Introduction

With the release оf Micrоsоft Оffice 2010 in June 2010 many are wondering whether it is wоrth it tо upgrade. It is nоt cheap tо upgrade tо 2010 sо in оrder tо make the mоve yоu wоuld need tо knоw exactly what differences yоu will get and what are the benefits оf Micrоsоft 2010. This article will оutline sоme оf the key differences you should knоw in оrder tо help yоu make the right decisiоn to  upgrade оr nоt.

Оffice 2007 brоught the intrоductiоn оf the ribbоn which is the menu bar at the tоp sectiоn оf the screen. Whilst it was pооrly received initally because it strayed away frоm the buttоn menu tооlbar that was sо prоminent in the predecessоrs. It has becоme essential tо the use оf Micrоsоft Оffice and has becоme far mоre practical fоr users оnce the learning curve has been оvercоme.

The biggest upgrade tо Оffice 2010 is the increase in utilizatiоn оf the new menu system. Micrоsоft Оffice 2010 has taken that ribbоn’s success and has built оn it tо stretch it acrоss all prоducts in the range including Оutlооk and ОneNоte which were previоusly still using an оlder menu system. The new ribbоn which was blue in 2007 is nоw a standard white in 2010 but can be easily changed tо which ever yоu prefer. Users now have the ability to customise the Ribbon. Initially yоu will have the white ribbоn but yоu can still switch tо the оld buttоn style if yоu still have nоt yet liked the new style.

With the release оf Windоws 7 in late 2009,  the Оffice 2007 did nоt utilize all оf the features оf the new оperating system. The new features оf 2010 оffice dо use the new platfоrm with a new set оf icоns tо be able tо be read alоng the task bar sо yоu can easily switch between. Yоu can alsо see previews оf the wоrk tо find what yоu are wоrking оn just by mоving yоur cursоr оver the applicatiоn icоn.

New templates and layоuts are nоw available in Оffice 2010 because as yоu wоuld knоw if yоu have been using 2007 a lоt that yоu keep using the same title pages yоu can nоw be happy tо knоw that Micrоsоft Оffice 2010 has prоvided a range оf new templates with imprоved functiоnality fоr users.

Microsoft Word 2010

Description

             The MS Word is used to make a document. It can also used in doing a documentary report about what you have research. MS Word is used in businesses, schools and universities. It’s a word processing program that allows users to create documents such as resumes, letters, reports, and more. It is an efficient tool for students, business owners and even working individuals.

New and Improved MS Word

Ø  Integration of Screenshot feature in Word

Enough use of the snipping tool or print screen buttons! Now you can take screenshots directly from the Word document you are working on.The option of screenshot is in the ribbon at the top of your document. When you click screenshot you automatically get few screenshot samples from the background (that is at the back of the the word document). You can either select from the available screenshots or click on “Screen clipping” to take the screenshot yourself.

Ø  Remove background of Images

It’s a Photoshop like feature-not as effective though-yet its a great help. With it you can directly remove the background of any picture. It is really good for simple backgrounds while a little untidy and time consuming for the complex ones.

Ø  New Art Effects in WordArt

WordArt has been updated with new colorful art effects. Select the text, click “Word Art” and a list of options will appear. You can see how your text will appear when you hover the mouse over the option-which is the best part:

Ø  Artistic Effects

Fantastic new artistic effects have been added in Word 2010! Select the image and click on“Artistic Effects” from the ribbon. You get a bunch of options like Pencil Sketch, Chalk Sketch, Glowy Edges, Photocopy etc

Ø  Paste Preview

When you copy a styled piece of text, Paste Preview in Word 2010 gives you a variety of options when it comes time to paste it:

o   Keep Source Formatting – this option retains the formatting used on the source document you copied. This means that text will be displayed using the same fonts and other attributes like the line height of text will be retained too. Images are inserted with the same vertical and horizontal spacing.

o   Merge Formatting – the pasted elements will adopt the formatting currently in use in the destination Word 2010 document.

o   Keep Text Only – using this option will discard certain things that were present in the source, such as images and formatting. Only plain text will be pasted so headings, for example, will lose their size and bolding.

Ø  The ribbon

The ribbon, part of the Fluent UI, was designed to optimize key Word 2010 documentation scenarios to make them easier to use. The ribbon provides quicker access to all the commands in Word 2010 and allows for easier future additions and customizations. You can also customize the ribbon. For example, you can create custom tabs and custom groups to contain frequently used commands. To help maximize the editing of your documentation space on the page, the ribbon can also be hidden while you write.

