If you’d like to know more about the licence on a Vista computer there’s a simple way to do that. With product activation on Windows Vista it can be more than the standard ‘one time’ activation which applies to retail and small business versions. For large deployments there are more
About Office 2007 Galleries June H writes: ” I clicked on an Office 2007 banner ad that talked about a feature called ‘Margin Galleries’ but I could not find anything about it on the site I was taken to. Can you explain? “ We’ve had a few messages like this,
When did Office 2007 get a ‘Fluent’ interface? In Office 2007 ads you may see mentions of the ‘intuitive new Fluent interface‘ … ‘Fluent’ is just the fancy name for the Office 2007 interface – ribbons, tabs, galleries etc. I guess the marketing people had a long lunch and decided
Where is the long-promised add-in to support ODF document formats Microsoft has its own document formats supported fully in Office 2007 (OpenXML documents), there’s a similar set of document formats in the open source world, the Open Document Format https://office-watch.com/?110 Cleverly hedging their bets, Microsoft arranged for an external group
Only one Office related patch in July –for many and various flavours of Excel. Only one Office related patch in July – for many and various flavours of Excel. The patches cover three more ‘remote code execution’ problems where a craftily made Excel worksheet could allow unwanted nasty programs onto
Replace the Sidebar notes applet with one that links to your Outlook Notes folder. The Windows Sidebar in Vista is a configurable collection of ‘gadgets’ that can display all manner of things. One of the ‘out of the box’ gadgets is ‘Notes’ which lets you type in small chunks of
Microsoft has announced desktop search updates for Vista Service Pack 1. Microsoft has announced some changes to Windows Vista and their desktop search feature. These changes will make it easier for other desktop search tools to integrate with Vista – and that’s a good thing for all Office users. At
Google has a path to migrate your Exchange Server or Lotus Notes mail stores to Google Apps for Domains. Google has released a clear pathway to migrate corporate email from Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes to their Google Apps for Domains service. It uses the IMAP feature in Exchange or
Gmail can display a Powerpoint presentation much as it’s intended to look. Google has added a separate ppt file viewer to Gmail. A ppt email attachment now has three action options: View as HTML View as slideshow Download ‘View as HTML’ is much the same as the same named Google
It’s easy to collaborate with a document on Google Docs and finalize it in Microsoft Word. In a previous issue of Office Watch we talked about using the advantages of Google’s free ‘Docs and Spreadsheet’s service in combination with Microsoft Office (or any office suite). Judging by the feedback from
The ‘Shrink to fit’ option can cause some troubles for Outlook. If you’ve been having trouble printing messages from Outlook then Microsoft has slipped a fix into place, in the guise of a security update. Some people have reported the email header not printing or the entire message printing in
A look into the dilemma that faces developers in the Microsoft Office team. For many years we’ve heard from Office Watch readers who want both a simpler Microsoft Office without ‘unnecessary’ extras and, often in the same breath, demanding some specific additional features. This dilemma is at the core of
Another piece of ‘Google Office’ starts moving into place. We’ve said for a long time that the major problem with online versions of ‘Office’ programs is the assumption that an Internet connection is always available and at a reasonable price. Enter ‘Google Gears’ an early, open-source project from Google to
For the sake of superstition the next version of Office won’t be called ’13’ Office 2007 is known inside Microsoft as ‘Office 12’ and that naming is seen in some of the folders and version numbering in the release product. The next version of Office for Windows will be known
Does one of the May 2007 security updates slow down Outlook? Office Watchers have been complaining about Outlook grinding to a halt and thinking that it’s caused by the latest round of security patches from Microsoft. We hear comments like this very often and usually it’s just a co-incidence –
Windows Update itself needs patching. If you’re having trouble with Windows Update or Microsoft Update you might want to try this patch – it fixes troubles with a slow or non-responsive update process. Microsoft Update is Microsoft’s preferred method of distributing updates for Office among other things. We’ve always been
An interactive version of the famous album cover lets you discover more about the famous faces. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has a nifty feature on the famous Beatles album cover for Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band. Go here and move your mouse over the cover. A tooltip will
This Office security tool from Microsoft is a method to stop users from opening certain types of documents – for example .doc or .xls files. The second part of the Office security tools from Microsoft is a method to stop users from opening certain types of documents – for example
The Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment – MOICE – is an addition to the Office 2007 or the Office 2007 Document Compatibility Pack. The Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment – MOICE – is an addition to Office 2007 or the Office 2007 Document Compatibility Pack. It is a method to
The new security features, announced by Microsoft might work OK — but who can tell? Microsoft has announced two ‘new’ security features for Office 2007 and Office 2003 users. They are claimed to help protect against ‘zero-day’ exploits in Office documents – in other words new security holes that Microsoft
Sometimes Outlook appears to shut down but is still running, we explain why and what to do about it. Jenny N writes: ” I have Outlook 2007 with multiple profiles (one personal, one for business). Sometimes I shut-down Outlook (from File | Exit) and it appears to close. But when
If you’re not allowed to hear Steve Ballmer speak, just stand outside the door. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO had something to say about the future of Microsoft Office at the ‘Business Intelligence’ conference over the weekend. None of it is a real surprise to anyone who reads Office Watch: Office
Despite conflicting Microsoft documentation, there IS a security patch for the successor to Frontpage. Expression Web is the successor to Frontpage and buried in the May 2007 patch details is a security update for that too – or maybe not. It depends on which Microsoft documentation you read. Even though
Codenamed ‘Tahiti’ – Microsoft SharedView is now available as a public beta. Last time I was in Tahiti, we tied up next to Paul Allen’s boat (well, one of the floating apartments for the Microsoft co-founder) though in a considerably less impressive vessel. ‘Tahiti’ is also the code name for
