Introducing Microsoft Word 2010
Microsoft Word 2010 is a sophisticated word processing program that helps you quickly and efficiently author and format all the business and personal documents you are ever likely to need. You can use Word to:
Create professional-looking documents that incorporate impressive graphics such as charts and diagrams.
Give documents a consistent look by applying styles and themes that control the font, size, color, and effects of text and the page background.
Store and reuse ready-made content and formatted elements such as cover pages and sidebars.
Create personalized e-mail messages and mailings to multiple recipients without repetitive typing.
Make information in long documents accessible by compiling tables of contents, indexes, and bibliographies.
Safeguard your documents by controlling who can make changes and the types of changes that may be made, as well as by removing personal and confidential information.
Word 2010 builds on previous versions to provide powerful tools for all your word processing needs. This introduction provides an overview of new features that we explore throughout the book.
New Features
If you’re upgrading to Word 2010 from a previous version, you’re probably most interested in the differences between the old and new versions and how they will affect you, as well as how to find out about them in the quickest possible way. The following sections list new features you will want to be aware of, depending on the version of Word you are upgrading from.
If You Are Upgrading from Word 2007
If you have been using Word 2007, you might be wondering how Microsoft could have improved on what seemed like a pretty comprehensive set of features and tools. The list of new features includes the following:
The Backstage view. Finally, all the tools you need to work with your files, as opposed to their content, really are accessible from one location. You display the Backstage view by clicking the File tab, which replaces the Microsoft Office Button at the left end of the ribbon.
Customizable ribbon. The logical next step in the evolution of the command center introduced with Word 2007: Create your own tabs and groups to suit the way you work.
Navigation task pane. The replacement for the Document Map not only provides a means of navigating to any heading but also to any page or to any search term you enter.
Unsaved file recovery. How many times have you responded No without thinking to the “save changes” message when closing files, only to find that you have discarded work you wanted to keep? Word now preserves your unsaved files for a period of time, allowing you to recover them if you need them.
Paste preview. No more trial and error when moving items to new locations. Preview what an item will look like in each of the available formats, and then pick the one you want.
Coauthoring. A team of authors can now work simultaneously on a document stored on a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 server or in Windows Live SkyDrive.
Language support. These days, more business is conducted internationally across language lines than ever before. Not only can you easily tailor the language of your working environment, but you can also use new translation tools to collaborate with team members in other countries.
Graphics editing. Found the perfect picture, but its colors or style aren’t quite right for your document? Now after inserting a picture, you can edit it in new ways. In addition to changing color, brightness, and contrast, you can remove the background and, most exciting of all, apply artistic effects that make it appear like a watercolor, pencil drawing, or pastel sketch.
Text effects. WordArt has had a makeover. Not only can WordArt be used to create distinctive headlines but its effects can be used on any text.
Screenshots. You no longer need to go outside of Word when you want to insert a screenshot into a document. This capability is now built into Word.
Improved SmartArt Graphics tool. A whole new category has been added to SmartArt so that you can include pictures as well as text in your diagrams.
If You Are Upgrading from Word 2003
In addition to the features listed in the previous section, if you’re upgrading from Word 2003, you’ll want to take note of the new features that were introduced in Word 2007. The 2007 upgrade provided a more efficient working environment and included a long list of new and improved features, including the following:
The Microsoft Office Fluent Ribbon. No more hunting through menus, submenus, and dialog boxes. This new interface organizes all the commands most people use in a new way, making them quickly accessible from tabs at the top of the program window.
Live Preview. See the effect of a formatting option before you apply it.
Building blocks. Think AutoText on steroids! Predefined building blocks include sets of matching cover pages, quote boxes, sidebars, and headers and footers.
Style sets and document themes. Quickly change the look of a document by applying a different style set or theme, previewing its effect before making a selection.
SmartArt Graphics tool. Use this awesome new diagramming tool to create sophisticated diagrams with three-dimensional shapes, transparency, drop shadows, and other effects.
Improved charting. Enter data in a linked Microsoft Excel worksheet and watch as your data is instantly plotted in the chart type of your choosing.
Document cleanup. Have Word check for and remove comments, hidden text, and personal information stored as properties before you declare a document final.
New file format. The new Microsoft Office Open XML Formats reduce file size and help avoid loss of data.
Let’s Get Started!
We’ve been working with Word since its debut, and each version has offered something that made daily document creation a little easier. Microsoft Word 2010 is no exception, and we look forward to showing you around.