Upgrade To Office 2007

[Daffy D]

I'm using Office 2003 and have no problems with it but as I always like to try new/newer things thought to give Office 2007 a trial.

It looks quite smart and presumably has lots of new slick features to make it interesting to play around with. I noticed from the M$ information that some files from previous version (2003) don't work without installing a compatibility patch. This doesn't sound very user friendly ands seems like it could ruing an otherwise good day.

Has anyone installed Office 2007 over Office 2003? Or anybody using 2007 what do you think?

I am not talking about monetary considerations as I would think that for the cost it would be better to stick with what I've got but any insight to the general impressions and feel of Office 2007 would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[JohnC]

I would hang on a bit longer Microsoft are planning to launch Office online which will give you all the currrent applications plus it will be free! (Source Microsoft newsletter)

[Crushdepth]

Office 2007 is heaps better than 2003. It takes a bit of getting used to the new toolbar, but once you are through that you won't look back. Re. compatibility, you can set it to save in the old (2003 compatible) formats by default, if you like.

[Crossy]

I downgraded to 2003 from 2007 mainly because of the new interface. Pretty much everything has moved, I just wasn't getting the work done

I'll have another go at it next year when the pressure is reduced, it certainly looks like the extra bells and whistles are worth the effort. It took me a while to get used to Vista, but now, on a machine with the oomph to run it properly, I'd never go back

[percy2]

Comment deleted after re reading OP.

Cheers

Edited December 15, 2008 by percy2

[Daffy D]

Mmmmm! Will probably give it a try. Don't use it for business just for home use and all the new buttons will keep me occupied for weeks.

If I do a full back up before installing 2007 I can always go back if it gets to complicated.

Cheers

Edited December 15, 2008 by Daffy D

[Daffy D]

Office 2007 is heaps better than 2003. It takes a bit of getting used to the new toolbar, but once you are through that you won't look back. Re. compatibility, you can set it to save in the old (2003 compatible) formats by default, if you like.

It does look a lot slicker than the old 2003 as you say takes some getting used to but lots of new buttons to play with, Have not had time to explore much of it yet but like all the extra colors and the amazing things you can do with picture/clip in Word. Have so far had no probblem loading 2003 files into 2007

I downgraded to 2003 from 2007 mainly because of the new interface. Pretty much everything has moved, I just wasn't getting the work done

I'll have another go at it next year when the pressure is reduced, it certainly looks like the extra bells and whistles are worth the effort. It took me a while to get used to Vista, but now, on a machine with the oomph to run it properly, I'd never go back

Agree the new interface takes some getting used to, would not like to use it for work before practicing a lot at home first. Oh! but all those lovely new buttons.

[sanukmakh]

I bought a pirated Office 2007 while in Vietnam last April - I think it cost me four or five dollars - and finally got around to installing it the other day. It loaded okay, but now keeps pestering me with requests for a "25 digit product code" every time I open a word document. It said I get 20 free uses, and this number decreases every time I use it. The only reason I wanted Office 2007 was because I was unable to view Powerpoint documents with the 2003. Hopefully I can sort this out without having to spend any money....gotta be a trick here somehow....

[Digitalbanana]

I'm using Office 2003 and have no problems with it but as I always like to try new/newer things thought to give Office 2007 a trial.

I have been using 2007 since 2006 so it's hardly new these days. When I made the change I devoted some time to familiarizing to the new layout, and have never looked back. It is more a results oriented package than older versions of office and certainly creates great looking documents in less time.

[Crushdepth]

Microsoft has a special student deal with many unis, if you are studying worth checking out to see if yours is included (I got Ultimate or whatever the top edition is for $AUD 75).

[Crossy]

The only reason I wanted Office 2007 was because I was unable to view Powerpoint documents with the 2003. Hopefully I can sort this out without having to spend any money....gotta be a trick here somehow....

Did your '03 come with PowerPoint? It's probably lurking on the CD waiting to be installed

There's a free bolt-on for '03 available from Microsoft to allow older versions of Office to read the new .docx etc. formats.

[Gary A]

I was using the very old Office 2000. It started having glitches and I found my installation disks are also bad. I downloaded Open Office and so far it appears to do everything I need. The best part is that it is free.

[Shah Jahan]

I 2nd using Open Office

For %97 of users it does things faster and simpler than any MS suite (and its free)

for hardcore spreadsheet/macro users then you should stick with MS

As for upgrading to Office 07- with regards to recent microsoft products I would have to say that if 03 is currently working fine for you at this current moment, then don't press your luck.

[Sabum]

07 tons better than 03, love it

[JetsetBkk]

I'm using Office 2003 and have no problems with it but as I always like to try new/newer things thought to give Office 2007 a trial...

I use Excel and occasionally Word, so I don't need much functionality - 2003 does all I need.

I tried 2007 and gave up. I was quite annoyed that they couldn't automatically configure an upgraded product to look like the previous product. After installation the tool bars were a total mess, took up huge amounts of screen space and I wasn't going to spend hours reconfiguring them all so I could make it look like what I'm used to.

I found very little was intuitive and couldn't find even the simplest formatting buttons - it was as if they got a whole new bunch of engineers to work on it and make it look and feel totally different from previous versions. Just about the worst "upgrade" I have ever tried.

BTW, I'm normally a fan of M$. But not this.

