Transition from Office 2003 to 2007

[powdarrmonkey]

OK, from September we will be using Office 2007 exclusively on site (previously Office 2003). All the staff have been warned of this but, inevitably, they won't be able to do a lot of basic things because of the ribbon.

 

So I'm probably going to produce a set of quick how-to sheets with common tasks, like inserting a wordart (), setting text colour, etc. I might even be nice and turn them into Wink files.

 

1. Has anyone already produced anything like this that I could use as a basis?

2. Failing that, I'd be glad of suggestions for things to include (except the blatantly obvious, like making text bold), and I can check them off against my own list to make sure I've got most tasks.

 

Cheers.

[RabbieBurns]

I made a basic one, opening/saving documents and printing is all it covers really

 

If thats any good I can send u that (will need to be tuesday coz its a bank holiday here tomrorow)

[FN-GM]

This sort of thing would be handy for the wiki if you wouldn’t mind sending the finished product.

[EduTech]

2nd that.. this would be great for the wiki.. finished project to myself or Zak would be great and can get it on the wiki for you.

 

James.

[somabc]

MS made some good command reference guides - interactive flash guide that maps the various commands

 

Heavy on the Technical : Some Useful Office 2007 Training Links

Edited August 3, 2008 by somabc

[Andie]

How about how to save docs in a format that can be read by older versions of Office? For when they want to send something to other schools, etc.

[DanW]

i'd be interested to see how you have rolled it out.

 

could you let me know how you deployed / deploying office 2007 while over writing office 2003

 

 

ta

 

Dan

[somabc]

You can follow this -

 

Office 2007, Unattended Setup & Fine-tuning - MSFN Forums

 

Use Group Policy Software Installation to deploy the 2007 Office system

[somabc]

How about how to save docs in a format that can be read by older versions of Office? For when they want to send something to other schools, etc.

 

You can also use GP to specify the default save format as the old format, or install the compatibility pack on your computers without office 2007.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=92D8519A-E143-4AEE-8F7A-E4BBAEBA13E7&displaylang=en

 

Download details: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

 

You can get the classic menu back in Office 2007 if you are willing to spend some money, although I'm not sure how useful this as your users will surely be confused when they go elsewhere and find it missing.

 

High Performance Add-ins and Tools for Microsoft Office 2007

[maniac]

couple of tips from me when deploying it on your network;

 

Install the ADM policy files into active directory so you can control the packages. Using the group policy, Set the default save format to the 2003 compatible formats for all programs. Seems a pain really not to take advantage of the new file formats which are much more efficient, but a majority of places schools are likely to send file to probably still use office 2003 and previous, so it saves a LOT of headaches.

 

Ensure any programs you've got that compile reports into word are compatible with office 2007. I think all the main MIS systems are now, but we had a finance system that needed an upgrade to work properly, and that caught us out!

 

Disable all add-ons in outlook, they caused a lot of problems for us with outlook running slow. Also disable word as the default e-mail editor, it makes life a lot easier in my experience.

 

From a staff point of view the tasks that caused us the most problems were clipart, it wouldn't search properly through our proxy, and people locating the file menu!

 

Mike.

 

EDIT: @somabc didn't intentionally repeat your information, you posted while I was typing the reply!

[michaelf]

I've found these quite useful, only for myself though I haven't tried them out on staff yet.

 

Office 2007 Command Reference

[powdarrmonkey]

Thanks, that's all helpful, but the deployment is done. It's the user's experience that they're going to struggle with.

 

@Somabc: I'll take a look tomorrow, looks good but I don't have a windows machine handy tonight.

 

@Danw: We used a packaging system called Prism, generates a before and after file a bit like an MSI but with less 'install' logic and more 'put this file here'. So we demoed it on a few machines for the last half term alongside 2003, so the staff had a chance to look at it before we deployed properly. I set up advertised links to both suites so that each version of Office had a chance to set itself back up depending on which version the user wanted to launch.

[nadeem]

You can use the free starter edition of Ribbon Customiser to get the Classic UI back

 

pschmid.net - RibbonCustomizer™ Starter Edition

[powdarrmonkey]

The overall aim is to transition staff over as seamlessly as possible, rather than to hack workarounds in place for them, and just as much for the girls who won't necessarily have something like Ribbon Customiser available when they move on.

 

Saving docs in various formats is a good one, though again by default they will probably be in 2007 formats for the same reasons.

 

Michaelf's flash guides are the kind of thing, but more task-orientated - this is how you set up a table, this is how you add rows, etc. I may well end up writing some which of course I'll gladly share.

[srochford]

I would definitely default to the docx etc format - it makes a huge difference to the size of any file including bitmaps.

 

It's now nearly 2 years since MS issued the file format converters and I'd like to think that most people will have deployed them by now (although I'm sure many haven't!)

[CyberNerd]

I would definitely default to the docx etc format - it makes a huge difference to the size of any file including bitmaps.

 

It's now nearly 2 years since MS issued the file format converters and I'd like to think that most people will have deployed them by now (although I'm sure many haven't!)

 

It would be a better idea to adopt ODF already. MS will make Office 2007 use this format by the next service pack for MSOffice and it is the standard for almost all other office suites, including openoffice, google, IBM lotus symphony etc. This makes future migrations easier and it makes it easier for students to use their own office suites at home. ODF is also recommended by Becta for use in schools as it is an accepted international standard. There is a plugin Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office available for MSoffice 2003/2007

[DanW]

 

@Danw: We used a packaging system called Prism, generates a before and after file a bit like an MSI but with less 'install' logic and more 'put this file here'. So we demoed it on a few machines for the last half term alongside 2003, so the staff had a chance to look at it before we deployed properly. I set up advertised links to both suites so that each version of Office had a chance to set itself back up depending on which version the user wanted to launch.

 

have you got a link to the website?

 

 

Dan

[somabc]

It would be a better idea to adopt ODF already. MS will make Office 2007 use this format by the next service pack for MSOffice and it is the standard for almost all other office suites, including openoffice, google, IBM lotus symphony etc. This makes future migrations easier and it makes it easier for students to use their own office suites at home. ODF is also recommended by Becta for use in schools as it is an accepted international standard. There is a plugin Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office available for MSoffice 2003/2007

 

The problem you have with odf just now is teachers will create their letter/document and email it out and unless it is in .doc format there will be confusion at the other end. Like it or not the old office formats are still the de facto standard. Its a bit of a chicken and egg situation.

[powdarrmonkey]

have you got a link to the website?

 

 

Prism Pack -Powerful Software Packaging Made Easy

[powdarrmonkey]

ODF sounds a good idea. Does it only apply to Word though, or the rest of the suite as well?

 

Edit: I also don't see it in Word Is it an add-in?

[CyberNerd]

ODF sounds a good idea. Does it only apply to Word though, or the rest of the suite as well?

 

Edit: I also don't see it in Word : Is it an add-in?

 

It is currently available as a plugin from SUN for excel,powerpoint,word but apparently will be available in the next service release of MSOffice 2007.

Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office

To set ODF as default in word (2003):

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options]

"DefaultFormat"="ODF"

The problem you have with odf just now is teachers will create their letter/document and email it out and unless it is in .doc format there will be confusion at the other end. Like it or not the old office formats are still the de facto standard. Its a bit of a chicken and egg situation.

 

I agree, but .doc is now a legacy format and at some point we will all need to migrate. One of the advantages of migrating to odf is that when confusion arise, you can just say 'install openoffice' rather than explaining that they must upgrade office 97/200/xp to a newer version of MSOffice.