[NudiJuicervich]

Download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta

fwiw

http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010...s/default.aspx

[illiderob]

at work i use office 07. at home i use office xp. i like office xp better overall, but prefer excel 07.

[Helloheshess]

I have Office 2003 at work.......and I have threatened the IT guy with bodily harm if he ever tries to convert me to Office 07.
I've seen what it has done to toher co-workers and do not want any part of it!!!

It ain't broke......I ain't fixin it!

[ClorrerVeks]

I like some of the features with 2007 but it's just such a resource hog.

[Wgnhqhlg]

but prefer excel 07.

Personally, I'd like to take that bug-ridden piece of crap and shove it down Gates' throat.

[Elaltergephah]

Personally, I'd like to take that bug-ridden piece of crap and shove it down Gates' throat.

Precisely the reason I don't want any part of it!!

[logpogingg]

BTW, if you currently have a bootleg copy of office, don't d/l this beta.

[UltraSearchs]

Personally, I'd like to take that bug-ridden piece of crap and shove it down Gates' throat.

i agree with Office 07 in general. However. in Excel 07 it does somethings that are really nice. For example, in a pivot table you can select individual items, just like you are using the pivot function with an OLAP cube in Office XP or 03. That is a super, super sweet upgrade.

And it deals with time functions a lot better. In the call center work, i would always have to calculate times by converting the times to a decimal. This meant running a text to columns to break the time apart at the colon, then doing the math to convert it to a decimal based time (6.5 as opposed to 6:30).

I have no need for the XML functions, so that particular upgrade to the system has no use to me. I understand that many who are not on Office 07 don't like that they cannot open the Office 07 files. But the Converter pack that MS provides works fairly well.

[GarryPaterson]

I have Office 2003 at work.......and I have threatened the IT guy with bodily harm if he ever tries to convert me to Office 07.
I've seen what it has done to toher co-workers and do not want any part of it!!!

It ain't broke......I ain't fixin it!

2007 has seriously simplified my need for accounting spreadsheets and organization!

[GogaMegaPiska]

I find 2007 versions easier to use. The ribbon bar makes finding commands better. It is a resource hog and all versions of Office are buggy. Microshaft can't produce clean code. It would put them out of business.

[oranowdenda]

I find 2007 versions easier to use. The ribbon bar makes finding commands better. It is a resource hog and all versions of Office are buggy. Microshaft can't produce clean code. It would put them out of business.

if the bugginess didn't create serious security issues, it wouldn't be so bad. I have downloaded all sorts of Office XP updates. While running those antispyware programs on mom's computer, i did mine. I found out that even though i had downloaded most of the updates, i still had some really serious ones left unattended completely.

I don't like the 07 menu bars at all. that is my main complaint. Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out how to remove the gridlines on a report? In earlier versions i know right where everything is, in vivid detail. Office 07 caused me to have to retrain myself entirely. but the ease of use of some of those functions in excel, plus some of the outlook functions, really made it a good thing for me at that time.

i don't use it as much in my current role. in my old job it was my main job tool due to an overly rigid data query protocol in our workforce and forecasting database. Everything had to be rebuilt from raw CSV exports.

[Mjxhnapi]

i agree with Office 07 in general. However. in Excel 07 it does somethings that are really nice. For example, in a pivot table you can select individual items, just like you are using the pivot function with an OLAP cube in Office XP or 03. That is a super, super sweet upgrade.

And it deals with time functions a lot better. In the call center work, i would always have to calculate times by converting the times to a decimal. This meant running a text to columns to break the time apart at the colon, then doing the math to convert it to a decimal based time (6.5 as opposed to 6:30).

I have no need for the XML functions, so that particular upgrade to the system has no use to me. I understand that many who are not on Office 07 don't like that they cannot open the Office 07 files. But the Converter pack that MS provides works fairly well.

How about throwing me a bone about which previous version wouldn't do these things or better explaining how the previous version wouldn't let you select individual items in a pivot table and how it couldn't perform time calculations without converting the times to decimal places. I never had problems with either one of those items in the previous version.

The problems I'm having with this version is that:
1) Some spreadsheets I create have a lot of charts in them all referencing another sheet in the same file and if I change even one small thing on any chart (like an axis range or line color) it literally takes 5 minutes to switch from one chart to another and takes 15 minutes to save the file. Those times are not exaggerated and line speeds aren't a factor since I'm experiencing the same time extremes regardless of whether I'm saving them to a remote server, a local server or my hard drive.
2) In the previous version the freeze panes feature was still operational even when the sheet was protected but in this version it not only isn't operational in protected mode but if someone uses the split screen feature it overrides the freeze panes and screws up the view.
3) There are massive bugs in the share & protect feature. I discovered that even though a spreadsheet is shared, this version will sometimes assign the first user that opens the file exclusive rights and will ask the 2nd user if they want to read only or be notified. If they choose notify, then it will immediately notify them, give them exclusive rights and prevent the 1st from being able to save the file and thereby loses every bit of the work the 1st user had just done.

