MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 for windows
Microsoft Office 2007 is the newest version of Office for Windows. It became available to businesses and universities on 30 November 2006, and to individuals on 30 January 2007. Office is a software suite which generally includes the programs Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook.
This is not a free upgrade. For educational pricing, please visit the University Computers Web site.
The decision to move to Office 2007 should not be undertaken lightly, as Office 2007 introduces a radically different user interface and new file formats which can't be read by previous versions of Office without special conversion software. Office 2007 users can choose to save files in the older formats, but those documents cannot take advantage of new features.
Windows users of Office 2003 and Office XP can download and install Microsoft's free Office compatibility pack, which allows basic reading and writing of these new file formats from these older versions of Office. However, documents utilizing features unique to Office 2007 may not be converted faithfully. If you use a Macintosh, only Office 2008 (which came out in January 2008) will easily read Office 2007 files. See our compatibility page for details on options available to Mac users, including information on converters and other programs that can read Office 2007 files.
Is Office 2007 pretty much the same as earlier versions?
No. This is a major upgrade.
- Different system requirements. The computer you used to run Office XP or Office 2003 may have trouble running Office 2007. Before you consider upgrading, check Microsoft's system requirements for Office 2007.
- New interface. The entire menu system has been re-arranged. Instead of the menus, toolboxes and taskbars that you used in previous versions of Office, there is now a ribbon which groups related commands together into tabs. Learn more about the new interface.
- New file formats (which other versions cannot read). The Office 2007 versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint use new file formats and file extensions, e.g., .docx instead of .doc for Word documents. People who use earlier versions of Office can't automatically read these file formats. If you use Office 2007, you may use the Save As command to save your files in a format that everyone can read. Learn more about how people with different versions can work together.
Should I switch to Office 2007?
You should only switch if: (a) you know that your computer hardware and software meet the system requirements, (b) you're prepared to learn a new interface to Office, and (c) you understand that you will need to save carefully in order to share documents with friends, family, or colleagues who have earlier versions of Office. Read more about deciding whether to switch.
I've installed Office 2007. Now what?
After you've installed Office 2007 there are a few things you might want to do to enhance your new working environment.
How can I learn to use Office 2007 applications?
A list of available Office 2007 handouts is at www.bu.edu/pcsc/tutorials/instructor/. General information about tutorials is always available at www.bu.edu/pcsc/tutorials/.
What's this I hear about Windows Vista?
Windows Vista is the newest version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Although Vista and Office are being released at the same time, Office 2007 works fine whether or not you are running Windows Vista, and Vista works fine whether you are using Office 2007 or an older version.
To learn more about Vista, please visit our page at www.bu.edu/pcsc/vista/
MAY 2007
