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#1
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
In Word 97-2003, to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, you (1) click open the
Tools menu and (2) click AutoCorrect. Two simple steps. To do the same in Word 2007, you (1) open the Office button, then (2) click on Word Options, then (3) use the down arrow to get down to Proofing, then (4) click on a button that says AutoCorrect options. That's four or more steps, compared to two simple steps in the earlier versions of Word. In Word 97-2003, the AutoCorrect dialog box is instantly seen, one step from the surface of Word. In Word 2007, it's several layers away from the surface. Now please someone explain to me: WHY? How does this new design make Word's basic commands "easier" to get to? If Word were an automobile, it would be as if they put the gear shift inside the glove compartment, and called that a more "user-friendly" car! |
#2
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
Put the autocorrect button on the QAT, then it is just one click instead of
the two in Word 97-2003 -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Larry" wrote in message ... In Word 97-2003, to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, you (1) click open the Tools menu and (2) click AutoCorrect. Two simple steps. To do the same in Word 2007, you (1) open the Office button, then (2) click on Word Options, then (3) use the down arrow to get down to Proofing, then (4) click on a button that says AutoCorrect options. That's four or more steps, compared to two simple steps in the earlier versions of Word. In Word 97-2003, the AutoCorrect dialog box is instantly seen, one step from the surface of Word. In Word 2007, it's several layers away from the surface. Now please someone explain to me: WHY? How does this new design make Word's basic commands "easier" to get to? If Word were an automobile, it would be as if they put the gear shift inside the glove compartment, and called that a more "user-friendly" car! |
#3
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
More than likely, the data MS used to determine which commands were used
most often (Customer Experience Program) determined most users didn't access the AutoCorrect dialog box through the Tools menu. Perhaps they used the AutoCorrect Options button or added words to AutoCorrect using spell check. The commands that were brought "closer to the surface" are those that the majority users actually use on a regular basis. I suspect you'll find more of these situations since you're not exactly an "average user". IIRC, you created your own version of Word using macros and such. ;-) If you think about it, how often do you actually use the AutoCorrect dialog box? The majority of the words I mess up are already there and once I set the options for my AutoFormat options and SmartTags I don't need to go back to them. If you find you need to access a dialog box frequently then just add it to your Quick Access Toolbar. When I need it I just use the old accelerator keys, Alt+T+A since my usage isn't frequent enough to add it to the QAT. Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for assistance by email can not be acknowledged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/ MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/ "Larry" wrote in message ... In Word 97-2003, to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, you (1) click open the Tools menu and (2) click AutoCorrect. Two simple steps. To do the same in Word 2007, you (1) open the Office button, then (2) click on Word Options, then (3) use the down arrow to get down to Proofing, then (4) click on a button that says AutoCorrect options. That's four or more steps, compared to two simple steps in the earlier versions of Word. In Word 97-2003, the AutoCorrect dialog box is instantly seen, one step from the surface of Word. In Word 2007, it's several layers away from the surface. Now please someone explain to me: WHY? How does this new design make Word's basic commands "easier" to get to? If Word were an automobile, it would be as if they put the gear shift inside the glove compartment, and called that a more "user-friendly" car! |
#4
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
Beth, You've opened my eyes. Now I understand the logic behind Microsoft's destruction of Word. By the same logic by which the menus were eliminated, since the "majority" of users don't create custom toolbars and custom menus, MS just did away with them as well. Or at least made it much harder to create and install them--I haven't figured this all out yet. In any case, the former beautiful feature by which you opened the Customize dialog box and could effortllessly create a new toolbar and give it a name put on it what you wanted seems to be gone. Hey, folks, the "majority" of users also never create a macro, never edit a macro, and never assign a custom keystroke to a macro or to a built-in command. So, by MS's logic of only keeping features that "most" users use, how come MS didn't eliminate VBA, eliminate macro recording, eliminate macros, eliminate the Macro dialog box, eliminate the VBA editing interface, and eliminate the Customize Keyboard dialog box??? The great thing about Word was that it had thousands of capabilities, and each user, depending on his interests, might only deal with a small part of them. So each person could in effect