Chris Bowen's Blog : Office

Office 2007 Search Commands Add-On

cbowen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:40:56 GMT

Prompted by recent feedback on a Roadshow visit, I set off to research a bit about the "Fluent" (ribbon-based) interface in Office 2007. Though it surfaces more functionality to users, it can clearly take some time for those used to the menus of earlier Office versions to get up to speed.

While there are transition guides and videos - for example, here, here, here, and here, it turns out there's an even easier answer.

The Office Labs team has released a Search Commands add-on for Office 2007 (for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). Search Commands adds a new ribbon with a simple search textbox. Type part of the name of a command you're looking for, and the ribbon will show buttons for each of the matching results!

The results also integrate guided help, which are step-by-step automations of common processes in Office, helping you each step of the way.

Examples

Searching For "Color" in PowerPoint:

Searching for "Export" in Excel

Search Commands will even offer spelling correction suggestions for the command names you type:

Searching for "Effect" in Word

Definitely a welcome addition to Office, helping even experienced users to locate tools quickly. Head to the Office Labs site for details.

-Chris

Congratulations to SB Chatterjee!

cbowen — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:18:00 GMT

Some great news to welcome in the new year! Long-time community leader SB Chatterjee has just been awarded Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for Groove!

For years, SB has been doing great work both in Connecticut with the CT .NET User Group and online with his support of Office Groove via discussion groups and more.

Check out his MVP profile page and keep an eye on his blog for his own announcement.

Well-deserved congratulations to you, SB!

-Chris

Got Tech Posters?

cbowen — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 01:58:05 GMT

Have a blank wall (and access to your company's color printer)?

There are plenty of technology posters and charts for developers available on MSDN. I didn't realize just how many until I searched for "poster" on MSDN downloads.

Here's a list of the more recent ones:

.NET 3.5 Namespaces Poster
The .NET Framework 3.5 Common Namespaces and Types Poster
Exchange Component Architecture Poster
This poster highlights the architecture and feature set of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
Visual Basic 2008 Keybinding Poster
Printable wall poster containing list of useful keyboard shortcuts for Visual Basic 2008 developers
Visual C++ 2008 Keybinding Poster
List of keybindings for Visual C++ language within Visual Studio and Visual C++ Express 2008
Visual C# 2008 Poster
Wall chart showing useful keyboard shortcuts for Visual C# programming language
BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Scale-Out Configurations
This poster illustrates typical scale-out configurations and options.
BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Runtime Architecture Poster
This poster provides a detailed illustration of the modules and components that make up the BizTalk Server 2006 R2 runtime architecture. It shows typical message flow and data flow that occurs between these components at run time.
2007 Office System: Developer Posters
Download these posters to learn more about the new features and enhancement to the 2007 Microsoft Office System.
BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Poster
This poster lists the BizTalk Server 2006 R2 capabilities.
Windows Server 2008 Component Posters
Windows Server 2008 Component Posters, originally printed in the July 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine.
Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 (Ed: Make that 2.0) Developer Reference Poster
Microsoft Silverlight Developer Reference Poster
BizTalk Server 2006 Legacy Modernization with Host Integration Server 2006
Overview of BizTalk Server Legacy Modernization Scenarios.
BizTalk Server 2006 Capabilities
Lists BizTalk Server 2006 capabilities
BizTalk Server 2006 Runtime Architecture
Illustration of the modules and components of BizTalk Server 2006
TechNet Magazine Active Directory Component Jigsaw Poster
Active Directory Component Jigsaw poster, originally printed in the March-April 2006 issue of TechNet Magazine.
PnP Overview Poster
Patterns & Practices Overview Poster
Smart Client Poster
Patterns & Practices Smart Client Poster
Visual C# 2005 Keyboard Shortcut Reference Poster
This poster contains the default keybindings for Visual C# 2005, and is available as a PDF download in either color or grayscale for you to print.
Visual Basic 2005 Keyboard Shortcut Reference Poster
This poster contains the default key bindings for Visual Basic 2005, and is available as a PDF download in either color or grayscale for you to print.
Visual C++ 2005 Keyboard Shortcut Reference Poster
This poster contains the default keybindings for Visual C++ 2005, and is available as a PDF download in either color or grayscale for you to print.

Enjoy!

-Chris

Technorati tags: Visual Basic, C#, C++, BizTalk, .NET, Exchange, Office, Windows Server, Silverlight

Office 2007 Document Inspector

cbowen — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:46:47 GMT

I have a new favorite feature in Office 2007. I often need to send documents to contacts, but I want to ensure there's no extra information tagging along for the ride (revision history, document properties, speaker notes in PowerPoint, etc.)

You used to have to resort to macros or manual removal, but in Office 2007, there's a built-in tool called the Office System Document Inspector that will cleanse Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents of comments, annotations, history, etc.

To launch the Inspector, click the "big office button" in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, choose "Prepare", then Inspect Document:

The Document Inspector will then display, with options that vary based on the type of document you've opened. For example, in PowerPoint you'll see:

Choose which information you'd like to find and remove, then click Inspect. The Office Developer Center has more information on this tool.

Hope you find this useful!

-Chris

Technorati tags: Office, Tools

Boston Vista, Office 2007, Exchange 2007 Launch Event - 1/24/07

cbowen — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:51:00 GMT

Boston is one of the key launch cities for the upcoming Vista, Office 2007, Exchange 2007 launch series. The launch will be held at the Boston Convention Center on January 24th.

Some highlights:

Attendees will get a free copy of Office 2007 Professional and Office Groove 2007
Breakout sessions for developers, IT pros, and technology decision makers
Keynote with Ron Markezich (VP, Microsoft Managed Solutions)
Expo hall with Ask the Experts and Microsoft and Partner Paviliions
Opportunity to test drive the new products
Bumping into your friendly local Developer Evangelist :)

Full agenda

Registration is required - Developer or IT Professional | Technology Decision Maker

If you can't attend the Boston launch, there will be a number of regional launch events as well. Northeast events are:

South Portland, ME - 2/13
Rochester, NY - 2/13
Nashua, NH - 2/15
Albany, NY - 2/15
Comwell, CT - 2/22

You can find details on these events here.

-Chris

P.S. Keep in mind this is the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (if you attended the Visual Studio 2005 launch event - same place) and not the Hynes CC.