Office At Work : support

Top tips for using Office 2007 on your netbook

StephB — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:34:54 GMT

I wanted to share this article which my colleague in Mexico, Adriana, recently published. Hope you find it useful :). Thanks Adriana!

First things first: Everything you need to know about installing Office 2007 on your netbook

Most netbooks come with a free 60-day trial of Office 2007 pre-installed, so if you want to try Office 2007 before you buy, you can activate the trial by double-clicking the ’60-day trial’ icon on the desktop.

When you decide to buy, you simply convert the pre-installed trial by following the links you will receive in follow-up emails. Alternatively, you can buy a boxed copy of your chosen Office suite from a local or online retailer. You just enter the product key that comes with the box to convert the trial to a fully licensed version.

Not all netbooks have a CD/DVD drive. If yours doesn’t, don’t worry, you can buy and download a copy of Office 2007 from Microsoft Store. You can also download the Office trial from Office Online.

Read more about how to get Office 2007 on your netbook

Performance

You do need to take into account the capacity and technical specification of your netbook. The netbook I tested had 512Mb RAM memory and 60GB hard drive. The ‘official’ minimum specification for Office 2007 is here. I installed Office Home and Student 2007.

Overall the experience with Office 2007 was good, and the applications all functioned well. After a few days of testing, the only slowness I noticed was when I has several applications with several windows each running, so it’s a good idea to remember to save and close documents as you go (a good habit anyway!).

The best thing come in small packages

Netbooks are - by their nature - smaller than standard laptops. This is great for portability but also means you might want to adopt a couple of tricks to make the most of the smaller screen area.

Zoom is your friend

Use the zoom function to view a smaller amount of your document at one time, for easier editing. You can also save zoom settings to suit your preferences.

Using the zoom function

Minimise the Office menu (Ribbon)

This function gives you a larger working area. To minimise or reset the menu (ribbon) just press Ctrl+F1.

You can also save time by becoming familiar with the Quick Access Toolbar

Save documents online and save space on your PC

Office Live Workspace is your No. 1 ally here. Don’t clog up your hard drive with documents and photos. Set up an Office Live Workspace instead. You can upload all your files so you can access them anytime over the internet, whether you’re using your netbook, work PC or an internet café on holiday. You can also choose to give access to some areas of your workspace, so friends or colleagues can download, edit and upload documents too.

What are you waiting for?

After you’ve installed Office 2007 on your netbook, visit our training portal to learn everything you need to get started with Office 2007, completely free, with our interactive training courses. If it’s the first time you’ve used Microsoft Office programs, don’t worry, I have something for you too. Learn how to take the first steps with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook 2007 here.

Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) now available to download

StephB — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:15:07 GMT

If you’re using Office 2007 and want to keep your computer completely secure and performing at it’s best - and I know you do - head to the links below, where you can find out about and download Service Pack 2 (SP2). If you have your PC configured to download updates automatically (Control Panel / System & Security / Windows Update), you will get this update automatically after around 90 days. However you can get the benefits straight away by installing the update early from Windows Update on your PC or by following the links below.

What are the improvements?

Faster email management in Outlook 2007

According to expert & blogger Gray Knowlton ‘One of the most important end user benefits of the SP2 release is the improvement in Outlook performance.’. Amen to that I say – anything that speeds up managing my email is a definite plus :). Improvements include:

Faster and more predictable startup & shutdown
Better folder view & switching
Improved calendar reliability
Reduction in number of data file check error messages

‘Save as PDF and XPS’ added to ‘Save As’ options

If you haven’t already downloaded this feature you’ll find it installed as part of the SP2 update. Saving as PDF or XPS keeps your formatting intact and secure so you can ensure your documents are seen exactly as you intended. So, very handy if you have official docs to email or complex creations to send to the printer.

Save as ODF 1.1

This feature should help if you have friends or colleagues using other types of office software. Basically, it allows you to save your Office 2007 docs in a shareable format which is easily read by most types of office software.

