What's New in
Office 2008?
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(see www.Adobe.com for free download).
Overall Changes
The new Office suite is now coded to run natively on Intel and PowerPC Macs instead of using Rosetta. This means it runs faster however your computer needs to be at least 10.4 for 2008 to work.
Office 2008 uses a new file structure that is based on XML. This allows for better security and smaller, stronger files.
The problem however is that older versions of Office can't read the new formats without a special converter patch.
There are options available if people want to share files and use different versions of Office such as downloading the converter (for older versions of Office) or saving in the older file format (for the newer version of Office). Tips and instructions are available here:
http://www.cwu.edu/~itstraining/TechTips/officefileformats.html
The basic navigation for Office 2008 hasn't changed, unlike the PC version. However the graphical interface looks sharper and you can more easily customize the menus and toolbars.
- Right-click (or Control+click if using a single-button mouse) on the toolbar to bring up the shortcut menu with customization options.
The Elements Gallery is located below the toolbars in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. (not in Entourage since it doesn't create docs). It provides links to the most commonly used items for each program so will vary depending on what program you have open.
- Show or hide the Elements Gallery through the View menu.
The following is a screen shot of the Elements Gallery in Word.
Smart Art is another type of charting capability that allows you to graph lists, processes, cycles, etc.
You can insert a Smart Art graphic either through the Insert menu or from the Elements Gallery .
Themes are an overall look for any file whether it is created in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. They allow for a common look so if you have a project that requires Word documents as well as Excel files, you can pick the same theme for both and have them all tie together in a professional manner. Themes affect all the colors, fonts and effects within a document.
You can access Themes through the Formatting Palette of any program. If the palette is not showing,
- Click on View, Formatting Palette.
The Themes are at the bottom of the palette.
- Click on the Theme you want to apply.
Tip: there's an option at the bottom of the Themes gallery to Save Theme. This is in case you choose to modify an existing Theme and want the modified version to be available on the Themes gallery in the future.
Note: All programs have this same list of themes however PowerPoint has more themes listed in its Elements Gallery.
All Office 2008 programs come equipped with Automator support. This allows you to create your own workflows from within each program. Sample workflows are available as well.
- Click on the Scripts icon next to the Help menu, then go to Sample Automator Workflows.
The Formatting Palette and Toolbox have been combined, updated, and given a consistent look throughout all the programs.
- Click on the View menu and note the options under the Toolbox section.
Once the palette is visible, you can also change which palette is being used and customize it by choosing one of the buttons at the top or switching to the “backside” of the palette with the arrow in the top right.
Visual Basic (a programming code for PC's) and macros won't work in Office 2008. Instead, you can write Apple Scripts. If someone has created a file with a macro in it, the macro will still be preserved within the file though.
Some features that aren't new but have been improved or changed are:
Word Art - better graphics and effects
Charting - the same charting options are available from all programs through the Elements Gallery.
Save As PDF - this option is in a new location. Instead of being under the Print menu, it's under the Save As menu.
Office Online - the little animated cartoon, Clippy, is gone but help is not. Check out the revamped online Help, including courses and tutorials.
New in Word
Save yourself some time by using one of the predesigned document elements (cover pages, table of contents, header, footer, bibliography) from the Elements Gallery.
- Open the Elements Gallery and click on the Document Elements tab.
Each subtab for Cover Pages, Table of Contents, etc. has a variety of templates ready to use.
- Click on the template you wish to use, the document will open with that template and you can start entering your data.
This special view allows you to work more complex documents such as brochures and flyers.
To switch to Publishing Layout View,
- Click on View, Publishing Layout.
When in Publishing Layout view, the Document Elements tab in the Elements Gallery changes to Publication Templates. See below.
Word 2008 comes with a ton of predesigned templates you can use to create brochures, flyers, posters, etc.
- Switch to Publishing Layout view.
- Click on the Publication Templates tab.
- Click on the template you wish to use and as soon as it appears in your document, you can start entering your content.
The Data Merge Manager in Word is now called the Mail Merge Manager and has some minor improvements. It's in the same location as the Data Manager was, under the Tools menu.
Numbers have been added to indicate the progression of steps in the mail merge process. Some of the terminology has been changed to sound less technical. For example, instead of adding a Merge or Word Field, you now insert Placeholders.
New in Excel
Arguably the most notable new feature in Excel 2008, these are preformatted workbooks that can save you time in designing your work.
Access Ledger Sheets EITHER through the Project Gallery,
- Click on File, Project Gallery.
- When the window opens, expand Ledger Sheets option the left navigation menu.
- Choose which template you'd like to use and select Open.
OR the Sheets tab in the Elements Gallery.
- Click on View, Elements Gallery to display it.
- Click on the Sheets tab within the Gallery.
- Choose an option from the display.
The new Formula Builder helps “walk” you through the process of creating a function.
- Click on View, Formula Builder (in the Toolbox section)
- Scroll through to find the function you need. If you're not sure, click on the name of the function to get a description in the bottom part of the pane.
- Double-click on the function you want.
The bottom part of the pane expands to show the fields necessary for completing the function.
Another way to enter functions is to use Formula Auto-Complete. This is helpful if you know what you want to do but not necessarily the name of the function you want to use.
- Click in the cell you want to put the function in, type in an “=”, then type the first letter of the function you think you need.
A list appears below where you've typed that you can select from.
- Click on the name of the function you want then enter arguments as necessary.
New in PowerPoint
With themes, you can tie together all the colors, fonts, and effects in a professional manner. PowerPoint comes with 50 themes you can use that are also available Word and Excel so you can really tie together a project if you have more than one file
Access a theme through the Elements Gallery.
- Click on the Slide Themes tab in the Elements Gallery.
The Gallery expands to display the available themes.
- Apply a theme by clicking on it in the gallery. This will change the formatting for all slides within the presentation.
When creating a slide for a presentation, you usually pick from one of the prepackaged slide layouts such as title only or title and content. Now you can create your own layouts and put in as many placeholders for stuff like pictures and text boxes as you want. You can also save this layout for future use.
Specific instructions can be found via the Help menu.
- Type in Custom Slide Layouts in the search box.
In the results that display, you should see at the top an entry for Customize your presentation with slide layouts. This is actually a “course” with sample files and everything although you can just read the text if you want.
A recap of the process is as follows:
- Create a new layout in Slide Master View.
- Save the presentation as a template.
Then when creating new files, base them on that template and you'll be able to see the custom layout in the Elements Gallery.
These should be turned on by default but if not,
- Click on View, Guides, Dynamic Guides.
Dynamic guides are alignment tools that only appear when you need them. They help you align objects with other objects.
When you start to drag an object on a slide, blue lines will appear to let you know where that object is in relation to other objects on the slide.
If you want to save your presentation as a series of photos that can then be seen on your iPod, iPhone, etc. and also saved in the iPhoto Library,
- Click on File, Send To, iPhoto.
- Fill out the appropriate fields and Send.
The slides will open in a new album within iPhoto.
When you are ready to run your presentation, use the Apple Remote to advance your slides. This allows you to step away from the computer and walk around a bit but still be able to advance your slides.
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Page last updated 07/24/09. Send questions or comments to ITS Training.
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