have his own "Word." But now we've moved away from such diversity toward a single uniformity. A single "majority rule" determines what will be in Word. Only what the 90 percent of users who are mediocre users will determine what is in Word. Everything that a more skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word might want to access is to be eliminated. That appears to be the logic. The only thing that saves the situation from total disaster is that MS has not yet been completely consistent in its program of destruction, so it has still left some "non-popular" features in place. Larry "Beth Melton" wrote in message ... More than likely, the data MS used to determine which commands were used most often (Customer Experience Program) determined most users didn't acce ss the AutoCorrect dialog box through the Tools menu. Perhaps they used the AutoCorrect Options button or added words to AutoCorrect using spell check. The commands that were brought "closer to the surface" are those that the majority users actually use on a regular basis. I suspect you'll find more of these situations since you're not exactly an "average user". IIRC, you created your own version of Word using macros and such. ;-) If you think about it, how often do you actually use the AutoCorrect dialog box? The majority of the words I mess up are already there and once I set the options for my AutoFormat options and SmartTags I don't need to go back to them. If you find you need to access a dialog box frequently then just add it to your Quick Access Toolbar. When I need it I just use the old accelerator keys, Alt+T+A since my usage isn't frequent enough to add it to the QAT. Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for assistance by email can not be acknowledged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/ MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/ "Larry" wrote in message ... In Word 97-2003, to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, you (1) click open the Tools menu and (2) click AutoCorrect. Two simple steps. To do the same in Word 2007, you (1) open the Office button, then (2) click on Word Options, then (3) use the down arrow to get down to Proofing, then (4) click on a button that says AutoCorrect options. That's four or more steps, compared to two simple steps in the earlier versions of Word. In Word 97-2003, the AutoCorrect dialog box is instantly seen, one step from the surface of Word. In Word 2007, it's several layers away from the surface. Now please someone explain to me: WHY? How does this new design make Word's basic commands "easier" to get to? If Word were an automobile, it would be as if they put the gear shift inside the glove compartment, and called that a more "user-friendly" car! |
#5
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
Larry
I share your feelings. It seems far too much user customisation has been sacrificed for little reason. I like the Ribbons and the groups of small command icons - but not the groups, command icons or order that they have provided. I know that some of this can be customized but it should be possible for ANY user to change it using simple tools out of the box. As it stands, I probably use 15% of the tools in each Ribbon - so the rest is a waste of space. I should be able to simply mix and match just like I could in 2003. -- Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP "Larry" wrote in message ... Beth, You've opened my eyes. Now I understand the logic behind Microsoft's destruction of Word. By the same logic by which the menus were eliminated, since the "majority" of users don't create custom toolbars and custom menus, MS just did away with them as well. Or at least made it much harder to create and install them--I haven't figured this all out yet. In any case, the former beautiful feature by which you opened the Customize dialog box and could effortllessly create a new toolbar and give it a name put on it what you wanted seems to be gone. Hey, folks, the "majority" of users also never create a macro, never edit a macro, and never assign a custom keystroke to a macro or to a built-in command. So, by MS's logic of only keeping features that "most" users use, how come MS didn't eliminate VBA, eliminate macro recording, eliminate macros, eliminate the Macro dialog box, eliminate the VBA editing interface, and eliminate the Customize Keyboard dialog box??? The great thing about Word was that it had thousands of capabilities, and each user, depending on his interests, might only deal with a small part of them. So each person could in effect have his own "Word." But now we've moved away from such diversity toward a single uniformity. A single "majority rule" determines what will be in Word. Only what the 90 percent of users who are mediocre users will determine what is in Word. Everything that a more skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word might want to access is to be eliminated. That appears to be the logic. The only thing that saves the situation from total disaster is that MS has not yet been completely consistent in its program of destruction, so it has still left some "non-popular" features in place. Larry "Beth Melton" wrote in message ... More than likely, the data MS used to determine which commands were used most often (Customer Experience Program) determined most users didn't acce ss the AutoCorrect dialog box through the Tools menu. Perhaps they used the AutoCorrect Options button or added words to AutoCorrect using spell check. The commands that were brought "closer to the surface" are those that the majority users actually use on a regular basis. I suspect you'll find more of these situations since you're not exactly an "average user". IIRC, you created your own version of Word using macros and such. ;-) If you think about it, how often do you actually use the AutoCorrect dialog box? The majority of the words I mess up are already there and once I set the options for my AutoFormat options and SmartTags I don't need to go back to them. If you find you need to access a dialog box frequently then just add it to your Quick Access Toolbar. When I need it I just use the old accelerator keys, Alt+T+A since my usage isn't frequent enough to add it to the QAT. Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for assistance by email can not be acknowledged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/ MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/ "Larry" wrote in message ... In Word 97-2003, to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, you (1) click open the Tools menu and (2) click AutoCorrect. Two simple steps. To do the same in Word 2007, you (1) open the Office button, then (2) click on Word Options, then (3) use the down arrow to get down to Proofing, then (4) click on a button that says AutoCorrect options. That's four or more steps, compared to two simple steps in the earlier versions of Word. In Word 97-2003, the AutoCorrect dialog box is instantly seen, one step from the surface of Word. In Word 2007, it's several layers away from the surface. Now please someone explain to me: WHY? How does this new design make Word's basic commands "easier" to get to? If Word were an automobile, it would be as if they put the gear shift inside the glove compartment, and called that a more "user-friendly" car! |
#6
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
All of this makes me darned glad I stuck with Office 2000!
"Terry Farrell" wrote in message ... Larry I share your feelings. It seems far too much user customisation has been sacrificed for little reason. I like the Ribbons and the groups of small command icons - but not the groups, command icons or order that they have provided. I know that some of this can be customized but it should be possible for ANY user to change it using simple tools out of the box. As it stands, I probably use 15% of the tools in each Ribbon - so the rest is a waste of space. I should be able to simply mix and match just like I could in 2003. -- Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP "Larry" wrote in message ... Beth, You've opened my eyes. Now I understand the logic behind Microsoft's destruction of Word. By the same logic by which the menus were eliminated, since the "majority" of users don't create custom toolbars and custom menus, MS just did away with them as well. Or at least made it much harder to create and install them--I haven't figured this all out yet. In any case, the former beautiful feature by which you opened the Customize dialog box and could effortllessly create a new toolbar and give it a name put on it what you wanted seems to be gone. Hey, folks, the "majority" of users also never create a macro, never edit a macro, and never assign a custom keystroke to a macro or to a built-in command. So, by MS's logic of only keeping features that "most" users use, how come MS didn't eliminate VBA, eliminate macro recording, eliminate macros, eliminate the Macro dialog box, eliminate the VBA editing interface, and eliminate the Customize Keyboard dialog box??? The great thing about Word was that it had thousands of capabilities, and each user, depending on his interests, might only deal with a small part of them. So each person could in effect have his own "Word." But now we've moved away from such diversity toward a single uniformity. A single "majority rule" determines what will be in Word. Only what the 90 percent of users who are mediocre users will determine what is in Word. Everything that a more skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word might want to access is to be eliminated. That appears to be the logic. The only thing that saves the situation from total disaster is that MS has not yet been completely consistent in its program of destruction, so it has still left some "non-popular" features in place. Larry "Beth Melton" wrote in message ... More than likely, the data MS used to determine which commands were used most often (Customer Experience Program) determined most users didn't acce ss the AutoCorrect dialog box through the Tools menu. Perhaps they used the AutoCorrect Options button or added words to AutoCorrect using spell check. The commands that were brought "closer to the surface" are those that the majority users actually use on a regular basis. I suspect you'll find more of these situations since you're not exactly an "average user". IIRC, you created your own version of Word using macros and such. ;-) If you think about it, how often do you actually use the AutoCorrect dialog box? The majority of the words I mess up are already there and once I set the options for my AutoFormat options and SmartTags I don't need to go back to them. If you find you need to access a dialog box frequently then just add it to your Quick Access Toolbar. When I need it I just use the old accelerator keys, Alt+T+A since my usage isn't frequent enough to add it to the QAT. Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for assistance by email can not be acknowledged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/ MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/ "Larry" wrote in message ... In Word 97-2003, to open the AutoCorrect dialog box, you (1) click open the Tools menu and (2) click AutoCorrect. Two simple steps. To do the same in Word 2007, you (1) open the Office button, then (2) click on Word Options, then (3) use the down arrow to get down to Proofing, then (4) click on a button that says AutoCorrect options. That's four or more steps, compared to two simple steps in the earlier versions of Word. In Word 97-2003, the AutoCorrect dialog box is instantly seen, one step from the surface of Word. In Word 2007, it's several layers away from the surface. Now please someone explain to me: WHY? How does this new design make Word's basic commands "easier" to get to? If Word were an automobile, it would be as if they put the gear shift inside the glove compartment, and called that a more "user-friendly" car! |
#7
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closerto the surface"
Hi Larry,
Yep, that's pretty much the logic. Satisfy the 90% "average users"--because, that's where the money is. "Majority rule" and "market for the middle" by the way, is not peculiar to MS. I'm not screaming about MS because I see this as just one outgrowth of larger cultural forces that bring people to insist computers do everything for them--and because I haven't tried Word 2007 yet and don't know how many of these changes are going to be in my forthcoming MacWord 2008, so I'm not feeling any pain at present. However, on the grand scale of things, it is not total disaster. Someone already has a program you can use to customize the Ribbon. http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribbon...izer/index.php MS still believes in customizability, and it's still there, it's just been shifted from the regular user to the expert. As a side effect, this makes it much more difficult to start out as an average user and become a "skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word"--or, rather MS is trying to make "skilled Word user" mean something else. I do think that in 5 years or so, we might be in a better situation overall than we are now--many more regular people in offices who are good at making Word behave for their everyday tasks, with plenty of third-party programs or add-ins for those who want to go beyond. And this should be more efficient overall, if people can download a program to customize Word rather than having each individual have to learn the skills. Daiya Mac/Word MVP PS. They do want to get rid of VBA--it's gone in MacOffice, and they tried to remove it in Windows Office, but delayed eliminating it because of a huge uproar, as many large companies have invested thousands in VBA-based custom solutions, with thousands of people who use macros daily even though they don't create/record macros themselves. But it will be gone eventually--I think they promised 10 years in 2005 or somesuch. However, as I understand it, this is more for security reasons, though it follows the same pattern of shifting customization from the average user to the expert. Larry wrote: Beth, You've opened my eyes. Now I understand the logic behind Microsoft's destruction of Word. By the same logic by which the menus were eliminated, since the "majority" of users don't create custom toolbars and custom menus, MS just did away with them as well. Or at least made it much harder to create and install them--I haven't figured this all out yet. In any case, the former beautiful feature by which you opened the Customize dialog box and could effortllessly create a new toolbar and give it a name put on it what you wanted seems to be gone. Hey, folks, the "majority" of users also never create a macro, never edit a macro, and never assign a custom keystroke to a macro or to a built-in command. So, by MS's logic of only keeping features that "most" users use, how come MS didn't eliminate VBA, eliminate macro recording, eliminate macros, eliminate the Macro dialog box, eliminate the VBA editing interface, and eliminate the Customize Keyboard dialog box??? The great thing about Word was that it had thousands of capabilities, and each user, depending on his interests, might only deal with a small part of them. So each person could in effect have his own "Word." But now we've moved away from such diversity toward a single uniformity. A single "majority rule" determines what will be in Word. Only what the 90 percent of users who are mediocre users will determine what is in Word. Everything that a more skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word might want to access is to be eliminated. That appears to be the logic. The only thing that saves the situation from total disaster is that MS has not yet been completely consistent in its program of destruction, so it has still left some "non-popular" features in place. Larry |
#8
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
One, this program allows the user to customize the Ribbon, not to get rid of
