Labs

After years of trivial changes, Microsoft suddenly decided to completely redesign Microsoft Office. Office 2007 not only has brand new file formats, it also has a completely new user interface.

The new formats are a mixed blessing. They're based on XML, a general purpose technology that can be used to exchange all kinds of data, but they're not actually based on any industry standard, which has got Microsoft into yet another row. Documents can be up to 75% smaller than the old .doc (Word) and .xls (Excel) formats, which is handy now that so many files are emailed around. But the new formats, identified by .docx and .xlsx extensions, can't be used with non-Microsoft software, and even users of previous versions of Office will need to install a free 'compatibility pack' to read them.

The Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Office 2007 also come with some new collaboration tools, including Groove, which enables team members to work together on the same content, and OneNote, which helps you organise and share information.

Microsoft Word 2007

If you've used any previous version of Word, you'll know that finding anything but the most basic text formatting options can be a chore. Word 2002 had nine menus on the menu bar, each with up to 19 options, many of which opened further menus or dialog boxes with multiple tabs and commands.

All these have now disappeared, replaced by the 'ribbon'. This runs along the top, but instead of menus it shows features and options grouped thematically on tabs, much like the tabs in a modern web browser. For instance, by clicking on the Page Layout tab, you can see commands for document setup options such as margins and page orientation.

In Word, the ribbon has eight tabs, though the Developer tab is normally hidden. The Home tab contains the most commonly used features: text formatting, numbered lists, text styles and so on.

Word 2007 places a greater emphasis on design. In the Home tab, there are drop-down lists of styles and themes that you can apply. Each is represented by a thumbnail image showing its fonts, colours and other attributes. As you scroll over a thumbnail, your document changes, giving you a live preview of how it would look in that scheme. This saves time and makes it easier to design a good-looking (if rather generic) document. There's also a new word count tool that remains anchored in the bottom left-hand corner of the program: simply select a piece of text and this shows how many words it contains.

On the whole, we really like the new Word. The interface is easy to find your way around, and we found ourselves making frequent use of features that had been too fiddly to get at before.

Microsoft Excel 2007

Just like Word, Excel has lost its menus in favour of the ribbon, making it easier to get the best from the very large number of features. We also like the new predictive formula entry: as you type

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a formula in to a cell, Excel displays a list of formulae that match what you're typing. Just pick the one you want.

Excel is, in general, much better than the other spreadsheets at working out what you want to do and making it happen. At the simplest, it will automatically add the closing bracket to a formula, which avoids you spending ages trying to spot what's wrong after omitting it. The new SmartArt feature allows you to make much better-looking and more easily customisable diagrams and charts.

Among other improvements, Excel allows more columns and rows (1,048,576 by 16,384) to ensure you'll never run out of room; you can apply themes and styles in the same way as with Word; you can sort data by a greater range of criteria (including colour, for instance); and there's an improved print preview. You'll appreciate this if you've ever experienced the frustration of trying to squeeze a large spreadsheet into a legible printout.

Microsoft Access 2007

Access is Microsoft Office's database, included only in the Professional Edition. As with Word and Excel, the ribbon has replaced its menus. A new library of template databases has also been provided to help you get started quickly, and new templates are downloaded automatically from Microsoft as they become available (if you opt for this). You can now change some field properties on the fly in 'Layout View'. This is handy, but given how easy it is to flick into Design View anyway, it seems a bit unnecessary.

In most respects Access 2007 is very satisfactory, and not at all intimidating, for a database. It's easy to create and link tables, apply input masks, create drop-down lookup lists, and build forms and queries.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007

Apart from the ribbon, there haven't been many enhancements to PowerPoint. It has a reasonable selection of templates, though many are familiar and look rather cheesy. The new SmartArt feature helps to enliven your presentations by providing new ways of animating the appearance of items on a slide, beyond the usual procession of bullet points. The program does pretty much all you could want, allowing you to build sophisticated presentations. But it's still quite difficult to create a polished end result, and with few new features, PowerPoint feels a bit like the Cinderella of the suite.

Microsoft Outlook 2007

The application that's really been left sweeping the kitchen, though, is Outlook, which hasn't changed much at all. A useful new to-do bar shows you imminent calendar entries, uncompleted tasks and emails that you've flagged. The program also reads RSS feeds (such as rolling news) from websites, which is hardly new: the rival Thunderbird email client has done this for a while.

Outlook is a fully featured, easy to use email client that supports POP3, IMAP and (unlike Outlook Express, or Vista's Mail program) Exchange accounts and advanced functions like automated mailouts. But even on a decent PC, it's wearisomely slow - and if you deal with a lot of email, that can get you down.

Office 2007 Home and Student

Although the price is arguably justified by its huge feature set, Office is much more expensive than other suites and simply isn't worth it for many users. However, the new Home and Student Edition is available to any home user, and costs just £90 from Amazon. You only get Word, Excel, PowerPoint and (surprisingly) OneNote, but if these are the elements you need, it's excellent value.