Next steps

· Where can I download SP2? – You can pop up to Microsoft Update and install the bits

· Where can I learn about what is in SP2? – Here

· Is this an Automatic Update? – Not yet. For the first 90 days (at least the first 90), service packs are made available as a manual download. After 90 days and with a 30 day notice, Service Packs are offered through the Automatic Update channel as a critical update.

Want even more info

More detailed overview of the Office 2007 Service Pack 2 can be found on Gray Knowlton’s Gray Matter blog – from which most of this info in lovingly cribbed. Thanks Gary!

Have you started (or are trying to start) Office from a new PC?

StephB — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:33:59 GMT

If you have recently bought a laptop computer (PC) you may have a copy of Office 2007 pre-loaded on it. You can tell if you have one of these computers because there will be an icon on the computer desktop like this and you will be able to see the Microsoft Office programs like Word when you open the 'Programs' menu.

The idea of these computers is that you can try Office out and then buy it later. So, even though you can see the Microsoft Office applications like Word and Powerpoint, you have not actually bought Microsoft Office 2007 yet. The cost of Office is not part of the cost of the PC.

How to tell if you have Office pre-loaded on your laptop

If you have one of these PCs you will be able to see and open Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and Powerpoint, even though you don't have a licence for Office yet. When you open the applications you will get a pop-up box that asks for your product key. It looks like this;

At this stage your trial is NOT activated. To activate the trial you need to get a product key using the trial activation wizard (see below). Do not try to enter a product key from any of the following sources - they will not work;

Sticker on bottom of your PC
Product key from old Office software*
Product key from Vista or any other non-Office software

Just to confuse matters (if you aren't confused already) you can use the programs (eg. Word) 25 times before you HAVE to enter a product key. My advice is, don't wait this long! If you wait until the product locks up (a.k.a. 'reduced functionality mode') you may run into some other problems activating the trial.

Instead, go through the trial activation process described below now. Don't worry, you do not have to pay anything yet :).

*If you do have a box of old Office software you may be entitled to use it on your new machine. However, this box is not the place to enter the key. Instead, go to the activation wizard (see below) and press the red ‘Activate Now’ button instead of the yellow ‘Try Now’ button. Enter the key there.

Trial activation wizard

If you have a PC with Office pre-loaded onto it you should also be able to see an icon on the desktop which looks like this;

Important: The easiest way to set up the Office trial is to double-click on this icon. Double-clicking on the icon should open a wizard (a pop-up box) on the screen which looks similar to this;

Follow the steps in the wizard like this;

1) Click the yellow 'Try Now' button

2) Enter your email address

2) Press the green 'submit' button

3) You should now see a product key in the box on the right (see below).

4) Copy this product key

5) Click on the link above the product key box

6) This will open MS Word on your computer. The product key box will appear (this may take a little time)

6) Paste the product key into the 'Enter your Product Key' box and press the submit button

7) You should now see the 'Install' screen. It looks like this;

7) When your trial is successfully installed you will see this screen

8) You then need to accept the license terms by pressing the Accept button on the next screen

9) Keep the default options on the next screen (these are just some questions about how you get help content for your programs. You can change these later if you want).

9) Your trial should now be activated and you will be able to use all the Office applications like Word and Powerpoint with full functionality.

!Important: You can now use Office for 60 days in full functionality. At any time during these 60 days you can convert the trial by buying a full Office product key. Even though you have entered a product key to activate the trial you have still not bought Office, as you have not parted with any cash!

The next post in this series will be about the different ways you can buy Office, converting your trial to the full version of Office...in one sentence either buy a boxed copy from your local retailer or follow the instructions on your PC to buy online.

Having problems with Office trial? Can't find your product key?

StephB — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:26:00 GMT

Hi. I can't help noticing that one or two of you seem to be having a few problems with product keys and Office trials (!) so I'd really like to offer some tips in the hope it might help some of you out.

