Microsoft Office 2007 is a productivity suite that is developed for Microsoft Windows system. The ribbon interface which has been used until 2016-version was introduced for the first time in this Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft Office 2007 was released in the last quarter of 2006. Until this article is published, many people still use Office 2007 though it is no longer gotten mainstream supports since 2012.
The applications of Microsoft Office 2007 basically are similar with the previous versions except for the FrontPage apps. The FrontPage is no longer available for Microsoft Office users, but it is replaced by SharePoint for sharing documents and collaborating multiple users at the same time. There are few changes in Office 2007 that make it distinguishable from previous versions of Microsoft Office. The changes include:
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Microsoft Office 2007 User Interface
In Microsoft Office 2007, we get a new user interface that is called Fluent User Interface. When we open Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook, we no longer see classic menus and toolbars. All of these have been replaced by ribbon interface which arranged and collected applications based on their functionalities. This interface makes the display look tidy and helps the users find a certain application quickly.
The arrangement menus and tabs in ribbon interface are fixed. You need an extended tool for Office or the third party tool if you want to tweak the UI and change the arrangement system of menus and toolbars. Some buttons provide “live preview”. When you drag the cursor over these particular buttons, the objects or the texts will be temporarily changed following the button functions. When you remove the cursor from the buttons, the objects or the texts will be back to previous forms.
File formats
Microsoft Office 2007 has a new format for the documents of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications. The new format uses XML format which means the documents can be opened by other productivity suites, not limited to Office applications. The saved documents will have the extension with an extra letter X at the end of it, for examples, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.
XML format saves more space in your hard disk because its saved documents have a smaller size compared to the saved documents from previous Microsoft Office formats. Office 2000, XP, and 2003 are not able to open XML format documents without using an additional tool such as Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.
The difference between Microsoft Office 2007 and Office 365
You can directly share or publish your documents from applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Office 365, while Office 2007 needs SharePoint to share the documents. Office 365 is a monthly- or yearly-subscribed application, while Office 2007 is a lifetime application with a one-time purchase.
Office 365 needs occasionally connected to the internet in order to re-update the system. If it is not connected with the internet for more than 39 days, the users will lose the rights to create and edit documents. You need reactivation to use the functions again.
Microsoft Office 2007 requirement
Microsoft Office 2007 will run in a PC or laptop with minimum operating system Windows XP SP2. Office 2007 will no longer get the extended updates on October 10, 2017, which means Office 2007 will be officially retired this October.