What's New in MS Word 2007?

"Who moved my cheese?" is the question you are likely to ask while trying to maneuver through the arguably new and improved version of Microsoft Word. As you try to direct your mouse through an unfamiliar maze - determined to find the cheese - you may hit a few dead ends before you learn your way around. And when you do find what you're looking for, you'll feel like you hit the jackpot!

How to Get Acclimated

One way to get acclimated to the new layout of the program is to understand the grouping of commands and menus that are included under each tab heading - as you can see in the diagram below.

Number one indicates the Home tab. Number two indicates the Font task located in the Home tab. And number three represents a subtask, the Bold text, which is part of the Font group. The command buttons in each group activate a command or give you a pull-down menu to select from - this appears and functions the same as in Microsoft Word 2003.

Another way to get acclimated, as with any program, is to use the Help feature if you have a hard time figuring out where to find a command button. It's that little blue circle with the question mark inside of it in the upper-right corner.

At first, using Word 2007 will seem a little awkward because you'll find yourself constantly scanning your mouse horizontally across the entire screen to find the task you want to activate. It takes practice and being attentive to what you're doing. Once you get the hang of it, your eye and hand coordination will automatically fall into place. And isn't that the case when learning anything new?

The Microsoft Office Button

This button has taken the place of the File menu and is located in the upper-left corner. This is where you would open, save, and print a file in MS Word 2003. However, Word 2007 has more commands, such as Prepare and Inspect Document, which allows you to see hidden metadata (information about your data) in your file or personal information.

The Home Tab

The Home tab is where you will find all your basic day-to-day formatting tasks that you would typically add to the toolbar in MS Word 2003. Here you can cut and paste, change font color and typeset, change style headings, and select text.

Save As Feature

Located on the Microsoft Office Button, many save options are available - such as Word Template, Adobe PDF, and Word Document. It also gives you the option to save your document as a Word 97-2003 Document (files with .doc extension). You'll definitely want to do this if you want to email a file to someone who doesn't have Word 2007. The recipient will not be able to open a document saved as a Word Document (files with the .docx extension).

The Help Feature

Again we visit this feature as it will be your best friend until you get comfortable with the new environment. The Office Assistant - the animated paper clip with the funny face to whom you could ask help questions - is not included in MS Word 2007. So remember, the Help feature is that little blue circle with the question mark inside of it in the upper-right corner. If you can't, it will, help your mouse find its cheese.