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Microsoft Word 2007

Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp. Part number: CNETMSOFFICEWORD2007PRERTM

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$106.50 - $129.95 at 7 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 1.5 stars out of 59 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: If you're ready to let go of old habits from previous versions of Word and want to make sleeker-looking documents, Microsoft Word 2007 is worth the upgrade. However, less-expensive alternatives handle its core features without the clutter.
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CNET editors' review

Microsoft Word 2007

price range: $106.50 - $129.95

Reviewed by: Elsa Wenzel
Edited by: Robert Vamosi
Reviewed on: 02/06/2007
Released on: 01/30/2007

The good: Microsoft Word 2007 adds built-in blogging and live previews of font and image styles; better displays complex features such as those for references and mass mailing; introduces new, smaller file formats; improves document security; integrates with other applications.

The bad: Word 2007 moves all of its commands; contextual tabs and style galleries can be distracting; new Word file formats require converters in order to be opened in Word 2000 through 2003; no free way to save work to the Web.

The bottom line: If you're ready to let go of old habits from previous versions of Word and want to make sleeker-looking documents, Microsoft Word 2007 is worth the upgrade. However, less-expensive alternatives handle its core features without the clutter.

Read full review

Microsoft Word 2007's document types, interface, and some features--very nearly every aspect of this word processor--have changed. With this update, Microsoft Word 2007 becomes a more image-conscious application. New picture-editing tools help you deck out documents and play with fancy fonts. Bloggers and researchers may also benefit. It's easier to get a handle on document security, but those who only need basic typing features may not want to relearn the interface or deal with the new file formats.

Our installation of various Office suites on Windows XP computers took between 10 and 20 minutes, which was quicker than prior editions of Office. You'll have to be online to access services later, such as Help and How-To as well as Clip Art and document templates. Our reviews of Microsoft Office 2007 detail the installation process and the ingredients of each edition.

Word 2007 will operate in Compatibility Mode, shutting off some of the new graphics-rich features, should you, for example, open a Word 2003 DOC file without converting it to the new DOCX format.

Interface
Once you have Word 2007 running, you will notice a completely redesigned toolbar, now known as the Ribbon, with many familiar commands in new places. Instead of the old, gray drop-down menus atop the page, Microsoft's new and very colorful Ribbon clumps common features into tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, and View. Some tabs don't show up until you might need them; for example, you must select a picture to bring up its formatting tab. At first, you'll need to wander around to find what's moved from prior versions of Word. Clicking the Office 2007 logo in the upper-left corner drops down a menu of staple functions--such as opening, saving, and printing files--that were under Word 2003's File menu. We had the hardest time locating commands from Word 2003's Editing and Tools menus. To insert a comment in Word 2007, for instance, you must look under the Review tab instead of the Insert tab. Prepare to relearn Word. Alas, there is no "classic" view to help you make the transition to the 2007 version.

While it's a challenge to upgrade, those learning Word for the first time may find its features easier to stumble upon than they would have with Word 2003. For instance, the new interface better presents page view options that used to be a hassle to get to. From the View tab, now you can simply check a box to see a ruler or gridlines, or click the Arrange All button to stack various open Word documents atop each other. Although we sometimes mixed up the placement of commands within the Review and References tabs, those features were still easier to find than in Word 2003.

Microsoft placed a lot of emphasis on the wow factor of Office's galleries of graphics, which share the Aero look of Windows Vista and are found throughout the Office applications. Pull-down menus of fonts, color themes, and images let you preview changes on the page before making them. And thankfully, Microsoft killed Clippy, the cartoonish helper. Now a less-intrusive quick formatting toolbar shows up near your cursor. Keyboard shortcuts remain the same; pressing the Alt key displays the corresponding quick key for each Ribbon command. A running word count is always present in the lower-left corner, and the new slider bar for zooming in and out is a terrific, no-brainer improvement, particularly for the vision impaired.

Features
Aside from the interface, the other radical change in Word 2007 is its new file type. For the first time in a decade, Microsoft foists a new file format upon users, and old Word DOC files make way for the new DOCX type of Word 2007. Microsoft has taken steps to ease this transition, but we anticipate that it will not be smooth for many users.

Word 2007's new Picture Tools options let you hover over galleries of changes to preview how they'll look. In the past, you may have applied a change out of curiosity, then hit Undo when it didn't meet your expectations.

