Microsoft office home and student 2007 reviews

From that point on, loading the Office suite onto our hard drive took 15 minutes flat. Office Standard is smaller than its predecessors, at about 3GB. Unlike the Windows Vista operating system , the new Office does not demand the newest hardware. However, of course, this rules out those still using older versions of Windows.

Although the terms of the EULA were less than transparent, we were pleased that Microsoft offered the least intrusive installation settings by default. For example, Privacy Options leaves it up to users to hook up to online Help automatically, as well as to download a file that continually tracks system problems. No Office shortcuts appeared on our desktop or in our system tray, either.

The Office Shortcut Bar--a feature that disappeared in the version--is back, located within the Office Tools menu. Interface Once you open each Office application, you'll see a radically different, blue interface that's brighter than in the past.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint arrange features within a tabbed Ribbon toolbar that largely replaces the gray drop-down menus and dialog boxes from a quarter-century of Office software.

The Office logo menu, docked in the upper left corner, bundles many commands from the old File and Edit menus. Outlook lacks the logo button and adopts the Ribbon only within its message composition and scheduling windows. There's a core set of always-on tabs, as well as contextual tabs that hide until the software detects that you need them.

For instance, the Picture Tools Format tab only shows up when you click on an image. We were stumped at first about how to format images, tables, and charts until we got used to clicking on them first. The Office programs, which share a new graphics engine, strongly emphasize ways to decorate documents. Pull-down Style Galleries let you preview how new fonts, color themes, chart styles, images and such appear before you apply the change.

This is great for selecting from menus of fonts or page templates. At the same time, however, the "intelligent" shape-shifting may bewilder those who don't realize that they must click a style to apply a formatting change. In most cases, the preformatted styles only present colors within the same range already used by your document. And sometimes the pull-down galleries jut into the document and obscure the charts or images you're trying to change, and you can't turn them off.

Nor do the dynamic previews apply to all style elements. For example, from the Page Layout tab of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, you can preview Themes of colors and templates by mousing over them. But the Page Borders option takes you to an unhelpful, old-school pop-up box without dynamic previews. On the one hand, newbies to Office software, particularly young, visual learners, may find the interface easier to master than Office Icons label most of the commands, and many expand into pull-down menus.

There are inconsistencies, though, such as buttons that open older dialog boxes. And many items have moved to places that we don't find intuitive. For instance, the dictionary and thesaurus in Word are under the Review tab, not References near the footnote and bibliography buttons. Notice a pattern? Although the Home tab houses many frequently used features, it's not the first place we look for them. After more than a year of alternating between Office and test versions of Office , we still found it hard to break old habits.

Microsoft advertises the Ribbon's ability to help you "browse, pick, and click. Rather than piling on more features--Word alone had some 1, commands--Microsoft attempted to better show off functions that already existed. To some extent, the Ribbon meets this goal, as it's easier to find Conditional Formatting in Excel, among other sophisticated tools.

And the View tab in Word and Excel better provides options for viewing two or three open documents at once. You can customize Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to some extent, such as by adding buttons to the small, Quick Access Toolbar, but not as much as with their predecessors.

Luckily, keyboard shortcuts remain the same; just press ALT at any time to see tiny "badges" that label the quick keys for the Ribbon's commands. We like that you can hide the Ribbon by double-clicking on any tab. Plus, Microsoft has killed Clippy, the annoying animated pop-up assistant that would interrupt your work in Office A subtle new quick formatting toolbar in Word fades in and out near your cursor.

Overall, our favorite interface tweak is the slider bar in the lower right corner that lets you zoom in and out with ease. Features Many of the changes to Office feel skin deep. By that, we mean that there's a strong emphasis on making documents, spreadsheets, and presentations easier on the eyes.

You can adjust the brightness of images, for instance, and add 3D effects such as drop shadows and glows to pictures and charts. Cancel Submit. Edwin, Microsoft is doing everything in its power to push people to purchase Office to the extent that it could be construed as harassment.

There is no support whatsoever for Office Microsoft removed all download links for it. There is just one possibility that may work. See if it will download from the normal download link using the Product Key and and details from your Microsoft Account. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

Get organized with OneNote, the digital notebook that lets you type, draw, and more. Get more done with an intelligent inbox and focus on the emails that matter most. Simple tools to help you create professional newsletters, brochures, and more. Microsoft plans include premium versions of these applications plus other services that are enabled over the Internet, including online storage with OneDrive and Skype minutes for home use.

Microsoft plans are available as a monthly or annual subscription. Learn more. See system requirements for compatible versions of Windows and macOS, and for other feature requirements. However, Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of Office suites and all Microsoft subscription plans.

For Microsoft plans, internet access is also needed to manage your subscription account, for example to install Office on other PCs or to change billing options. Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrive desktop app. You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Office up to date and benefit from automatic upgrades.

To reactivate your Office applications, reconnect to the Internet. Documents that you have created belong fully to you. If you cancel your subscription or it expires, you can still access and download all your files by signing in to OneDrive directly using the Microsoft account you used to set up Microsoft You do lose the additional storage that comes with your subscription, so you must save your files elsewhere or buy more OneDrive storage if your OneDrive account exceeds the free storage quota.

If you purchase an auto-renew subscription, your subscription starts when you complete your purchase. You can purchase auto-renew subscriptions from Microsoft If you purchase a pre-paid subscription, your subscription starts when you activate your subscription and land on your My Account page.

You can purchase pre-paid subscriptions from a retailer or reseller, or a Microsoft support agent. If you have an active Microsoft Family subscription, you can share it with up to five members of your household. To add someone to your subscription, visit www.