posted
Thu, 07/02/2013 - 16:53
Written on:
February 7, 2013
Microsoft Office 2013 is an overall improvement from
previous versions, with new features and a refreshed user interface. The
productivity suite has also been optimized for touchscreen devices, such as
tablets and all-in-one PCs with touch monitors. Eligible nonprofits, charities
and public libraries can now request donated Office software through
TechSoup (for more information on how TechSoup’s Microsoft donations work,
see our Overview
of the Microsoft Donation Program .
There are many new features sprinkled across the software
within the Office suite. While it would be nearly impossible to list all of the
changes, we'll address those that are most useful to nonprofits, charities and
libraries. Additional articles in this series will go into more depth about
specific programs within Office.
Working
with Windows 8 and SkyDrive
The latest version of Office 2013 clean and
optimized-for-touchscreens design complements Windows 8. Like the Windows 8
Start screen, Office has a minimalist, flat look with bolder text and fewer
buttons and icons. The redesign reduces the extra flourishes in favor of
improving your ability to focus on the task—or tasks—at hand.
Office 2013 is also compatible with all versions of Windows 7,
but it will not run on any versions of Windows Vista or XP. Organizations running these older versions of
Windows might consider upgrading to a newer version of Windows to run the
latest software. For more information on Windows 8, see TechSoup's Should
You Upgrade to Windows 8?
Microsoft's cloud service, SkyDrive, is integrated
throughout the Office suite. When you
install Office, you will be prompted to type in your Microsoft account
information, which is linked with your SkyDrive account. You will then be able
to upload files to your SkyDrive web account directly from Office. SkyDrive is
now the default location for saving new files, but you can easily change that
to save to whichever location you prefer: locally, to an external drive, or to
a network drive.
Working across multiple devices is much easier with Office and SkyDrive
integration. After saving to SkyDrive, you can access your documents,
spreadsheets, presentations, and other Office files from different PCs, or from
your Windows Phone or tablet. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will also save in the
last location where you were working before you saved. For example, if you are
working in a spreadsheet cell and need to close Excel to work on another
project, the program will save your place in that cell. Your bookmarked place
will even be synced across devices, whether you return to a file on your PC,
Windows Phone, or tablet. The SkyDrive app is available for iOS and Android
devices, so you can also open files across different platforms.
Word
In terms of appearance, Microsoft Word 2013 is not radically different from word 2010. The text and icons are a bit
larger and spaced farther apart, resulting in an easier-to-read, more modern
interface. Word also feels much faster
and smoother when you're scrolling through a document and while typing.
When you start Word, you're greeted with a new landing
page that shows your most recent documents, various templates, and the option
to open a blank, new document. The Ribbon, introduced in Office 2010, is still present, but you can minimize it to increase your workspace.
There's also a new tab on the Ribbon, the Design tab, which incorporates
formatting and page background tools as well as new themes and templates.
Word is much more
flexible when it comes to embedding different types of media into documents.
For example, you can now embed videos directly into Word documents and play
them. Photos from your organization's Facebook and Flickr accounts can also be
inserted into documents from Word without leaving the application. The new
alignment guides (tools that pop up when you click on a piece of media) make it
easy to quickly position your images or video with your text.
One of the most useful new additions is the ability to
edit PDF files in Word. In past versions of Office, you could save a Word
document as a PDF file, but you couldn't edit PDFs without converting them
first. Now, you can simply open up a PDF in Word and start editing right away,
without losing any of the PDF file’s formatting and structure.
Word also has a few
features that can help you more easily coordinate workflow among your staff. If
you need to work on a document collaboratively with a group of people, for
example, you can save it on SkyDrive or SharePoint and then send everyone a
link to the same file along with their viewing and editing permissions.
Excel
Like Word, Excel 2013 has undergone a light,
minimalist makeover. There are a number of new useful tools that will appeal to
Excel novices and advanced users alike. Recommended Charts can help you wade
through the many charting options Excel provides. If you select your data and
click Insert > Recommended Chart,
Excel will call up different charting options that might work for your project,
such as pie, line, and bar charts.
Fast Fill is a handy new feature that can help you
reformat and rearrange your data. Excel
will learn and remember your data entry patterns and auto-complete the
remaining data with no formulas or macros required. For example, if you're
entering volunteer phone numbers and formatting them in a certain way, Excel's
Flash Fill will recognize the pattern and format them for you.
Another useful tool for novices and advanced Excel users
alike is the Recommended Pivot Table feature. When you select a group of cells,
you can see a preview of how your data would
look in a variety of tables using different pivots.
PowerPoint
PowerPoint also follows the "less is more"
principle with fewer extraneous buttons and colors, creating more canvas space
to design slides. It features new themes and templates that you can choose
from, as well as color variations for certain themes. Similar to Word,
PowerPoint's alignment guides can help you format shapes, text boxes, and other
graphics with text to help your slides look more professional.
PowerPoint's new Presenter View has a navigation grid
that can help you keep your slides organized while you're showing them. It also
has a new feature that lets you zoom into a slide by tapping or clicking on an
area.
Outlook
Of all the programs, Outlook's design update is the most
drastic. But the changes are for the better: Its less cluttered interface makes
it easier to find important information in your inbox or calendar. Outlook 2013 functions and looks
similar to web mail programs—for example, by allowing you to reply to an e-mail
within the main window. In previous versions, a separate window popped up for
replies. You can opt to pop out a separate window if you wish, but this slight
change makes Outlook all the more efficient. The Social Connector feature,
introduced in Outlook, lets you integrate your LinkedIn and Facebook
accounts into your inbox and see updates from your contacts. It can also sync
your Facebook email, Twitter direct messages,
and LinkedIn requests and present them in one single inbox. If you are
responsible for handling social media at your organization, this feature could
save you an enormous amount of time.
There's also a new
feature called "Peeks," which gives you a quick glance at your
calendar or appointments while you're writing an e-mail, without needing to
switch windows.
OneNote
Like the other programs in Office, OneNote is designed to sync across multiple devices.
Notes created in OneNote are accessible across multiple devices: Windows 7 or 8
tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, and iOS and Android devices with OneNote apps.
You can also open notes in your browser via Office Web Apps.
OneNote also adds some touch-friendly elements, such as
the ability to draw and swipe within the application. You can also embed files
into your notes, such as images, videos, documents. And, like the rest of
Office, you can sync OneNote with your
SkyDrive account.
Office adds many
useful new features for nonprofits, charities and libraries, but the changes
aren't so drastic that your staff will be required to re-learn the software.
One or two brown-bag sessions to highlight the new features might be all it
takes to get started with Office.