What happens when you're sharing work with people who use an older version of Word? Word 2003 and 2000 are supposed to detect when you first try to open a DOCX file, then prompt you to download and install an Office 2007 Compatibility Pack. After you've done this, the older Word should convert your Word 2007 files and remove incompatible features. When you reopen that same DOCX file again in Word 2007, the file's original elements are supposed to stay intact. On the other hand, if you open an older DOC file within Word 2007, it will also run in Compatibility Mode, shutting off access to some of the newer program features, which explains why two documents within Word 2007 may display different formatting options.

Among the small tweaks in Word 2007 that make formatting easier, rollover style galleries let you preview the changes. However, the constant shape-shifting of the galleries can be distracting. And some options, such as for adjusting margins, use an older-style dialog box rather than the live preview menus.

Still, it takes just a couple of clicks to insert a JPEG, a GIF, a BMP, a PNG, or another image type. Click the graphic, and the Picture Tools Format tab lets you tweak the brightness, the color mode, and the contrast of a picture. You can also rotate it, crop it, skew its angle, add 3D effects and shadows to its borders, and convert it to all manner of shapes, such as a thought bubble, an arrow, or a star. Options for positioning an image and wrapping text around it are also front and center, which should be helpful for creating professional-looking business documents, as well as casual party invitations. You don't get nearly the amount of control offered by Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXPress, or Adobe InDesign, but Word 2007 may do the trick for ultrabasic desktop-publishing needs.

For those who don't need all the formatting choices, we're glad that Word 2007 doesn't apply a complex style to our text by default. In Word 2003, we'd have to highlight all the text, and then Clear Formatting to remove unwanted indentations and bold letters. In Word 2007, Calibri, a crisp, default font, replaces the standard Times New Roman from Word 2003. You can choose from galleries of text styles, such as Emphasis, Strong, or Book Title, and easily create your own styles and set them as a default.

The Prepare menu offers choices for inspecting, encrypting, and restricting access to your Word files in addition to checking to see how its elements will appear in older versions of Word.

While Corel WordPerfect has traditionally offered better features for managing longer documents, Microsoft Word 2007 has improved a bit in this regard. For those working on a dissertation or book report, the References tab lets you manage citations and bibliographies in styles from APA to Turabian. Just click Next Footnote, and the cursor takes you there. However, the Table of Contents feature still isn't easy to figure out.

Editors who collaborate on documents with others can make use of the Review tab. The new Compare pull-down menu lets you look at two versions of the same document side by side, as well as merge changes from several authors and editors into one file. Administrative assistants and those charged with mass-mailing tasks should find those features much easier to access than in Word 2003. Bloggers can now compose and post entries to their Web sites without leaving Word.

If you deal with sensitive information--in a private diary entry, a resume, or a company financial statement, for example--Word 2007 allows more control over buried data, such as the original author's name or your supervisor's cursing comments. Office 2007's Prepare options step you through inspecting that metadata, as well as adding a digital signature and encrypting a file. You'll also find some of these options under the Review tab's Protect button. However, should you plan to black out text, you'll have to turn to Adobe Acrobat 8 to make secure redactions (highlighting the font in black within Word won't do it).

As integration has improved throughout Office 2007, you can click Send from the Office logo menu to attach a Word document to an e-mail message through Outlook's composition window. A message recipient using Outlook 2007 can preview that Word document within the e-mail message pane. And if you paste an Excel 2007 chart into a Word 2007 file, just right-click the chart and select Edit Data to launch Excel in split-pane view. When you change the source data within Excel, the chart adjusts in Word.

Unfortunately, Microsoft isn't providing an option for storing or editing Word files online to most users who buy below the $679 Ultimate edition of Office, and there's no browser-based version of Word. Need to collaborate on a file with specific people or take work on the road? At this time, you may have to e-mail those documents. Alternately, you could upload a Word file into one of the many free, Web-based word processors served up by other companies, including Zoho Writer, which offers a free upload add-in for Word 2007.

Options for blogging include an editing interface that lets you insert art and charts and lets you post entries without leaving Word.

Service and support
Boxed editions of Microsoft Office 2007 include a decent, 174-page Getting Started guide. During the first 90 days, you can contact tech support for free, and help at any time with any security-related or virus problems also costs nothing. Beyond that, paid support costs a painfully high $49 per telephone or e-mail incident. Luckily, Microsoft's online help is excellent, although we're displeased that Microsoft and other software makers are increasingly promoting do-it-yourself assistance. We especially like the Command Reference Guide for Word, which walks you through where commands have moved since Office 2003. You can also pose questions to the large community of Microsoft Office users via free support forums and chats. Microsoft Office Diagnostics tool, included with the Office 2007 suites, is also designed to detect and repair problems if something goes haywire.