it and restore the toolbars and menu bar, like, for example, that program that someone created for Word 2000 years ago that allowed the user to restore the multi-document interface which Word 2000 had gotten rid of. Two, it will be a much more complicated job to customize the various Ribbon tabs and groups than simply to add a command button to a menu or remove one, as was possible with previous Word versions. Finally, this program costs $30. "Daiya Mitchell" wrote in message ... Hi Larry, Yep, that's pretty much the logic. Satisfy the 90% "average users"--because, that's where the money is. "Majority rule" and "market for the middle" by the way, is not peculiar to MS. I'm not screaming about MS because I see this as just one outgrowth of larger cultural forces that bring people to insist computers do everything for them--and because I haven't tried Word 2007 yet and don't know how many of these changes are going to be in my forthcoming MacWord 2008, so I'm not feeling any pain at present. However, on the grand scale of things, it is not total disaster. Someone already has a program you can use to customize the Ribbon. http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribbon...izer/index.php MS still believes in customizability, and it's still there, it's just been shifted from the regular user to the expert. As a side effect, this makes it much more difficult to start out as an average user and become a "skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word"--or, rather MS is trying to make "skilled Word user" mean something else. I do think that in 5 years or so, we might be in a better situation overall than we are now--many more regular people in offices who are good at making Word behave for their everyday tasks, with plenty of third-party programs or add-ins for those who want to go beyond. And this should be more efficient overall, if people can download a program to customize Word rather than having each individual have to learn the skills. Daiya Mac/Word MVP PS. They do want to get rid of VBA--it's gone in MacOffice, and they tried to remove it in Windows Office, but delayed eliminating it because of a huge uproar, as many large companies have invested thousands in VBA-based custom solutions, with thousands of people who use macros daily even though they don't create/record macros themselves. But it will be gone eventually--I think they promised 10 years in 2005 or somesuch. However, as I understand it, this is more for security reasons, though it follows the same pattern of shifting customization from the average user to the expert. Larry wrote: Beth, You've opened my eyes. Now I understand the logic behind Microsoft's destruction of Word. By the same logic by which the menus were eliminated, since the "majority" of users don't create custom toolbars and custom menus, MS just did away with them as well. Or at least made it much harder to create and install them--I haven't figured this all out yet. In any case, the former beautiful feature by which you opened the Customize dialog box and could effortllessly create a new toolbar and give it a name put on it what you wanted seems to be gone. Hey, folks, the "majority" of users also never create a macro, never edit a macro, and never assign a custom keystroke to a macro or to a built-in command. So, by MS's logic of only keeping features that "most" users use, how come MS didn't eliminate VBA, eliminate macro recording, eliminate macros, eliminate the Macro dialog box, eliminate the VBA editing interface, and eliminate the Customize Keyboard dialog box??? The great thing about Word was that it had thousands of capabilities, and each user, depending on his interests, might only deal with a small part of them. So each person could in effect have his own "Word." But now we've moved away from such diversity toward a single uniformity. A single "majority rule" determines what will be in Word. Only what the 90 percent of users who are mediocre users will determine what is in Word. Everything that a more skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word might want to access is to be eliminated. That appears to be the logic. The only thing that saves the situation from total disaster is that MS has not yet been completely consistent in its program of destruction, so it has still left some "non-popular" features in place. Larry |
#9
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
Also, it's incredible that while in previous versions of Word, a user could
easily remove, say, a button from a menu that he didn't need, or remove a whole menu from the menu bar that he didn't need, or add new buttons to existing menus, or add his own menus, with Word 2007 (which is supposedly more user friendly!), the most highly specialized tasks, for example scholarly writing, which very few users would use, are placed in their own tab in the Ribbon and cannot be removed, unless the user pays $30 for this third-party add-in that Daiya mentions. The amazing thing about Word since I first got it in 1998 was that Word, as it came out of the box, was a mess, but that Word had the most fantastic customization capabilities which enabled the user to turn Word into an environment he could work with. Now MS has changed that basic philososophy and forces an unwanted uniformity on the user. For example, it enables you to "minimize" the Ribbon and just access the Ribbon commands with keyboard combinations. But the catch is that when you use these keyboard combinations with the Ribbon minimized, the entire Ribbon with all its paraphenalia flashes into view for a second then disappears again. This is just weird. Instead of, as with previous versions, displaying a simple unobtrusive drop down menu for a second when accessing a command on that menu, you have to display the entire Ribbon. The total effect is an incredibly "over-busy" user interface that you're trapped in. |
