use the new Access 2007 features in .mdb files, however, you must first use Save As to convert the database to the new format. You cannot open the new format with any version of Access except Access 2007.