In the last issue #4.11 I ran out of space in which to cover all
of Word XP's new features (I count 32 in all). Here are the
remaining features complete with user interface tips and my grade
(scale of 1-10). You'll recall that I gave Word XP's new features
a grade of 7.7.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/412/tr.cgi?lee1
Continued...
19. Custom table styles -- Yes, Word now has table styles and you
can create your own.
UI: Task Pane, Styles and Formatting, New Style, in the "Style
type" list choose Table.
Grade: 10
20. Sort by more than one word inside a table column -- When a
column's cells contain multiple words separated by tabs, commas,
or another character you specify, you can now sort by each term.
For example, sort a "lastname, firstname" column by both lastname
and firstname.
UI: Table, Sort, Options, use the "Separate fields at" settings.
Grade: 10
21. Picture rotation and compression -- All objects can now be
rotated, including pictures. You can compress just the selected
picture(s) or all pictures in the document.
UI: Right-click the picture or object, Format <object type name>,
Size, Rotation (can also use Drawing toolbar's Draw control). For
compression, right-click the picture, Format Picture, Picture,
Compress.
Grade: 10
22. Diagrams -- Word 2000 supported organization charts, Word
2002 supports a richer set of diagram types including cycle,
radial, pyramid, Venn, and target.
UI: Insert, Diagram.
Grade: 8
23. Drawing Canvas -- This new structure is like, well, a canvas
that contains the objects that you draw or insert on it. On
screen it looks like a frame and has its own toolbar with
features like Fit, Expand, Scale, and so on, but it doesn't
print.
UI: Tools, Options, General, check "Automatically create drawing
canvas when inserting AutoShapes".
Grade: 7 (this one might grow on me, though)
24. Web Archive -- This file format allows you to save all your
HTML and linked files in a single MIME encapsulated aggregate
HTML document (MHTML) file for easy storage or distribution via
email.
UI: File, Save As, choose "Web Archive (*.mht; *.mhtml)".
Grade: 8
25. Introduction field -- When you send a document inside an
email (Word converts the doc to an HTML message), the new
Introduction field allows you to provide a preamble for anyone
with an HTML-compliant email client.
UI: File, Send To, Mail Recipient, Introduction.
Grade: 1 (this gets a thumbs-down because I don't endorse sending
documents inside bloated email messages; instead you should
always include documents/files as zipped attachments)
26. Mail Recipient (for Review) - Integrates Word and Outlook in
such a way that a document's author can track changes made by
reviewers, all via email.
UI: File, Send To, Mail Recipient (for Review).
Grade: 5
27. Booklet printing -- This is now built in, but offers a
somewhat limited set of options.
UI: File, Page Setup, Margins, from "Multiple pages" control
select "Book fold".
Grade: 6
28. Remove personal information -- Strip a document of
information that might identify its author. Knowledge Base
articles have been around on this procedure for a while, but now
it's built in.
UI: Tools, Options, Security, "Remove personal information from
this file on save", Save.
Grade: 8
29. Block access to Visual Basic projects -- Default protection
setting that denies macros access to Word's currently loaded
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) projects.
UI: To open this gate select Tools, Macro, Security, Trusted
Sources, check "Trust access to Visual Basic Project".
Grade: 8
30. Save My Settings Wizard -- This Wizard is now built right
into Office.
UI: Select Start, Programs, Microsoft Office Tools, Save My
Settings Wizard.
Grade: 8
31. Crash management -- I'm lumping several new features into one
category. It's now much easier to recover a document that was
open/damaged during a crash, and to see what Word did to recover
it (The Document Recovery task pane appears automatically when
Word re-opens after a crash). Use the "hang manager" feature when
Word is locked up and you can't close it (Start, Programs,
Microsoft Office Tools, Microsoft Office Application Recovery).
Force Word to attempt to recover a potentially damaged document
(File, Open, click Open button's down arrow, Open and Repair).
New Microsoft System Information (Msinfo32.exe) tree for "Office
Event/Application Fault" logging.
UI: See above.
Grade: 8
32. Expanded object model -- Developers will want to study Word
2002's new objects, properties, methods, and events.
UI: Select Tools, Macro, Visual Basic Editor, in the "Ask a
Question" box type "what's new for microsoft office developers".
Grade: 6
Are you loving Office XP? Hating it? Other XP-rated thoughts? I'd like to hear from you. I'll be following up this article with coverage of another of my beloved Office applications: Excel (I was tempted to type in Multiplan just for grins, but didn't, and yes, I did use it).
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Microsoft Office XP Professional, $539 & free shipping:
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Note: If you have a Microsoft Office consulting project,
development idea, macro quandary, or are just plain stuck trying
to get something--easy or hard--done with Microsoft Office, WE
CAN HELP YOU! This is what we do for a living: handle Office
projects of all shapes and sizes. You can reach our software
consultants by email 24x7 at:
mailto:code@PRIMEConsulting.com
or you can call us in the U.S. at 310-318-5212 (someone's usually
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or leave us a voice mail anytime).
You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com