#10
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Another great example of how Word 2007 "brings commands closer to the surface"
I've been using Office 2007 for over 18 months and at first, like the
majority I hated it. I thought MS made a bad move, it was going to fail, and so on. I don't feel that way anymore. (Heh, you should have seen some of my "persuasive feedback" - the comments you've made are mild in comparison - especially when it came to removing the ease in toolbar/menu customization. g). But you know, even though I know how to customize the Ribbon it's really not necessary for me to customize it for my every day work. I have come up with alternate methods that fit my needs. For example I have several templates that have a customized QAT with commands for specific tasks and I load/unload them as global templates according the task at hand. (I still have a complaint about the inability to float toolbars....) After using the new interface I can now honestly see how it actually does improve work flow and I can perform tasks in Word that used to take a half hour or more in a few simple clicks. And it places capabilities that were once used exclusively by power users into the hands of everyone. Plus those who were familiar with some of the advanced features will likely find them easier to use. One quick example is AutoText. Previously you had to create a style and associate the entries with the style in order to create an organized AutoText menu. Now it's a matter of creating what is now called a Building Blocks and assigning it to a gallery and a specific category using a dialog box. And there was difficulty remembering what you called them, now they are more visually oriented for insertion (and yes you can still assign keyboard shortcuts if you want). Form development is another example. The ability to easily create bound forms in Word has been a long standing request and that functionality is now available using Content Controls AND they automatically update without the need to add extra steps or use a macro. Content Controls also resolve another long standing request, to protect portions of a document for data entry without losing spell check and other functionality. Oh, and Styles have been lifted up and are easier for beginners to use. Even the basic beginner books are including how to use and modify styles. And I've noticed many of the beginning Word books are encouraging users to use formatted space between paragraphs instead of empty paragraphs due to the new defaults. (Thank goodness!!) BUT in order to fully see and understand these capabilities one can't be resistant to change. That was my stumbling block for several months. I wanted Word (and the other Office apps) to function as I was accustomed to them functioning for over the last 15 years. To use the new versions effectively it does require a bit of change, such as change how you may have previously accomplished a task but in the end it is faster and more efficient. The key is if you want to embrace the change or fight the change. If you fight it then you'll hate it and find it lacking. If you embrace it you may just find what I have found, that change can indeed be a "good thing". Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for assistance by email can not be acknowledged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/ MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/ "Larry" wrote in message ... Beth, You've opened my eyes. Now I understand the logic behind Microsoft's destruction of Word. By the same logic by which the menus were eliminated, since the "majority" of users don't create custom toolbars and custom menus, MS just did away with them as well. Or at least made it much harder to create and install them--I haven't figured this all out yet. In any case, the former beautiful feature by which you opened the Customize dialog box and could effortllessly create a new toolbar and give it a name put on it what you wanted seems to be gone. Hey, folks, the "majority" of users also never create a macro, never edit a macro, and never assign a custom keystroke to a macro or to a built-in command. So, by MS's logic of only keeping features that "most" users use, how come MS didn't eliminate VBA, eliminate macro recording, eliminate macros, eliminate the Macro dialog box, eliminate the VBA editing interface, and eliminate the Customize Keyboard dialog box??? The great thing about Word was that it had thousands of capabilities, and each user, depending on his interests, might only deal with a small part of them. So each person could in effect have his own "Word." But now we've moved away from such diversity toward a single uniformity. A single "majority rule" determines what will be in Word. Only what the 90 percent of users who are mediocre users will determine what is in Word. Everything that a more skilled and creative or just idiosyncratic user of Word might want to access is to be eliminated. That appears to be the logic. The only thing that saves the situation from total disaster is that MS has not yet been completely consistent in its program of destruction, so it has still left some "non-popular" features in place. Larry |
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