A Review of Microsoft Word 2007

I was one of the first in line to buy a new computer with Windows Vista installed and immediately had to purchase new software including Microsoft Office. As a long time Microsoft Word user, I didn't give my purchase much consideration. I just knew that I needed the software. Imagine my surprise when I opened Word for the first time and saw a complete redesign.

"Okay, no biggie," I thought. I'm a computer geek, so I figured it would be no problem to get up and running right away. Here it is six months later and I'm still trying to figure it out. Sure, I can type up a document, make it look pretty, and print it. But all my favorite little shortcuts and functions aren't accessed the same way.

The new "ribbon" is supposed to make the program more intuitive with separate tabs for various functions such as Home, Insert, Page Layout, Reference, Mailings, Review, View, and Developer. But for us seasoned Word users, it's a big transition. If you're new to Microsoft Word, I think the ribbon will help you with some of the advanced features you may not have tried beforehand.

For established users, there's a learning curve. I often find myself in the help and support section trying to find out how to do simple tasks I used to do without even thinking about them. Even finding help is different. Remember the old "Help" menu. It's gone. In its place is a circle with a super-small question mark located in the upper right of the screen.

For example, I wanted to hide comments of a particular document. In the past, an icon was on my taskbar that I could click to hide and unhide comments. I went to help and found out that now, I must go to the Review section of the ribbon, go to the Tracking area, and then make my adjustments by either choosing Show Markup and removing Comments from the list, or choosing what level of markup I wanted to view Final (with markup), Final, Original (with markup), or Original. I prefer the simplicity of the old way better.

Also, working with macros now means you must go to the View section which, to me, doesn't make sense. Macros aren't a viewing element like zooming tools, gridlines, and window displays in my mind but rather a function. It feels like Microsoft just stuck the Macros area in the View tab because they had the space.

If you're thinking of upgrading to Microsoft Word 2007 just because you want the latest version, I'd hold off. It's a fine program but it doesn't seem to have any features the previous versions lack. It does the same thing, just differently.