Using Word 2007 – New Features

Using Word 2007 – New Features The Ribbon – menus are replaced by the ribbon, notice the grouped items, Home has the most common needs Try this: Click each ribbon tab title and familiarize yourself with the choices. Note that the most frequently used choices are on the left edge of most tabs. Notice the ribbon areas of grouped icons. Some have Dialog Box Launchers located in the bottom right of the grouped section. Clicking the “launcher” will bring up familiar dialog boxes. Use Cancel or the X to close the dialog box or OK after making a selection. Try Insert Clip Art: Notice that you get an additional window and can use X to close it Try Insert Shapes. Notice the listing of choices. Try Insert Table and highlight boxes for a 3x2 table and click that selection. Notice the additional set of ribbon tabs that now appear allowing you to work with the table. These are Contextual Tabs. Contextual Tabs – new ribbon tabs appear as a new item is added to your document such as when adding a picture or a table. Try this: Insert a Table. See if you can delete a column and insert a row in the table. Hint: Use the Table Tools Layout Tab. Now, add some items to your table and then hover over the different table styles on the Table Tools Design Tab to see ways to easily change the style of your table. Galleries of styles for preview prior to changing the document are available throughout. Quick Access Toolbar – Use this area for quick access to your favorite Word functions. Use the drop down arrow to select additional options for the quick access toolbar. Save, Undo and Redo are there by default. When using the “save” icon for the first time with a file, it will act as a “save as” choice. Try this: Add Print Preview to your quick access toolbar. The Office Button – filled with the typical document needs that were once found on the 2003 File menu Try this: Click the Office Button and notice that the popular New, Open, Save, Save As, and Print options are here. Items to note: New offers some great templates and Save As may turn out to be the most critical option that you understand. Everyone who uses Office 2007 will be able to easily open your files with no special saving required on your part. Anyone who has not started to use Office 2007 may have trouble opening your files. If this happens, you may want to choose Word 97-2003 (save as type: option). You may also install an add-in that allows you to save in pdf format. FACULTY/STUDENT OPTIONS FOR DEALING WITH OFFICE 2007 FILES WITHIN BLACKBOARD OPTION 1: If you plan to use the Office 2007 format, your students will need these directions: Opening Word, PowerPoint, or Excel 2007 documents in Blackboard Generally for now, Office 2007 files in Blackboard will need to be saved to a desktop location or flash drive first instead of being opened from within Bb. After it is saved, students can go to the saving location and double click the file to open it. Steps to do this (if needed): Click the file in Bb Choose to Save the file Pick the location for the file and then rename* the file with the appropriate Office 2007 extension *Very important renaming: when saving the file to an appropriate place on your machine or a flash drive, remember to rename a Word file and use a .docx at the end of the file name such as ClassAssignment1.docx (remove the .zip at the end of the filename if it shows). Use other appropriate "extensions" such as .pptx for PowerPoint files (Ex: ClassPresentation.pptx) or .xlsx for Excel files (ClassSpreadsheetInfo.xlsx). OPTION 2: If you choose as the instructor to save all files for Blackboard in the Word 97-2003 format, then simply upload them to Bb in the 97-2003 format. The students will be able to choose Open after clicking on the file to view the contents. Tips - Microsoft believes that we will: “Save time and get more out of the powerful Word capabilities by selecting from galleries of predefined styles, document themes, document templates, table formats, list formats, graphical effects, and more.” Try this: Insert SmartArt, choose Cycle, choose the Nondirectional cycle (top row right) and click OK. Click in each Text area and type in values. Now use the SmartArt Tools Contextual Tabs and experiment with Design Styles, Colors and the Format Styles. Remember that you can hover over a style to see the result before clicking to make the selection. TIP for keyboard shortcuts - Press the Alt key and a tiny letter or number icon appears on the ribbon for each tab -- for example, the letter H for the Home tab. Subsequent choices also have quick keyboard shortcut keys. Most keyboard shortcuts from Word 2003 will work as expected. Word 2007 Assistance Assistance and the Help Icon - Located in the top right area of the ribbon keyboard. Search for assistance on any topic. Try this: Click the help icon and check that All Word is selected in the search dropdown choices. Type interactive in the white search box and tap Enter on the keyboard. Choose the Interactive: Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide. Start the interactive guide and click the Word 2003 menu choice and item that you want to be able to use in Word 2007. It will show you the new Word 2007 location. or tap F1 on the Word 2007 mini-courses created by Microsoft: (Google: Microsoft Word 2007 courses) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/CR100654561033.aspx Very nicely prepared site: (Google: Word 2007 Tutorial) http://fgcu.edu/support/office2007/Word/index.asp Word menu 2003 to 2007 quick reference - “a cheat sheet” (Skip the ad if it shows): (Google: word 2007 cheat sheet quick) http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011145&pageNumber=7 Tips for boosting your Word 2007 productivity: (Google: Word 2007 productivity) http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=248 Help for Compatibility of files issues: For people who haven’t switched to Office 2007 so as to be able to open a file given to them created in Office 2007 – note the download button and the instruction section (Google: Word 2007 compatibility) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ and then pick the compatibility pack Save as PDF: Follow the few steps that Microsoft requires to download and install the add-in (Google: Office 2007 save as pdf) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ Near the bottom select the Office Product Family an d then find the 2007 Office Add-in to Save as PDF or XPS NOTE: “Google” as listed if necessary to find the site.