ETA: the immediate notification and re-assigning of exclusive rights isn't just happening on shared spreadsheets, it happens on unshared ones also.

[suingincentix]

I don't like the 07 menu bars at all. that is my main complaint. Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out how to remove the gridlines on a report? In earlier versions i know right where everything is, in vivid detail. Office 07 caused me to have to retrain myself entirely. but the ease of use of some of those functions in excel, plus some of the outlook functions, really made it a good thing for me at that time.

I really hate the new menus too. It didn't take me long to retrain myself to where everything was, but the re-org is making me have to click the mouse 5 or 6 times to perform the same functions now instead of the 2 or 3 clicks it used to.

[bMc8F9ZI]

How about throwing me a bone about which previous version wouldn't do these things or better explaining how the previous version wouldn't let you select individual items in a pivot table and how it couldn't perform time calculations without converting the times to decimal places. I never had problems with either one of those items in the previous version.

The problems I'm having with this version is that:
1) Some spreadsheets I create have a lot of charts in them all referencing another sheet in the same file and if I change even one small thing on any chart (like an axis range or line color) it literally takes 5 minutes to switch from one chart to another and takes 15 minutes to save the file. Those times are not exaggerated and line speeds aren't a factor since I'm experiencing the same time extremes regardless of whether I'm saving them to a remote server, a local server or my hard drive.
2) In the previous version the freeze panes feature was still operational even when the sheet was protected but in this version it not only isn't operational in protected mode but if someone uses the split screen feature it overrides the freeze panes and screws up the view.
3) There are massive bugs in the share & protect feature. I discovered that even though a spreadsheet is shared, this version will sometimes assign the first user that opens the file exclusive rights and will ask the 2nd user if they want to read only or be notified. If they choose notify, then it will immediately notify them, give them exclusive rights and prevent the 1st from being able to save the file and thereby loses every bit of the work the 1st user had just done.

On your first two issues, i don't have experience with them as being issues. I just haven't used the tool like that, i guess. Save time on a large spreadsheet will always be tough. One thing that you may want to check is if it is saving a back up copy (it is an option in the "Save As" window, the same as password protection).

Regarding your third problem....that sounds more like you are trying to open and edit a file that someone else is opening and editing If someone has a file open already, you will be given the option of either opening it as read only, or "notify", which means the system will tell you when the file is no longer open. There is a workaround to this, however. What you would need to do is to create a "Shared Workspace" (instructions are available online) so that multiple users can open and edit a file simultaneously.

I used to subscribe to this "help list" called "Peach Ease" that was a massive database of Excel tips. I will see if i can find the website, if you would like.

[usaguedriedax]

Forgot to answer your question.

In all previous versions, when you click the drop down lists on a pivot table, you can select only one item in the selection choices. You have "All", "Custom", and then each data field.

If someone sets up the source data in an OLAP cube, then what they are basically doing is creating a database, and you can then use the Pivot Function to pull data. Since the data is no longer flat, but rather is in cube form, you can select each data field separately, allowing multiple choices in the drop down lists in the pivot table. It is nice to be able to do this if your data is listed by date, but you are wanting to see trends by day of week, becuase you can then go through and select the correct dates for that particular DOW. In a regular pivot table pre-2007, you could only select 1 field at a time, but in office 07 they made it possible to select multiple fields from the drop down menu.

[TheLucyLee]

On your first two issues, i don't have experience with them as being issues. I just haven't used the tool like that, i guess. Save time on a large spreadsheet will always be tough. One thing that you may want to check is if it is saving a back up copy (it is an option in the "Save As" window, the same as password protection).

If I'm correctly understanding your comment then no, it's not saving a backup copy. I have the feature to automatically save every-so-many-minutes turned off and I have the check compatability turned off. These same files saved quickly in the previous version and switching from one chart to another would take 2 seconds at most.


Regarding your third problem....that sounds more like you are trying to open and edit a file that someone else is opening and editing If someone has a file open already, you will be given the option of either opening it as read only, or "notify", which means the system will tell you when the file is no longer open. There is a workaround to this, however. What you would need to do is to create a "Shared Workspace" (instructions are available online) so that multiple users can open and edit a file simultaneously. Notifying the 2nd user when the 1st user has closed the file is how it's supposed to work, but isn't in the new version. As soon as the 2nd user clicks the notify button, it immediately notifies them even though the 1st user hasn't saved or closed the file and gives the 2nd user exclusive rights. When the 1st user then attempts to save the file, it tells them it can't be saved b/c user #2 has the file open. Re your shared workspace suggestion - it's not only happening to unshared (regular) files, it's also happening on shared files.


