Tired of the old-fashioned toolbar menus in Microsoft Word? I don't know, maybe you're feeling a need to face a whole new learning curve.
Start by reading a roundup of what five of our top editors have to say in "Microsoft Office 2007: A Worthy Upgrade." It's a hefty article that gives you insight into what to expect in the new Office suite. After you read the article, knowing how most of you operate, I'm betting you'll want to try it yourself.
A hands-on test drive is just the thing to help you decide whether it's worth the $239 upgrade. Go to the Test Drive Microsoft Office page--it's a virtual sandbox where you can play with any Office product for as long as you want. And that's without the hassle of downloading or installing any of them. All you need is a current version of Internet Explorer (6 or 7), a willingness to accept an ActiveX control, and a broadband connection. You also need to live in a country Microsoft happens to like. For instance, those of you in Europe are locked out. (No, I don't know why. But if I ever have lunch with Bill, I'll ask.)
And just as with the Vista test drive I blogged about recently, your bandwidth--or more possibly, lack thereof--may affect performance.
A Look at the Future
The online test drive also gives you a look at the future of Microsoft's online applications. You think I'm joking? Microsoft's watching Google and realizing it faces some tough challenges.
I've drummed up two articles to give you some perspective: The IDG news service talks about word processing and spreadsheets in "Google Refines Online Apps", and Michael Lasky takes a look at other ways to work online in "Your Online Office."
The Whole Office Shebang
Some of you with lots of time may want to download a 60-day trial of one of the various versions of Office.
There are plenty to choose from. Would you like Office Standard or Office Professional? How about Office Small Business, or maybe the Office Home and Student version? Check out TackTech's handy-dandy comparison chart to figure out which one's best for you.
Dig This: This YouTube video, "Man in Line," makes quite a point. It's ripped off from "Dead Like Me," a long-gone, terrific Showtime comedy.
Dig This, Too: Have you seen the Microwave of Death? You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be amazed.
Smarter Printing With Word Macros
I was chatting with Harry, a neighbor up the street. He was complaining about the number of steps he has to go through in Word to print just a paragraph or two, or a few sentences.
I generally walk away at this point with some lame excuse, like explaining that my computer's defragging and I need to see how it's doing. But it's true that Word doesn't make it easy to print a selection, or even just one page. If you click the Printer icon on the toolbar, Word prints the whole document. Dumb, you know?
So I took pity on Harry and told him about my two macros--one that prints the highlighted selection in a document, and another that prints just a single page.
What's a Macro?
Let's say you have a paragraph highlighted in Word and that's all you want to print. You'd go to the toolbar, click File, Print, choose Selection in Page Range, and hit OK.
But Word (and Excel) can watch and record your keystrokes, and you can play back those recorded keystrokes by assigning them to a keyboard combination like Ctrl-9, say, or a button on Word's toolbar.
The step-by-step macro creation process is a snap, but it's too long to describe here, so I'll point you to Jim Welp's excellent (and old but not outdated) "Office XP Tips: Macros 101." The tip works in Office 2003 and older; I haven't tried it in Office 2007.
Stick the Macro on the Toolbar
As you create your macros, name them something smart, like "A_PrintPage" and "A_PrintSelect." Trust me, with dozens of existing macros clogging the list, this will make your new ones easier to find later.
Once you've created the macros, you can assign them to their own Word toolbar buttons. First, right-click a blank area of a toolbar in Word, choose Customize, and click the Commands tab. Then, in the Categories list, click Macros, find your macros in the Commands list and drag them to the toolbar, one at a time.
Make sure you drop the macro in the active toolbar area, If you don't, you won't get a button.
Dig This: This just in... "In what could prove to be the most embarrassing misstep in consumer electronics history, Apple Inc. announced today that it would recall its entire production run of the Apple iPhone after discovering that it had failed to include a 'phone' feature in the much-hyped handheld device." Intrigued? Read The Borowitz Report for the rest, and check out an early version of the iPhone.
Steve Bass writes PC World's monthly "Hassle-Free PC" column and is the author of PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer, available from O'Reilly. He also writes PC World's daily Tips & Tweaks blog. Sign up to have Steve's newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? Send Steve e-mail.
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