New Features and Enhancements in Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office System 2007 is the next generation of business productivity suite that replaces Microsoft Office 2003, XP, 2000 and 97. Microsoft Office business suite contains word processor, spreadsheet, database, e-mail and presentation programs. To encourage the usage and popularity of Office 2007, the suite includes many features, changes and enhancements for corporate users and home users, such as document sharing, comparison features, Office button, Live View function and archiving common PowerPoint slides accessible on a network.

According to SPTimes (link dead), the highlight of the features and functionalities in Office 2007 include:

• ScreenTips: No longer wonder what an icon represents, even if it has an identifying word when a mouse cursor is placed on it. ScreenTips give more information about functions. So the Insert Caption icon has an explanation that says: “A caption is a line of text that appears underneath an object or other image to describe it.”
• Galleries: Office goes visual, letting people see their choices on-screen before they make a selection. That eliminates dropdown menus that made people repeat the process if they didn’t like their choice.
• Toolbars: They don’t disappear. In fact, a couple have been added for convenience. The Mini Toolbar will fade in and out over highlighted text, providing the most frequently used formatting commands. The Quick Access Toolbar includes a few top commands and works throughout a program.
• Antiphishing security: In Internet Explorer 7 in Vista, the address bar will change color based on the security rating of the Web site: Green is good, yellow indicates a site that may need more checking and red means it’s a high-risk site.
• A new Outlook: Microsoft has substantially overhauled the calendar and planner in the e-mail program, replacing it with a To-Do Bar. It includes color-coding tasks by priority, as well as sharing calendars with others on a network.
• A plug-in boost: System requirements to run Vista are substantial. We’re likely going to recommend a minimum of 2 gigabytes of random access memory to run the full version of Vista. Vista will run on less, but not all features will work. Two features will help in this area: SuperFetch manages the system’s RAM, and ReadyBoost lets people plug in a USB flash memory stick, which the system will read as extra RAM.
• Live View function which automatically show how a document, presentation or chart will look simply by clicking on what amounts to a palette at the top of the screen.
• File dropdown function in the menu bar at the top been replaced by an Office Button and a new “Ribbon” that will bring many features to the top of the program’s window.