Ø  Backstage view

The Microsoft Office Backstage is part of the Fluent UI and a companion feature to the ribbon. The Backstage view, which can be accessed from the File menu, helps you find frequently used features for managing your Word documentation files. (The File tab replaces the Microsoft Office Button and File menu that were used in earlier release of Microsoft Office.) The Backstage view is used to manage files and the data about the files, such as creating and saving files, inspecting for hidden metadata or personal information, and setting file options.

Ø  File format

The Word 2010 file format enables new features such as co-authoring, new graphic and text effects, and new numbering formats. Word 2010 works with Office Word 2007 documents.

Ø  Protected View

Files from a potentially unsafe location (such as the Internet or an e-mail attachment) or files that contain active content (such as macros, data connections, or ActiveX controls) are validated and can open in Protected View. When you open files in Protected View mode, the editing functions are disabled. You can open and edit files from trusted sources by clicking Enable Editing. You can also explore data about the files in the Backstage view.

Ø  SmartArt graphics

When you save a document that contains a SmartArt graphics in Word 97-2003 format, the graphics will be converted to static images. You will be unable to change text inside a graphic, change its layout, or change its general appearance. If you later convert the document to Word 2010 format and no changes have been made to the images in an earlier version, the graphic will be changed back to a Smart Art object.

Comparison

MS word 2007 is the old version and MS word 2010 is the latest version. There are lot of improvements and new features are available MS word 2010 compared to the previous version. Background image removal is another new feature that will remove the background image and add you own image or text in the background. Protected mode is one of the features and it will allow you to open the word documents in protected mode, you can make the document as trusted in order to avoid protected mode. Smart art feature is an improved template like Clip art which is also available in MS word 2007. Document options in MS word 2010 are completed improved. It has good look and feel as well as new options. Printing options can be launched from MS word 2010 instead of settings the option from printer wizard from control panel. In MS word 2010 have many more interesting features available that makes very comfortable to work.

Issues

   v  Recovering a Lost File

Problem:

Unexpected error occurred and a Word document hasn’t been saved and/or how to recover a lost Word file.

Solution:

a) Close all applications.

b) Click Start/Search/All files and folders. Search for *.doc, *.tmp, *.wbk, *.asd and ~$<filename>.doc files

c) Educate the customer how to use “Always create backup copy” in Word, Tools/Options/Save

v  Applying Bullets and Numbering causes Word to crash

 

Problem:

Clicking on bullets and numbering on the Formatting toolbar in Word causes application to crash or exhibits unusual behavior for bullets and numbering.

Error message “   Invalid Page Fault in Module Mso9.dll” when clicking on bullets and numbering on the Formatting toolbar in Word.

Solution:

This problem may occur when the List Gallery Presets are damaged in the Windows registry.

a) Close all applications. Click on Start/Run, type in “regedit” (without the quotation marks)

b) Expand the following key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<office version>\Word\List Gallery Presets

c) Right-click on “List Gallery Presets” and export it onto the Desktop

d) Close out of Registry Editor and re-launch Word to test it

Note: If you delete the entire List Gallery Presets, this returns the gallery to the default schemes, deleting the customer's custom schemes. Word will re-create the registry key when it is restarted.

v  Toolbars and Menus are Missing

 

Problem:

Toolbars and menus are missing upon launching Word.

Solution:

a) Start Word with the /a switch. Close all applications. Click on Start/Run, type in “winword.exe /a” (without the quotations marks)

b) If the issue doesn’t occur in Word safe mode, then rename all instances of normal.dot found and rename Data and Options keys in the Registry Editor in data. Old and options. Old respectively.

Reflection

            The MS Word 2010 gives us the easier ways to work together with people. It helps you organize and write your document more efficiently with document formatting tools. It has advance features of options in editing or inserting something that will make your document more presentable. Even the copy and paste version has been upgraded that contains a live preview of paste function can be seen your work. The new and improved feature of it gives the users a more capable way to do their work easier and faster than before.

Microsoft Excel 2010

Description

            The MS Excel is one way of doing a computation in easier way. Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows users to insert and manipulate data, inserting cells, mathematical functions, and sorting lists. The Excel menu contains the Quick command and the Preferences option that allows you to customize the Excel program.