I understand that the process can be a little confusing, as can some of the help pages you're sent to during the trial activation process. I'm working on getting this fixed but in the mean time I'm posting few quick pointers.

I'll be posting tips for the following scenarios;

Have you started (or are trying to start) Office from a new PC?
Have you bought a boxed copy of Office 2007 which you now want to install over a trial version of Microsoft Office 2007?
Have you been using a trial version of Microsoft Office and are now unsure about how to convert it?

Check back soon!

Redmond, we have a problem…

GillLeFevre — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:32:00 GMT

Queries about technical support are the most frequent type of email I get and while Microsoft has a huge (sometimes confusing, sometimes overwhelming) range of resources to provide support, I’ve realised that it really isn’t clear what’s available and what you get as an individual customer when you buy a Microsoft product.

Note: the rest of this article applies to software bought or installed individually. If your copy of, for example, Microsoft Office is provided as part of a large corporate license then you almost certainly have a different route for support. If you have a problem with software that came pre-installed on your computer when you purchased it, then the first point of call should be the computer manufacturer, although many of the "self service" links below will also be useful.

What sort of help do you need?

One of the first things to clarify is the difference between technical support and product help. The easiest way I think about this is by comparing using software to driving a car.

If you’re driving home one day and the engine starts making a funny noise, you’re probably going to get a mechanic to take a look at it. Alternatively, if you’re trying to drive to meet a friend for lunch but can’t find the right road, then you’re probably lost and need directions.

In the same way, if you’re trying to get an Excel pivot table to work and can’t figure out what to do, then you’re probably lost and need product help. But if you’re using your computer as normal and something goes wrong then you need technical support.

Now if you need product help, then Microsoft has another huge range of resources to provide help and information. In particular make sure you visit Office Online and the Windows section on the Microsoft website.

If you need technical support, read on…

What technical support is available?

If something isn't working the way it should be, the best place to start is the Microsoft support website. The Knowledge Base on our website is a centralised place where we’ve published a large collection of articles and FAQs about our products. You can access it by going to: http://support.microsoft.com/

The reason I recommend starting here (in most cases) is that often there will be an identified solution to your problem and you can get easy-to-follow instructions at whatever time of the day (or night!) suits you. You can read through them at your own pace and easily go back over anything you don’t understand.

If you can’t find an answer to your specific problem, you might want to visit our newsgroups and ask other Microsoft product users. It’s a vibrant community with lots of questions and answers being regularly posted and it’s frequently visited by our Most Valued Professionals.

It’s good to talk

If you prefer to speak with someone, then the first thing to clarify is whether the product you need support with was installed on your computer when you purchased it. If it was, then the first point of call should be the manufacturer of your computer.

If it wasn’t, then our Customer Support Team is available on 0870 60 10 100. There’s a common view that you get charged for opening a support incident, but this is not always the case.

Updates and Service Packs

Most importantly, if something goes wrong with your computer as a result of a Microsoft or Windows update or service pack, then support for this is free. The Windows Update website has advice and information for many common problems or you can either call Customer Support (on 0870 60 10 100) or use this link: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=6527. For problems connected with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, use this link: http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?prid=11274&gprid=500921

Product support entitlements

A certain amount of free support has always been available if you purchased boxed Microsoft software from a retailer. I’ve listed below some links for the most common products, but further details about other products are available on the support website.

Windows Vista: 90 days no-charge support is available from the product activation date

Microsoft Office 2007: 90-day no-charge support is available from the date you place your first support request

Windows XP: Two support requests are provided free of charge

Microsoft Office 2003: Two support requests are provided free of charge

OneCare: e-mail, Instant Help, chat, and phone support is available through the product

Internet Explorer

Live / MSN

Hotmail

Xbox

Other support resources

I’ve only just scratched the surface of the support Microsoft has available but hopefully I’ve helped to show you what free support is provided.

A couple of other resources to bear in mind include:

· Support webcasts

· Newsgroups

· Technical communities