Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics, Fourth Edition

FIGURE 14.6

Managing the to-

do list of a spe-

cific project.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO COMPUTER BASICS

Introducing Microsoft Office

Microsoft Works isn’t the only software suite

available today. Some manufacturers opt to

include other software suites with their new

PCs; you can also buy these other applications

in standalone versions.

The most-used software suite, especially in the

corporate environment, is Microsoft Office, a

suite of professional-level applications that are

more fully featured than the ones in Works. The

latest version of Microsoft Office is Office 2007,

although the older Office 2003 version is still widely used.

Office Editions

If you’re looking to upgrade to Microsoft Office, know that Microsoft sells several dif-

ferent “editions” of the suite. Each edition contains a different bundle of programs;

which Office programs you get depends on the edition of Office you have:

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Basic—Includes Microsoft Word (word processor),

Excel (spreadsheet), and Outlook (email and scheduling)

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Standard—Includes Word, Excel, Outlook, and

PowerPoint (presentations)

tip

If a specific type of project

isn’t listed on the Projects

page, click the Blank Project

button to build your own

custom project and To Do

list.

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student—

Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and

OneNote (note organizer)

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business—

Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

(with Business Contact Manager), Publisher

(desktop publishing), and Accounting

Express (small-business accounting)

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Professional—

Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

(with Business Contact Manager), Publisher,

Accounting Express, and Access (database

management)

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus—

Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook,

Publisher, Access, OneNote, Communicator

(instant messaging), InfoPath (information

gathering), and server-based content and

forms management

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate—Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

(with Business Contact Manager), Accounting Express, Publisher, Access,

InfoPath, Groove (workgroup collaboration), OneNote, and various

enterprise-oriented tools

■ Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise—Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint,

Outlook, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, Groove, OneNote, Communicator, and

various enterprise-oriented tools

If your new PC comes with Office 2007 included, chances are it’s the Basic edition.

You can always update to another version to obtain additional Office applications.

The New Office 2007 Interface

Although Microsoft Office doesn’t have a unified launch page, as Works does, all

the Office applications share a common interface. In the older Office 2003, this

interface looked a lot like that of most other Windows applications, as you can see

in Figure 14.7.

In Office 2007, however, Microsoft has upped the ante and provided a completely

revamped program interface. As you can see in Figure 14.8, all Office 2007 inter-

faces do away with toolbars and menu bars, instead offering a collection of function

buttons in a context-sensitive Ribbon. Each Ribbon has a series of tabs; select a

CHAPTER 14 THE SUITE SPOT: WORKING WITH MICROSOFT WORKS AND MICROSOFT OFFICE

175

Another office suite you

might find preinstalled on

some PCs is Corel’s WordPerfect

suite, which includes the

WordPerfect word processor,

Quattro Pro spreadsheet, and

Paradox database program. Some

versions of the WordPerfect suite

also add Intuit’s Quicken personal

finance software.

different tab to view a different collection of function buttons. The Ribbon changes

automatically depending on what type of task you’re currently performing, so the

most common operations should always be at the top of the screen. And all the

Office 2007 applications feature a similar Ribbonized experience; whether you use

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook, the operation is similar.

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ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO COMPUTER BASICS

FIGURE 14.7

The Office 2003

interface, shown

in Microsoft

Excel.

FIGURE 14.8

The Office 2007

interface (in

Excel), complete

with context-

sensitive Ribbon.