New and Improved in MS Excel

Ø Ribbon

First introduced in Excel 2007, the ribbon makes it easy for you to find commands and features that were previously buried in complex menus and toolbars. Although you could customize the Quick Access Toolbar in Excel 2007, it wasn’t possible to add your own tabs or groups to the ribbon. In Excel 2010, however, you can create custom tabs and groups and rename or change the order of the built-in tabs and groups.

  Ø Recover previous versions  

You can now recover versions of files that you closed without saving. This is helpful when you forget to manually save, when you save changes that you didn't mean to save, or when you just want to revert to an earlier version of your workbook.

  Ø Protected view 

Excel 2010 includes a Protected View, so you can make more informed decisions before exposing your computer to possible vulnerabilities. By default, documents that originate from an Internet source are opened in Protected View. When this happens, you see a warning on the Message bar, along with the option to enable editing. You can control which originating sources trigger Protected View. You can also set specific file types to open in Protected View regardless of where they originate.

  Ø Trusted documents   

The trusted documents feature is designed to make it easier to open workbooks and other documents that contain active content, such as data connections or macros. Now, after you confirm that active content in a workbook is safe to enable, you don’t have to repeat yourself. Excel 2010 remembers the workbooks you trust so that you can avoid being prompted each time you open the workbook.

Ø Sparklines

You can use sparklines—tiny charts that fit in a cell—to visually summarize trends alongside data. Because sparklines show trends in a small amount of space, they are especially useful for dashboards or other places where you need to show a snapshot of your business in an easy-to-understand visual format. In the following image, the sparklines that appear in the Trend column let you see at a glance how each department performed in May.

   Ø PivotTable labels 

It's now possible to fill down labels in a PivotTable. You can also repeat labels in PivotTables to display item captions of nested fields in all rows and columns.

   Ø Enhanced filtering  

   

You can use slicers to quickly filter data in a PivotTable with the click of a button and see which filters are applied without having to open additional menus. In addition, the filter interface includes a handy search box that can help you to find what you need among potentially thousands (or even millions) of items in your Pivot Tables.

   Ø Search filter  

When you filter data in Excel tables, PivotTables, and PivotCharts, you can use a new search box, which helps you to find what you need in long lists. For example, to find a specific product in a catalog that stocks over 100,000 items, start by typing your search term, and relevant items instantly appear in the list. You can narrow the results further by deselecting the items you don't want to see.

   Ø Filter and sort regardless of location 

In an Excel table, table headers replace regular worksheet headers at the top of columns when you scroll down in a long table. AutoFilter buttons now remain visible along with table headers in your table columns, so you can sort and filter data quickly without having to scroll all the way back up to the top of the table.

   Ø SmartArt graphic layouts  

With new picture layouts, you can tell your story with photographs. For example, use the Captioned Picture layout to show pictures with nice-looking captions underneath.

Comparison

The calculation speed is a little faster. Spark lines are improved. They are improved charts. Microsoft improved statistical, financial, and math functions. The functions are better. Fill patterns which were removed in 2007 are back.  However do not upgrade just to get fill patterns back.  A quick search on the internet will find several free fill pattern add-ins for Excel 2007. If you are a heavy user of conditional formatting, then upgrading to 2010 should benefit you.  In 2007, a lot of conditional formatting would bring Excel to its knees. 

Issues

Problems                                                 Solution

I have two lists that I need to combine containing addresses but one list uses "Street" while the other uses the abbreviation "St” Do I have to change all of the addresses manually?		No, you don't. The Data Cleaner can do this task for you!  You simply create a set of edit rules (ex: change "Street" to "St".   And, you can store the edit rules so you can use them again and again.
I need to rearrange many rows in my spreadsheet but it is a very tedious task of cutting and pasting.		The List Assistant contains several different buttons that help you organize and cleanup worksheet rows quickly and easily. You can move rows anywhere on your spreadsheet with one click of a button.
I have to open a text file that has over 100,000 data lines and Excel won't open it, what can I do?		Use the Text File Importer to quickly and easily import text files that contain over one million rows of data.

Reflection

          The MS Excel gives users a large variety of tools that they can use to make their data more flexible and useful. You can also make a mountain of data in more manageable ways. The Excel 2007 or 2010 gives users the ability to put a data or either inserting a workbook or a new one. You can operate the sort and filter data in many ways, and can also add summaries and subtotals. Additionally, users can add formulas to the workbook to analyze the data. Excel 2010 also includes new and improved features to analyze, manage and share information in more ways than ever before.