I used to subscribe to this "help list" called "Peach Ease" that was a massive database of Excel tips. I will see if i can find the website, if you would like. I'm a member of the MS Office Discussion Group forum which has a huge section on Excel. Even their more advanced users haven't been able to help so far. Thanks anyway for trying.

Excel 2007 has so many bugs that it's useless for all but my simplest spreadsheet tasks.

[dfuzioniag]

Forgot to answer your question.

In all previous versions, when you click the drop down lists on a pivot table, you can select only one item in the selection choices. You have "All", "Custom", and then each data field.

If someone sets up the source data in an OLAP cube, then what they are basically doing is creating a database, and you can then use the Pivot Function to pull data. Since the data is no longer flat, but rather is in cube form, you can select each data field separately, allowing multiple choices in the drop down lists in the pivot table. It is nice to be able to do this if your data is listed by date, but you are wanting to see trends by day of week, becuase you can then go through and select the correct dates for that particular DOW. In a regular pivot table pre-2007, you could only select 1 field at a time, but in office 07 they made it possible to select multiple fields from the drop down menu.

I think I understand what you're saying. What I originally thought you were saying was that you didn't have the option to turn off selected items within one category (like a data table that has dated purchases for cash, check, credit card and you couldn't turn off credit card so you would only see cash & check purchases). For what I now think you're describing, I always used Access to perform.

[botagozzz]

I think I understand what you're saying. What I originally thought you were saying was that you didn't have the option to turn off selected items within one category (like a data table that has dated purchases for cash, check, credit card and you couldn't turn off credit card so you would only see cash & check purchases). For what I now think you're describing, I always used Access to perform.

yup.

my problem is that i had to teach myself how to do everything. I would get promoted, told what result was expected, and then i had to figure out how to make that result happen.

Excel is pretty intuitive, and there is lots of easy help out there. lots of folks know excel, and i was able to rob formulas from their spreadsheets and figure out how to make them work. Can't tell you how many times i would say, "Oh, so that's how you do that" (especially when i discovered vlookup).

Access isn't quite the same. I was not able to take the time to focus enough to teach it to myself. I have managed databases and database design teams (coding out db's in Borland). I understand how it works, how to build queries, and all that. But know nothing about how to actually DO it.

[wowwieholmes]

I understand what you are saying now.

my current role has me performing my work either on a desktop or on my laptop. so i don't have current use of network features. that is one heck of a big bug for it to have.

[cypedembeda]

Access isn't quite the same. I was not able to take the time to focus enough to teach it to myself. I have managed databases and database design teams (coding out db's in Borland). I understand how it works, how to build queries, and all that. But know nothing about how to actually DO it.

You should find the time to learn it. It's not all that hard to learn and is a massive time saver.

At one time, the only thing Excel could do that Access couldn't was pivot tables, but now Access has them. Up until this version Excel was better at charting, but with the new bugs in Excel they both pretty much suck in that area. Access is fantastic for quality checking data, for analyzing data and for automating rountine tasks (like importing and parsing out csv or text files into data columns, then running checks on the data and, if needed, then exporting the data to excel files or just about any other format you could want). Two of the most useful tools I've found in Access are the Find Duplicates and Find Unmatched queries.

Find Duplicates searches for and returns all records based on specific item(s) that you deem to qualify as duplicated. A simplified example would be warehouse inventory/shipping data where each item has a unique description or code #. You can use a Dupl query on the "description" and "shipped to" columns to see if someone did a double entry on a shipment. There are as many other uses for the Dupl query as you can creatively imagine.

The Unmatched query compares data in one dataset against data in another dataset and returns all the records that exist in the 1st dataset that aren't in the second dataset based on whatever single or multiple criteria you specify.

Access works great for creating a user friendly data-input system and gives you a lot more control over exactly what you will allow users to input. It's easy to define the fields so that they can't put text into a numerical column or if it's a numerical-text field (like a social security # or phone #) that they have to enter 9 digits (or 7 or 10) and it doesn't matter if they use dashes and parentheses or not. If they don't get it right, it won't let them continue to the next field or next record. You can restrict their entries to be customer names that are in a different lookup table so they can't misspell the name and screw it up so that it doesn't properly appear in other data pull queries (like reports summing up how much each customer ordered over a specific time period).

Access gives you as much flexibility as you could need and still allows you to have complete control. I absolutely love it.