Weekly Computer Tip # 216
4 January 2008


locating your favourite Office 2003 commands
(Microsoft Office 2007)

Welcome to the first tip of 2008. As promised, future tips will be written for Microsoft Office 2007 users. But to prevent a mass exodus of my Office 2003 - or heaven forbid ;-) Office 2000 - subscribers I'll include the occasional general Office tip and where applicable I will tell you how to do the equivalent in previous versions. So if this week's tip is not for you, simply use the extra time to have a look at the tip archive hints_office2000_2003.html or get to grips with the top 5 you nominated back in June, which finally got its own place on my website (hints_top5.html).

So on with the tip ... Since using (and teaching) Office 2007 I've gradually fallen in love with its new interface but every now and then I still get horribly frustrated when I cannot find my favourite commands. Where on earth did they stick PowerPoint's Insert, Slide From Files command? Or how do you create a PivotTable in Excel? Or Outlook's Resend? Well, simply open up Microsoft's interactive guide and let them show you the new location of your pet buttons and commands!

Here's how:

  1. Launch the reference guide of your choice.

    Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/word/HA100744321033.aspx
    Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx
    PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx
    Outlook: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102221621033.aspx
    Access: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102388991033.aspx

  2. Click the "Start the guide" button half way down the page.
  3. Rest the mouse over a menu or button to learn its new location or click the old command or button for a demonstration.

Why not keep the guide open during your working day so you can quickly find your way around the new Office 2007 interface? Apparently it takes 21 days to change a habit, so you might want to keep it open for 3 weeks! ;-)

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