Key New Features in Microsoft Word

Key New Features in Microsoft Word

Easier Formatting

Use the Styles and Formatting task pane to create, view, select, apply, and clear formatting from text. You can also open the Reveal Formatting task pane to display text-formatting attributes.

You can check formatting for consistency as you type. Word marks formatting inconsistencies with wavy blue underlines.

You can control automatic corrections and pasting without having to click a toolbar button or open a dialog box. The AutoCorrect Options and Paste Options buttons appear in your document to help you fine-tune these tasks.

Collaborative Document Creation

Use the improved Reviewing toolbar for document collaboration. Tracked changes are represented by clear, easy-to-read markup that does not obscure the original document or affect its layout. Markup is displayed when tracked changes are turned on, and also as the result of a comparison between two versions of a document.

Balloons display insertions or deletions, formatting changes, and comments.

Word has enhanced the compare and merge features. In addition to integration with tracked changes, improvements include overall accuracy and robustness, the tracking of more types of changes, and the option to create a third document that contains the comparison.

Distributing a document for review is a complete, integrated process. When you send a document for review, Word automatically creates a review request form, enables and displays the reviewing tools when a reviewer receives the document, and prompts you to merge changes when the reviewed copy is returned. You can then use the reviewing tools to accept or reject the changes.

Speech and Handwriting Recognition

Use speech recognition to dictate text into Office programs or to select menu, toolbar, dialog box, and task pane items by using your voice. To start speech recognition, click buttons on the Language bar.

Use handwriting recognition to enter text into a document. You can write by using a handwriting input device, such as a graphics tablet or a tablet-PC, or you can write by using your mouse. You can have your natural handwriting converted to typed characters or leave text in handwritten form.

Improved table and list formatting: Word now offers drag-and-drop copying of tables, custom table and list styles, and improved sorting. You can also format bullets or numbers differently from the text in a list.

Improved proofing tools: Word improves the handling of proper names and working with custom dictionaries.

Enhanced AutoComplete: The name of any person to whom you send e-mail in Microsoft Outlook is recognized later in Microsoft Word and used as an AutoComplete suggestion.

Multiselection: You can select noncontiguous areas of a document, which makes it easy to format text in different places. You can also use the Find feature to select and format similar text.

More convenient word count: By using the Word Count toolbar, you can check the current word count in a document without having to repeatedly open the Word Count dialog box.

Simplified mail merge: Word takes advantage of the task pane to deliver a new way to connect to your data source and create form letters, mailing labels, envelopes, directories, and mass e-mail and fax distributions. The Mail Merge Wizard is easy to use but still offers rich, advanced functionality.

Hiding white space: In print layout view, you can quickly eliminate wasted space on the screen by hiding the white space at the top and bottom of a document.

Drawing Canvas: The new Drawing Canvas helps you easily insert, position, layer, and resize drawing objects in your document.

Diagramming: You can add a variety of diagrams by using the diagramming tools on the Drawing toolbar.

Improved watermarks: You can easily select a picture, logo, or custom text to apply as the background for your printed document.

Security

New Security tab: Security options such as password protection, file sharing options, digital signatures, and macro security are now conveniently collected on a single Security tab in the Options dialog box.

Protecting personal information: You can now remove personal information from your document, such as file properties (Author, Manager, Company, and Last saved by); remove names associated with comments or tracked changes; and turn off the ability for other users to download URLs from smart tags.

Web Documents and Web Sites

Improved CSS support: You can use Word to attach, remove, and manage cascading style sheets (CSS), which provide a convenient way to format several Web pages or a whole Web site. To change the format of the pages, you can make changes to the style sheet without having to edit each Web page.

Improved picture bullets: Picture bullets now behave just like other bullets in Word. Different picture bullets can be used for different levels, enhancing their use in communicating information.

Filtered HTML: To reduce the size of Web pages and e-mail messages in HTML format, you can save them in filtered HTML, so that the tags used by Microsoft Office programs are removed. This feature is recommended for experienced Web authors who are concerned with the tags that appear in their HTML files.

