Revised September 26, 2008

Short Overview of Microsoft Word 2007

The Ribbon vs. the Menu Bar
Instead of the familiar menu bar, Word 07 uses a Ribbon that extends across the top. We no longer see a list of items UNDER the menuwe see a list of groups and commands ACROSS the ribbon.

THERE ARE THREE MAIN PARTS TO THE RIBBON:

1. TABS appear across the top of the Ribbon. Each tab opens an activity area. The tabs are very
much like menus.

2. GROUPS are a collection of similar commands shown together on tabs across the ribbon. Groups

include the commands for a particular task. Note: Double-clicking an active tab makes the groups beneath the tab disappear. Double-clicking the tab makes them reappear.

3. COMMANDS are arranged in groups.

a. A command consists of choices and may be a button, a box, or a menu where information is entered.

b. There are more commands in familiar dialog boxes. When you see a small arrow (Dialog Box Launcher) in the lower-right corner of a group, a familiar dialog box opens with more commands and details from which to choose. Click the arrow to open the dialog box or a task pane.

What happened to everything? Wheres the File Menu? Where are all the toolbars? How do I print? Wheres Spell check?
Instead of the File Menu, the Microsoft Office Button functions very much like the File Menu including some basic commands such as print, open, and save, but with some other commands that were in different menus in Word 2003. One of these is the Options command that was under the Tools menu. The remaining tools have been moved into other tabs where I think they fit more appropriately.

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Short Overview of Microsoft Word 07

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Quick Access Toolbar vs. the Toolbars

Because of the way the Ribbon and its respective Tabs function, there are no longer any toolbars. What is there is the Quick Access Toolbar which is located at the top left of the Ribbon. By default, it contains some common commands that are used frequently and often: Save, Undo, and Repeat. The screen capture above shows some of my favorite commands that I have added to the Quick Access Toolbar so they are always available. It is easy to add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar just right-click on the command you want to add, and then click on Add to Quick Access Toolbar. The tools on the toolbars that you used frequently, such as the Picture Toolbar or the Header-Footer Toolbar, appear when you use the respective command in Word 07. After you Insert a Picture for example, another Tab appears above the Ribbon containing the tools for that command or feature. Those tools have been added to the Ribbon (which changes with each Tab and command). When I click on one of the screen captures in this document, the Picture Tools Tab appears on the Ribbon and the Ribbons contents change to reflect those tools necessary to work with the picture. .

Also, you no longer View a header/footer, you Insert one (which makes far more sense to me that viewing did!).

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Short Overview of Microsoft Word 07

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 Spell check did not disappear; it is on the Review tab in the Proofing group. This might be one of those commands that you add to the Quick Access Toolbar!

Exploring the Microsoft Office Button

Click on the Office Button to open it. As you can see, the items there are very similar to those in Word 03s File Menu. The most recent documents appear on the right, rather than at the bottom. You can change the number of documents that appear in this most recent list using the Word Options Command button at the bottom of the window.

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 Under Word Options, the Popular window gives you standard choices like color scheme and language options. There is one choice that is with XP and not with Vistathe Clear Type choice. Using Clear Type is a default with Vista, but must be selected in XP. It is one of your desktop configuration options when you right-click on the desktop. It makes a big difference in the clarity of the fonts on screen. Also, if you notice that your email attachments are opening in the Reading View, deselect that option (just under the Clear Type choice). And for those of you who are form creators, you will need the Developer tab to show in the Ribbon, so be sure there is a check mark there.

(XP usersIf you do not know how to adjust the desktop properties to get to the clear type option, just right-click on your desktop and choose properties. In the Display Properties dialog box, click on the Appearance tab. Click on the Effects button. Then on the Effects dialog box, click where it says Use the following method and then click on the drop-down list and choose Clear Type). Note: Whether you have 07 yet or not on your computer, adjusting this makes working in all programs just a bit easier because the font is clearer.

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 Many of the other Options can be left at the defaults. Under the Save option, note that the default is to save in Word 07 format. Since the Word 07 file format is NOT compatible with Word 03 and will not open in Word 03 unless you have the converter file, you might you might want to set this to save in 03 format if you are constantly sharing your Word documents with individuals who may not have the converter file. However, doing so may mean that some of the advanced features that come with 07 will be lost in the translation. You should also set the Save AutoRecover information to every 5 minutes. Be sure the box is checked. You can accomplish a great deal of work in 5 minutes time. Any amount higher than that means just that much more work that will be lost should the power suddenly cut off. In the Advanced option, you might want to adjust two things. Under Show document content, put a check mark next to Show text boundaries so you are able to see the margins on the page. Just beneath that under Display, you can adjust the number of recent documents that you want to appear in the Recent document list.