Conclusion
Is Word 2007 worth the upgrade? If you primarily work with plain text and don't need to pretty up reports and newsletters and the like, then it might not be right for you. For our purposes as editors, for instance, Word 2007 doesn't introduce must-have goodies, although commenting commands are within easier reach. At the same time, Word 2007 handily presents options for footnotes and citations under its References tab, which researchers should appreciate. Mail-merge functions are also easier to reach. Bloggers might use Word's posting tools in a pinch, but we found Word 2007's rebuilt HTML to be clunky still. Above all, Microsoft's new word processor is most upgrade-worthy if you want to play with pictures, charts, and diagrams in addition to text.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 1.5 stars out of 59 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 59

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6 stars

MS WORD 2003 vs WORD 2007

by jbmc98 on November 14, 2006

Pros: More Comands

Cons: Totally revamped. Start over leaning MS Word

Summary: Over the years most people use MSWord because it came with MS Office. Now may be a time to look for something different. MS has totally changed the toolbar in ...

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Summary: Over the years most people use MSWord because it came with MS Office. Now may be a time to look for something different. MS has totally changed the toolbar in MSWord 2007 & to be honest, most likely you will get frustrasted, upset, even mad trying to find some of the command you are so use to using.
So before you spend $200 to $400 on the new MS OFFICE 2007 PROGRAMS. I HIGHLY suggest you look at other word processors. Unless you have time everyday, trying to learn the new MSWord, which to me has been a pain.
That's why I quit using the Word 2007 & went back to MS WORD 2003.
Good Luck.
Buyer Beware ---- Maybe MS will doing something if they lose a lot of sales.

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11 out of 17 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 stars

There aren't words to describe how little I like this

by bishop74 on November 7, 2007

Pros: Honestly? I can't think of anything worth mentioning.

Cons: Damn near everything.

Summary: There has never been a program that I have used that I have hated enough to warrant writing a review until now. I have been using Word 2007 for several ...

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Summary: There has never been a program that I have used that I have hated enough to warrant writing a review until now. I have been using Word 2007 for several months and I am constantly annoyed by it.

Maybe I am too set in my ways, but navigation of the program is counterintuitive. I can never seem to find what I am looking for. Microsoft's apparent need to cater to the near-blind and/or illiterate has led them to give each function a pretty thumbnail graphic of what it does. As such, what has been a simple pull down list of a few items in the past is now a row of pictures of functions that I never use that only serve to clutter up what should be relatively simple. It seems like I have to click three times what I used to do in one. Add to this the compatibility issues, and I just don't see how this is a step forward.

On the bright side, I haven't seen an animated paperclip or dog, so I guess it's not a total loss.

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5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

A huge step backwards

by publicblast on June 10, 2007

Pros: Pretty to look at

Cons: Infuriating Ribbon interface

Summary: I have been a computer user for 26 years, and have used MSOffice for over 12 years. While Office was not always visually attractive or perfectly easy to use, it ...

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Summary: I have been a computer user for 26 years, and have used MSOffice for over 12 years. While Office was not always visually attractive or perfectly easy to use, it was always great at getting the job done. In OfficeXP and Office 2003, Microsoft greatly improved functionality and ease-of-use, and Office's tools became pretty easily accessible to both novices and power users.

And that's why I'm so angry about Office 2007's "Ribbon" upgrade. I am an expert computer user, and I am constantly frustrated by the difficulty of making the "easy" interface show me the tools I want. I also like using the keyboard to access menus and tools rather than the mouse, and the Ribbon makes this impossible. Worst of all, there's no View option that allows the legacy interface to be used--everyone is stuck with the Ribbon. Even when WinXP had its new interface, an option was provided for "Windows Classic" interfaces--no such flexibility in Office 2007.

I am having this much difficulty and I am, in all modesty, an expert. My mother-in-law and other non-experts have found Office 2007 to be completely useless. A teacher of one of her graduate classes handed out an assignment using Excel for statistics, and was shocked to learn that her instructions could not be followed at all in Office 2007--the functionalty for correlation and Data Analysis wasn't even installed by default! Even more telling, my organization recently decided not to upgrade to 2007, because the IT staff felt that most people wouldn't be able to re-learn how to use Word 2007 soon enough to offset the loss in productivty from dealing with the new interface.

I'm sticking with my old copy of OfficeXP, thanks. I truly hope that Microsoft makes a patch allowing Word 2007 to use the old interface.

