At work we’re transitioning from Office XP to Office 2010 (quite a jump) – but at home I’ve had Office 2007 for some time. Many people at work have 2007 at home and I find myself describing the difference of Office 2010 vs. Office 2007 much like the difference between Vista and Windows 7. Windows 7 in many ways is Vista – most of the technology was introduced in Vista – but significantly refined in Windows 7. Therefore the user experience is much better in Windows 7 vs. Windows Vista.
The difference between Office 2010 and Office 2007 seems to be similar – though not as dramatic. Again, much of the new technology was introduced in 2007 – the new file formats and the “ribbon” – so none of that is new. The ribbon is one of the most dramatic differences between Office 2007/2010 and older versions of Office – as we’re initially lost as to where everything went. Over time though I’ve found it to be pretty useful – in that the functions are available where I need them (for the most part).
One of the biggest differences between 2007 and 2010 is that the hated “Office” button is gone – instead replaced with the trusty old “File” menu. But this is more than just the old File Menu – it’s actually a pretty nice page to access File related features.
Would I recommend upgrading? Well, that depends on what Office version you are on. If you are on Office XP (like I was for a long, long time) or 2003 it would be worth it (Office XP goes out of support soon) – but if you are on 2007 it’s probably not worth it. There’s enough similarity between 2007 and 2010 to not make it worth it (you have the same file format, the ribbon, PDF exporting, etc.) – but if you are on an older version you’re getting left behind. One of the important points about Office is that everyone needs to be compatible – so while you can read the newer format in the older versions you can’t easily edit. The other point is that if you are on an older version you risk support (i.e. security updates) from both Microsoft and those around you. If your friends or colleagues figure out how to do something in Word or Excel – you many not be able to repeat it – as your version is different. For an organization it can be very helpful for everyone to be on the same version – so that my be compelling enough reason to upgrade.
One of the items I’ve noticed about Excel 2010 (coming from Office XP) is how different the Print menu is than before. It seems that Microsoft has combined the old print menu, page setup and print preview (for the most part) into one single screen accessed off the File menu. It’s here that you instantly see what it’s going to look like on the printer – and get to choose basic options – such as portrait vs. landscape. Again this is one of those UI changes that takes a little while to get used to – but actually is pretty nice. The way the overall “File” menu has been done turns out to be pretty useful and pleasant to the eyes.
One of the most important print features in Excel (all versions) is the ability to “fit” the printout onto a certain number of pages. On this same menu is where you can set it – my favorite is is to set all the columns to fit on one page – as you may be like me in that matching printouts horizontally is a complete pain (and you really don’t care how long – just how wide). If you don’t teach you anything else – this is one of those very useful functions.
