Office 2007: What's New
Fluent User Interface
With this release, Microsoft has completely revamped the look and feel of its Office suite of programs. The most noticable feature is the addition of the Fluent User Interface that replaces the menus and toolbars in Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and portions of Outlook. This interface is designed to make it simpler to find and use program features; it includes:
- The Ribbon with Contextual tabs and Dialog Box Launchers.
- The Microsoft Office Button.
- The Quick Access Toolbar.
Each of these components is covered in detail in the corresponding section under the Office 2007 Overview training unit.
New File Formats and Compatibility Packs
In addition to the changes above, Office 2007 uses a new default file format called Office Open XML (Extensible Markup Language) that reduces file size by up to 75% and provides improved security and reliability. By default, new documents are saved in the Open XML format with an "x" added to the old extension (e.g., .docx or .dotx for Word documents and templates; Access has a new .accdb file format). Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word are all able to open files from previous versions of Office. Microsoft also is providing a free Compatibility Pack add-on that allows you to use Office 2000-2003 versions to open, edit, and save, documents created using the new file format.
Publisher 2007 does not include the Fluent User Interface and continues to use the same file formats as the 2002 and 2003 versions.