[davee58]

I bought a pirated Office 2007 while in Vietnam last April - I think it cost me four or five dollars - and finally got around to installing it the other day. It loaded okay, but now keeps pestering me with requests for a "25 digit product code" every time I open a word document. It said I get 20 free uses, and this number decreases every time I use it. The only reason I wanted Office 2007 was because I was unable to view Powerpoint documents with the 2003. Hopefully I can sort this out without having to spend any money....gotta be a trick here somehow....

Get rid of the pirate office software if you do not have a product key it is no use anyway, uninstall it.

Microsoft has a free Powerpoint viewer, no need to spend any money...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results...;DisplayLang=en

Good luck..

[A_Traveller]

The new ribbon concept doesn't work for me either, maybe in its next iteration? Since there is a downlandable add-in for '03 to be able to read '07 (x) files, that would be a reasonable option. One advantage though of both '07 & Open Office 3 is the use of xml structures within the default doc formats which both reduces size and increases probability of recovery if a file is damaged.

Regards

[JimShortz]

IMHO 2007 is way better than 2003, especially for visual work i.e. making cover pages, etc. Once you get used to the 2007 edition 2003 seems very dated and utilitarian. Anyway, you can keep both if you want. When you have 2003 already installed and go to install 2007 just select custom install, and then choose to keep 2003 and install 2007 as well.

Enjoy...

[Digitalbanana]

It took me a while to switch from Lotus 123 to Excel because the menu bar was different. I won't be going back to Lotus again and likewise Office 2003. Working things so much faster now and getting great looking output in half the time. Definitely worth looking at for results oriented users methinks.

[phaethon]

Do the two versions play well together on the same PC? (Can they both be installed and operate independently on the same machine?)

K.

[MJP]

In these hard times, save thyne cash and download OpenOffice.

I run MS Office 2007 and hate it. I recently started using OpenOffice and wished I'd known about it before.

http://www.openoffice.org/

[JetsetBkk]

It took me a while to switch from Lotus 123 to Excel because the menu bar was different. I won't be going back to Lotus again and likewise Office 2003. Working things so much faster now and getting great looking output in half the time. Definitely worth looking at for results oriented users methinks.

Lotus 123! I just checked - I have some Lotus spreadsheets dating back to March, 1997 !

Edited December 27, 2008 by JetsetBkk

[Digitalbanana]

I switched to Excel in about 1993 and dropped Lotus that I had been using since the late 80's with that cool Allways add-in that allowed me to see the DOS spreadsheets in WYSIWYG format just before sending to my noisy dot matrix printer.

I also still have a Lotus Symphony doc from 1989 and and Word Star 2000 document from 1988 on my PC today.

My point is that the newer products are usually easier to use so saying Office 2003 is better than 2007 doesn't wash.

Sure Open Office may be suitable for some.. but the op isn't about that product.

[NanLaew]

I tried 2007 and gave up. I was quite annoyed that they couldn't automatically configure an upgraded product to look like the previous product. After installation the tool bars were a total mess, took up huge amounts of screen space and I wasn't going to spend hours reconfiguring them all so I could make it look like what I'm used to.

I see, so you would buy a 2009 Toyota/Ford/Dodge/Honda and then take it to the panel beaters and spend time and money making it more like the 2001 model that you like?

Regards the OP, I beta-tested Office 2007 almost 2 years ago and despite some glitches that MS promptly resolved with patches, I found the improvements and bells and whistles were quite impressive. The downside was I was the only one using it and had to make sure that I used the option to save in the 2003-compatible format for sharing documents with my peers. This wasn't bulletproof in the beta version either and I once had a huge, multi-sheet excel file that had many macros rendered useless when Office 2007 encountered a problem while it was open and the only option it offered was to save-as an unformatted, plain workbook. Luckily I had a backup. When the beta automatically uninstalled (or disabled), the original 2003 resumed without any problems.

Last month I upgraded to 2007 on the new laptop as my peers now all have it and after stirring the grey matter to recall what button or ribbon does what, I am happy with it, just like the 2 weeks it took me to become savvy with Vista earlier in the year. Nice to see that MS have the 'bolt-on' to allow 2003 users to access the 'x' files that 2007 creates. That will quite a few 'save-as' actions after the fact.

[bdenner]

Still using Office 2000, tried 2003 some years ago and 2007 early this year and didn't like either at the time. As I'm not into resource hungry applications doing things I don't need I can see no reason for change.

IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT!

Edited December 28, 2008 by bdenner

[JetsetBkk]

I tried 2007 and gave up. I was quite annoyed that they couldn't automatically configure an upgraded product to look like the previous product. After installation the tool bars were a total mess, took up huge amounts of screen space and I wasn't going to spend hours reconfiguring them all so I could make it look like what I'm used to.

I see, so you would buy a 2009 Toyota/Ford/Dodge/Honda and then take it to the panel beaters and spend time and money making it more like the 2001 model that you like?...

Not a very good analogy.

If the new Toyota/Ford/etc had the steering wheeling in the back and the gearstick under the passenger seat, then I wouldn't buy it.

I don't want to spend time learning how to 'drive' the new version, or how to get rid of all the new and unwanted icons, menus, etc. Nor do I want to spend time finding out where all the standard ones are.

So I'll stick with Office 2003 until they force me to change.

...My point is that the newer products are usually easier to use so saying Office 2003 is better than 2007 doesn't wash...

"usually easier"? But not in this case.