Unlocking Data

Smart tags: Save time by using smart tags to perform actions in Word that you would normally open other programs to do. For example, you can add a person's name and address from your document to a Microsoft Outlook contact folder by clicking a smart tag and then selecting the action.

Streamlined data connection during a mail merge: When performing a mail merge, you can seamlessly connect to your data source by using the Select Data Source dialog box.

Improved linking to Excel data: When you link to data in a Microsoft Excel worksheet, you can use the Paste Options button to ensure that formatting changes you make to the object in your document are not lost when the object in the source file is updated.

Language-Specific Features

Translation: Word offers basic bilingual dictionary and translation capability, as well as access to translation services on the World Wide Web.

Insertion of symbols and international characters: Word now offers improved ways to add these types of characters to your document, either through the improved Symbol dialog box, or by using ALT+X keyboard shortcuts.

Support for additional character sets: When used with Microsoft Windows 2000, Word now supports typing Thai, Hindi, Tamil, Georgian, Armenian, Vietnamese, Farsi, Urdu, and other complex languages.

New Microsoft Office Features

Everyday Tasks

Office task panes: The most frequently performed tasks in Microsoft Office are now organized in panes that are displayed in place with your Office document. You can continue working while you search for a file by using the Search task pane, pick from a gallery of items to paste in the Office Clipboard task pane, and quickly create new documents or open files by using the task pane that appears when you start an Office program. Other task panes vary per Office program.

New look: Microsoft Office XP has a cleaner, simpler look to its interface. Softer colors also contribute to this updated feel.

More convenient access to Help: Get the full power of the Answer Wizard in an unobtrusive package. When you type a question about an Office program in the Ask a Question box on the menu bar, you can see a list of choices and read a Help topic whether or not you are running the Office Assistant.

Control paste options and automatic changes with smart tags: New in-place buttons called "smart tags" let you immediately adjust how information is pasted or how automatic changes occur in your Office programs. For example, when you paste text from Microsoft Word into Microsoft PowerPoint, a button appears next to the text. Click the button to see a list of choices for fine-tuning the formatting of the pasted text. Smart tags and their associated choices vary per Office program.

Updated Clip Organizer: Hundreds of new clips, an easy task pane interface, as well as the same abilities to organize clips and find new digital art on the Web are part of the updated Clip Organizer (formerly Clip Gallery).

Conceptual diagrams: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint include a new gallery of conceptual diagrams. Choose among diagrams such as Pyramid for showing the building blocks of a relationship, Radial for showing items in relation to a core element, and more.

Voice commands and dictation: In addition to mouse and keyboard methods, you can now select menu, toolbar, and dialog box items by speaking. You can also dictate text. This feature is available in the Simplified Chinese, English (U.S.), and Japanese language versions of Microsoft Office and has some special hardware requirements.

Support for handwriting: You can use handwriting recognition to enter text into an Office document. You can write by using a handwriting input device, such as a graphics tablet or a tablet-PC, or you can write using your mouse. Your natural handwriting is converted to typed characters. In Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook, you can also choose to leave text in handwritten form.

Improved fidelity of pictures and drawings: Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft FrontPage 2002, and Microsoft Publisher 2002 use an improved graphics system (GDI+). With this new graphics system, shapes and WordArt have smoother outlines and adjustable levels of transparency with true blending. Digital pictures stay sharper and clearer when you resize them.

Accessibility: Office XP programs support Microsoft Active Accessibility 2.0. This technology makes accessibility aids, such as screen readers or screen enlargers, more effective.

Find printers: If your organization uses Microsoft Windows 2000 and the Active Directory directory service, you can search for printers across your network from the Print dialog box in Office XP programs.

Storing documents with Microsoft Exchange Server 2000: You can store Microsoft Office documents on Exchange Server 2000 and access them through the Open, New, and Save dialog boxes (on the File menu), as you would any other Office document.

Document Imaging and Scanning

Microsoft Office Document Scanning: This feature controls the scanning of documents into your computer by using any installed scanner.

Microsoft Office Document Imaging: This feature makes it easy to view scanned documents on the screen, rearrange multipage documents, select and manipulate recognized text, and send documents to others in e-mail