Microsoft Power Point 2010

Description

            The MS Power Point is used to make a presentation in more presentable way. It allows the users to create anything from basic slide shows to complex presentations. PowerPoint is often used to create business presentations, but can also be used for educational or informal purposes. The presentations are composed of slides, which may contain text, images, and other media, such as audio and movies. Sound effects and animated transitions can also be included to add extra appeal to the presentation.

New and Improved Power Point

   Ø Video power tools

Create extraordinary presentations by embedding video that was created using tools that give a professional multimedia experience. You can fade, add formatting effects, bookmark scenes, and trim your videos with ease. Sharing is easy because the embedded video is part of the PowerPoint presentation. You only have to share one file.

   Ø Picture editing

Use new and improved picture editing tools-including versatile artistic effects and advanced correction, color, and cropping tools-to fine-tune every picture in your presentation to look its absolute best.

   Ø Graphic effects

You don’t have to be a design expert to create professional-looking graphics. Use dozens of additional SmartArt layouts to create organization charts, lists, and picture diagrams. Transform words into impressive visuals that better illustrate your ideas. Create diagrams as easily as typing a bulleted list or convert text and images to a diagram in just a few clicks. All the tools you need to create stunning graphics are built into PowerPoint.

   Ø 3-D transitions and improved animations

PowerPoint 2010 offers new, dynamic slide transitions and animation effects that look similar to graphics you’d see on TV. Easily access, preview, apply, customize, and replace animations. You can also use the new Animation Painter to easily copy animations from one object to another.

Ø Compress video and audio 

Select File and then Info to compress video and audio in your presentation. This reduces the file size and can increase playback performance. Select the quality option from the drop-down choices.

Ø  Customize the Ribbon

Use customizations to personalize the ribbon the way that you want it. For example, you can create custom tabs and custom groups to contain your frequently used commands. Note:Ribbon customization is specific to the Microsoft Office program you are working in at the time. Ribbon customization does not apply across the Office programs.

Ø File format

The PowerPoint 2010 file format enables new features such as sharing on the Web, linked presentation co-authoring, and versioning. PowerPoint 2010 will continue to work on Office PowerPoint 2007 presentations.

Ø Protected View

Files from a potentially unsafe location (such as the Internet or an e-mail attachment) or files that contain active content (such as macros, data connections, or ActiveX controls) are validated and can open in Protected View. When you open files in Protected View mode, the editing functions are disabled. You can open and edit files from trusted sources by clicking Enable Editing. You can also explore data about the files in the Backstage view.

Ø  Collaboration and sharing features

PowerPoint 2010 supports co-authoring functionality. Co-authoring functionality simplifies collaboration by enabling multiple users to work productively on the same presentation without intruding on one another’s work or locking one another out. Office 2010 offers co-authoring functionality for PowerPoint 2010, Microsoft Word 2010, and Microsoft OneNote 2010 documents on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

Ø Working with text and objects

PowerPoint 2010 provides improved editing tools with a new set of Photo Effects that enable you to transform your images.

·         Video and audio editing

·         Graphics, transitions, and animations

·         Help and translation

Comparison

The menus are different and feature a new “backstage view” that enables easier and more capable in managing a file. There is also an improvement in video and audio formatting which features some editing that are useful. The improvement of features in PPT 2010 is more advance to PPT 2007 in terms of their features. Another improvement which you may notice is the picture formatting and editing features. In PPT 2007 a user generally had to edit a picture outside the program for its more part.  Due to the improvements in textures, effects, cropping and picture editing it is possible to avoid this step in PPT 2010. Overall, it takes a easier way to used the new menu layout of charts, graphs and smart art that can produce some great powerful presentations.

Issues

   v  Why does my screen go black if I stay too long on one slide while presenting?

This is generally caused by either the energy setting or the screensaver setting being too short for presentations. I suggest you turn both of these options off while presenting to eliminate any chance of this.

v  How can I get my presentation to always start in "Show" mode?

Change the extension of the PowerPoint file from ".ppt" to ".pps".

v  How can I create better handouts than those made with PowerPoint?

Use the Send to Word feature (found under "File" -> "Send to" ->" Word"). This option will allow you to send your presentation to Word and work with it there to add headers, footers, title pages, tests, and whatever else you need. However, it is a one way transfer, not a link.

Reflection

                The MS Power Point 2010 get things done faster because of it new and improved features. It has a personalized inserting video, audio and etc…It also contains more visual impact to the audience because of its new and improved transitions and animations. It also gives a new ways to deliver your work for the best and presentable way.