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 It is under the Customize option that you can add things to the Quick Access Toolbar and adjust the order that they appear. The choice of commands defaults to Popular. Click on the drop-down list and choose All Commands to view all the commands you think you might want in your Quick Access Toolbar.

Keyboard Shortcuts
If you are an avid or advanced keyboard shortcut user, you will find that the shortcuts which start with keye.g., C for copy or V for paste (which are universal keyboard shortcuts)remain the the same. Those that started with the key, which were specific to Word 2003 and visible by the underscored letters in the menu, may have changed.

c a

Press the ALT key. Badges appear showing the shortcut key.

a. Pressing the number that corresponds to the Quick Access Toolbar command completes the action.

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b. Pressing one of the letters that corresponds to the tab that you want will open the ribbon for that tab and show the shortcut keys for the commands that appear on that ribbon. Press the number, letter, or letters (with two letters, first press one then the other). You may find that a menu might . Press H, open that will provide you with another key choice or dialog box. For example, press press F then N, and the font dialog box appears.

c. Most of the Word 2003 keyboard shortcuts that begin with still work, but unless you memorized them , you may not be able to see if they still work. Below is a list of some of those keys compiled from the Microsoft.com website (http://office.microsoft.com/enus/word/HP051866641033.aspx) . They have not been tested to see if they perform the same way in Word 2007. Note: If the keystrokes are the universal shortcut keys (many of those preceded just by ), they should work.

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Shortcut Keystrokes
Create a nonbreaking space. Create a nonbreaking hyphen. Turn bold on or off. Turn italics on or off. Turn underline on or off. Decrease font size. Increase font size. Remove paragraph or character formatting. Copy the selected text or object. Cut the selected text or object. Paste text or an object. Undo the last action. Redo the last action. Create a new document of the same type as the current or most recent document. Open a document. Close a document. Save a document. Find text, formatting, and special items. Go to a page, bookmark, footnote, table, comment, graphic, or other location. Print a document. Move to the beginning of the document. Move to the end of the document Insert a line break Insert a page break Insert a section break Insert an em dash Insert an en dash Insert a nonbreaking hyphen Insert a nonbreaking space Change the case of letters. Format letters as all capitals. Format letters as small capitals. Center a paragraph. Justify a paragraph. Left align a paragraph. Right align a paragraph. Indent a paragraph from the left. Remove a paragraph indent from the left. Create a hanging indent. Reduce a hanging indent. Merge a document. Print the merged document. Insert a merge field. CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR CTRL+HYPHEN CTRL+B CTRL+I CTRL+U CTRL+SHIFT+< CTRL+SHIFT+> CTRL+SPACEBAR CTRL+C CTRL+X CTRL+V CTRL+Z CTRL+Y CTRL+N CTRL+O CTRL+W CTRL+S CTRL+F CTRL+G CTRL+P CTRL+HOME CTRL+END SHIFT+ENTER CTRL+ENTER CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER ALT+CTRL+MINUS SIGN CTRL+MINUS SIGN CTRL+SHIFT+HYPHEN CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR SHIFT+F3 CTRL+SHIFT+A CTRL+SHIFT+K CTRL+E CTRL+J CTRL+L CTRL+R CTRL+M CTRL+SHIFT+M CTRL+T CTRL+SHIFT+T ALT+SHIFT+N ALT+SHIFT+M ALT+SHIFT+F

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Exploring Some Popular Functions

Tabs, Indents, Spacing
Tabs, indents, and spacing are located on the Home Tab of the Ribbon. To get to the dialog box to deal with each or all, click on the dialog box launcher in the lower right-hand corner of the Paragraph Group. Once you open the dialog box, all will look familiar to you. Click on the Tabscommand button to set more than one tab at the same time.

You also can adjust the tabs from the ruler bar, just as you could in Word 03. If you do not see the ruler bar, click on the View Ruler symbol at the top of the right scroll bar.

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Margins, Page Orientation, Borders, Watermarks

Margins, page orientation, borders, and watermarks are located on the Page Layout Tab of the Ribbon. Margins and page orientation are in the Page Setup Group. Clicking on the dialog box launcher the lower right-hand corner will bring up the Page Setup Dialog Box that you are used to seeing. in

Watermarks and Page Borders (Borders and Shading in 03) are in the Page Background Group. When you click on Page Borders, the familiar Border and Shading dialog box appears.

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Labels and Envelopes

Where are the labels and envelopes? How do I find my favorite label? Labels and envelopes are found on the Mailings Tab of the Ribbon. Both are in the Create Group. When you click on either, the Envelopes and Labels Dialog Box appears. Your favorite labels are found under the Options button, just like in Word 03. The difference is that there is not a description of the label next to the number like there was in O3. As long as you select Avery as the vendor (which is the default), and you know the label number, you should be okay. The description is still to the right of the selected label under Label Information.

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