Microsoft Word 2007 beta 2

By on 24/05/2006

More Microsoft reviews , RRP: TBA

Description:

Word 2007 serves up new choices for editing, protecting, and jazzing up documents with graphics-heavy layouts -- all within a dramatically new interface.

Buying choices:

Users' rating:

7.8/10

Tags:

beta 2 | office 2007 | word | ribbon | tab

As Microsoft has tacked features onto Word over the past 17 years, each new version made you hunt harder than the last to find newly located functions. Word 2007 is the company's attempt to arrest this feature bloat. Rather than continue to nest new features within a hodgepodge of drop-down menus and toolbars, Microsoft scrapped the old interface and started from scratch with Word 2007's layout.

Microsoft's impending update to its word processing app puts more tools front and center within a tabbed Ribbon across the top of the page. The Ribbon takes up more screen real estate than did the banner of menu headers in past editions of Word, but that also spares you mouse clicks. In our tests of the 2007 beta 2 incarnation, we liked the clarity of the Ribbon's enlarged, labeled icons. The tabs include Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, and View.

The interface of Word 2007 is organised around a dynamic, tabbed Ribbon of features.

The Ribbon is dynamic, so it shape-shifts to anticipate your needs. For example, the Format tab, which lets you tweak and crop images, appears only when you're clicking on a picture. In our tests, we wished that Word would just display all the tabs at once instead of continuing to bury some tools. But we like that the rebuilt graphics engine within Office 2007 lends Word an elegant feel and enables it to make basic image adjustments without making you open an image-editing program. We expect Word 2007 to please users who design layouts for newsletters, invitations, and the like. Word 2007 beta 2 clusters formatting changes within drop-down Galleries that you can roll over to preview a font or a graphic style before finalising it. A cover-page Gallery drops down more than a dozen choices from the Insert tab. More templates are built into Word 2007, and even more are online.

Word 2007 features support for blogging, with cleaner HTML coding than in the app's predecessors.

Microsoft has beefed up the tools within Word 2007 beta 2 for researchers who insert citations and for office workers who perform mail merges. Word 2007 will create cleaner HTML to serve bloggers, too. And there are new options for reviewing and protecting your work; you can better track the hidden metadata and set editing and formatting restrictions. Plus, the new XML-compatible file formats shrink document sizes for better portability and are open to developers' tweaks. You can also save backward-compatible versions of files that will work within Word 1997 and up.

For more details, see our slide show which demonstrates some of the latest features users can expect in the new versions of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel..

Like this article? Click below to send it to your mobile for free!

ALex
11/12/2007, 02:13 AM

rating
8
/10

wajid
28/07/2007, 02:34 AM

rating
10
/10

this is very reliable software.

Report offensive comment

asulikeit
15/06/2007, 02:17 AM

rating
7
/10

Wonderful and Fantastic

Report offensive comment

onlyrasel
12/01/2007, 06:28 PM

rating
6
/10

If I can download this file

Report offensive comment

  • Leave a comment

All fields marked with * are required

What do you think

Rate this product:

Need help? Read our guidelines for what each number rating represents.

Your e-mail will not be displayed

You must read and type the 6 chars within 0..9 and A..F

You must read and type the 6 chars.

CNET.com.au videos

Get Adobe Flash player

  • How to share files between Office and iWork

  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred

  • Apple iCal: An insiders guide

  • Free Speed: Make your Mac faster

  • Aussies pay more for Adobe Acrobat 9

  • Google Docs gets limited PDF support

  • Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended

  • Google trials new Gmail features

  • Adobe Acrobat takes big online leap

More articles »

Find the right software

Brand
  • Multiple options can be selected

    The Explain Series

    • Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred

      Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred

      Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 isn't perfect, but it's the best dictation software available. We don't find this upgrade necessary for the most basic dictation, although new features may benefit heavily-accented English speakers and those who rely heavily on voice commands.

    • Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended

      Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended

      Adobe Acrobat 9 document-creation software is adding dynamic features such as integration of animation, dynamic maps, 256-bit encryption, and improved forms. We've been playing with the beta edition of Acrobat 9 Pro Extended.

    • Quickbooks QBi 2008/2009

      Quickbooks QBi 2008/2009

      Existing users of Reckon's line of accounting packages have the best reason in years to upgrade with the QBi series. New users should find the attractive pricing of the entry-level versions pretty compelling too.

    • Mozilla Thunderbird 2

      Mozilla Thunderbird 2

      Thunderbird 2 provides a compelling option for users looking for an open source e-mail client.

    • Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (Special Media Edition)

      Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (Special Media Edition)

      Office 2008 for Mac may be the best pick for business users, but most people can get by with less expensive alternatives.

    More reviews »

    Membership benefits

    Win prizes and other promotion benefits

    Win prizes and other promotion benefits

    As a CNET.com.au member, you're eligible to enter and win any prizes on our site. Sign up for a free CNET.com.au membership now!