Office 12 smart

Microsoft has just overhauled the office software and released the first test version. Most of the changes in this new version please the test team.

Microsoft said the next version of the Office suite is the most important overhaul of this decade, which is certainly not a "mediocre" product. The new standard XML-based file format and completely renovated interface make this market-exclusive office suite more flexible and easy to use than ever before. "Veteran" users easily recognize new things in this version (codenamed Office 12 and have no official name yet) and can see it as worthwhile changes. According to Microsoft, the official version will soon appear this year.

New interface

Even before the technical release was released, Microsoft gave Office a new suit, removing most of the context menus and toolbars in the suite's applications. Instead, users get a set of tabs above the interface that Microsoft calls it "ribbon". This vertical toolbar will display many different features related to the selected tab. For example, when you click the Write tab in Word software, the ribbon bar will display options for text, text format as well as familiar buttons such as cut (Cut), paste (Paste) and search / Replace (Search / Replace) which was previously in the Edit menu. However, many features are still arranged in menus that appear when you click the down arrow marks on the ribbon bar or next to the File button to the left of the tab.

Unlike Windows XP that allows users to change the look of the Start menu and the Control Panel window to the interface of previous Windows versions, Office 12 does not support this option. This will cause "discomfort" for many users who are already familiar with the old Office interface.

New file format

However, the most notable point of Office 12 is that Microsoft changed the default file format with the new XML compressed file format. And to distinguish, Microsoft adds the "x" character to the extension of the old file name (eg .docx instead of doc, .xlsx instead of .xls .).

New Office Open XML formats are improved over the previous format at several points. First of all, this new format is more compact: when saving a Word 2003 file to .docx format, the file size is halved compared to the previous .doc format. And because Office XML format is built on XML and Zip formats simultaneously, other applications can easily read them, even from other operating systems. These software have been developed by developers combining Microsoft XML schemas (XML schemas detailing how to program to interfere with XML documents). Microsoft has introduced draft versions of this scheme and also recommended ECMA International to recognize Office XML as a free open standard.

Office 12 still allows users to read / save documents in the default format of Office 2000-2003 and this is also the first time to support saving files in read-only PDF format (read-only PDF). In addition, Microsoft said it would provide free options (extensions) to Office 2000-2003 users so they could create, open, edit and save files in Office XML format. Accordingly, when users of old Office versions try to open an Office XML file, they will be directed to the Microsoft website to download this additional option.

File component

Each Office XML file is actually a compressed set of elements in the file (such as text, document format, annotation and modification of the reader) so you can easily interfere with those This attribute by changing the Office XML extension to .zip, then open this file with some decompression utility and remove or replace the components. For example, you can quickly swap a format (by creating a new one or simply copying the format from another XML Office document) without affecting the text content.

A few small defects

In testing with Word software, PC World found that at the first time, users were easily confused between buttons because their positions were rearranged: in some cases, you had to click more times to execute the desired command that was previously accessed quickly from the toolbar. Fortunately, Microsoft retains the default shortcuts (such as the -S key combination to save the file, F12 to perform the Save As command) and some new features that guide users to familiarize themselves with the new interface.

Another important feature is the ability to preview changes. When you drag your mouse over a format - for example, a font or text in the ribbon bar, changes will be displayed right in the document before you accept it. This time-saving feature is available in all applications of the new Office suite with many different options.

However, because a ribbon bar occupies a lot of space on the screen and does not allow the size to be reduced, you need to equip yourself with a larger screen as possible.

Another noticeable change in Word's interface is the Status toolbar at the bottom of the window (displaying the total number of pages and the current page order) that adds the word count feature and provides a slider to launch to / shrink documents.

Another useful feature added to Word, Excel and PowerPoint is the Document Inspector (located in the File.Finish menu) capable of finding hidden text that you don't want others to see as annotations, names of people Create a document, etc. The Documents Inspector feature also allows you to remove one or all of these components.

Improvements in Excel 12 include more efficient help for new users, wider spreadsheets (up to 1 million rows and 16,000 columns) and easier to use cell designs.

Excel excellent

Excel's conditional formatting feature allows adding colors and effects to spreadsheets based on the content of each cell. For example, you can create the same color change as in a thermometer based on the value of the data cells.

Excel 12's formula-making function is also very convenient: instead of having to enter the formula name exactly as it was in the previous version, with Excel 12, when you enter the formula, a window will appear and display all The formula with the name begins with the first characters you just typed with your own definition and explanation. When you continue to import, Excel follows that, narrowing the number of corresponding formulas.

Excel's Sheet Tab ribbon provides a library of visualization interfaces that you can apply in just two clicks. Just like in Word, the live preview feature allows you to view your choices immediately before officially confirming them.

Finally, the Page Layout mode for viewing the screen makes it easy to see exactly how each sheet of paper will be printed and where the page breaks. In addition, when adding a column or row to a spreadsheet, Excel 12 automatically applies the current format of the document to the newly added areas, which previous versions of Excel require you to perform. public.

Compact powerpoint

The compact size of Office XML files is most clearly shown in PowerPoint 12. A slide contains a photo and graphics of about 5MB in PowerPoint 2003 are only 610KB (about 0.6MB) in New format .pptx.

PowerPoint 12's Ribbon lacks some control features compared to previous versions. For example, by clicking Effects in the Design ribbon, you can move the preliminary list of effects into a more logical chart, and then quickly embellish this chart in 3D. or shadow effect using other options on the same ribbon bar. With previous versions of PowerPoint, users had to access multiple menu levels to use these options.

Outlook improvements

However, the interface consistency in Office 12 is not shown in Outlook software. You will not find any ribbon, just the drop down menus as before. So what's new in this version of Outlook and what does the To-Do Bar toolbar do? Similar to the taskbar in Word 2003 or Excel 2003, the To-Do Bar appears on the right side of the screen and shows what is waiting for you to do and the list of appointments.

Microsoft thinks that when you work on a "collaborative" network, the To-Do Bar will display meetings assigned through applications such as Access and OneNote. You can adjust the size of the window, but this still can't make the Outlook interface more compact.

Only when you mark a task has been completed, does Outlook still keep the job in To-Do Bar. To specify the time to complete a task in To-Do Bar, simply drag and drop the job to the current calendar window (the default will be 30 minutes).

Outlook 12 also allows exchange of calendar information to work with other users via e-mail; You can even use other users' appointments and apply for yourself (each user's appointment is engraved with color codes for easy identification). In addition, Outlook's search capabilities seem to be much improved compared to previous versions. Unfortunately, Outlook does not have a convenient ribbon bar that "brothers" have.

Access is easy to use

For many Office users, Access - a powerful Microsoft database (database) program - is hard to comprehend especially if compared to FileMaker Pro. Therefore, Access 12 adds some new features to make it easier for users to use.

Templates are clearly displayed right on the ribbon bar, instructing new users through steps to create databases for each specific purpose, for example tracking or managing contacts. The new Access version also makes it easier to reformat database reports quickly: you can edit each database in the database from one window, which can be considered a major improvement. In addition, simplified data query tools help you extract the information you need without having to learn any formulas.

Many expectations

Like previous versions, Office 12 is a huge set of tools and most users will not be able to use all the features provided. In general, the new design and improved XML file format are the strengths of this suite, although users do not have the option to go back to the interface of the previous Office suite.

But anyway, with many new features introduced in this Beta, Office 12 has proven to be a more powerful and useful office suite.

PC World USA 2/2006