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4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

Not worth the security risks!

by Microsoft_Facts on February 10, 2007

Pros: None. I tried to think of one, really, read full opinion.

Cons: Insucure, too exspensive, incompatibilities, lackluster performance.

Summary: Up until recently there were no document macro viruses, only Microsoft Office document macro viruses. Like many technologies only Microsoft products put consumers at risk. There was only _one_ other ...

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Summary: Up until recently there were no document macro viruses, only Microsoft Office document macro viruses. Like many technologies only Microsoft products put consumers at risk. There was only _one_ other macro virus in Open Office last year. One. There are thousands of Microsoft viruses and security issues with Microsoft's office. The bottom line; if security of your PC or network matters at all, Microsoft Office is a non-starter. Look to other commercial alternatives such as Corel Office, and be sure to evaluate free alternatives such as Open Office. They all do what 99.99% of office users need. Write a letter, work a spreadsheet, create a presentation, all with formatting features, spell checking and thesaurus. Any product other than MS Office will save you money, run faster with less code bloat, as well as create compatible files with other products.

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4 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
6 stars

Its just confusing

by Iwantone on February 9, 2007

Pros: Does everything

Cons: Hard to DO everything though- very disjointed interface

Summary: I am not an Anti MS zealot- I think they are a great American company that needs the government to HELP them stop pirating rather than SUE them for (foolish) "...

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Summary: I am not an Anti MS zealot- I think they are a great American company that needs the government to HELP them stop pirating rather than SUE them for (foolish) "monopolistic practices". That said - this new MS word is just confusing. I like the new tabbed interface CONCEPT but the buttons all being different sizes is kind of weird at best- but WHY O WHY are the MAIN buttons (Save, Print and Save as)are NOT part of the LARGE buttons in the HOME tab?
And why cant I POPULATE a TAB WITH THE ICONS I WANT TO USE?!? After all this time and money in development that is just crazy that I cant use the app the way I WANT to use the app.
And why use all the style icons in the HOME tab- MOST users don't ever mess with those- why not PRINT, SAVE and SAVE AS there???
Also i don't know if any of you are having this problem, but importing graphics and moving them around in a document is slow and lags- and I have a new Lenovo T60 widescreen with Core 2 duo (yes I know this app isn't multi-threaded to take advantage of the two procs)and 2 gig of Ram. Word 2003 handled graphics VERY nicely. I hope this changes with a service pack because I use a lot of graphics and this simply has be smoother.

Also someone mentioned Lotus Word Pro- A GREAT APP and creating a header and footer in WordPro was MUCH easier than the cryptic way to do it in MS Word.
I do like the right clicking that gives an icon pallet to manipulate text- that was a good UI upgrade. My recommendation- use Word 2003 this really is not simpler, is not faster and has no added features that are must haves.

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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

If you like crying or pulling your hair out...

by parker1963 on April 25, 2008

Pros: Looks nice

Cons: Can't find anything!

Summary: Horrible, Horrible, Horrible!!! I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find simple commands. Why in the world they would make it harder to use is beyond me. Vista, ...

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Summary: Horrible, Horrible, Horrible!!! I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find simple commands. Why in the world they would make it harder to use is beyond me. Vista, now this. What are they thinking??????????? Dumbsh*ts

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3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

Make your employees angry, use MS Office 2007

by dhermosillo on November 6, 2007

Pros: absolutely none

Cons: un-intuitive, bloated, giant graphics, lack of customizability

Summary: This is the worst of Microsoft. Horrible user interface pushed on to experienced users, with no way to modify the "ribbon". Our office was brought to a screeching halt because ...

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Summary: This is the worst of Microsoft. Horrible user interface pushed on to experienced users, with no way to modify the "ribbon". Our office was brought to a screeching halt because of this awful "upgrade". IT had to remove it within the week because no one could do their jobs. I'm curious what Microsoft's plan is for refunding businesses for this waste of money. If you want your employees to curse you, get frustrated, or smash their computers, then you should use Office 2007.

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3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 stars

Life's far too short!

by Phrixos000 on December 4, 2007

Pros: Does what it always did. Downright "pretty".

Cons: Does it much worse. Doesn't address a tenth of what I was hoping for.

Summary: The transition from Word 2000 to 2003 was bad enough, but this is ridiculous. The folks at Microsoft don't seem to know the meaning of the word, "simplify". (Where, ...

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Summary: The transition from Word 2000 to 2003 was bad enough, but this is ridiculous. The folks at Microsoft don't seem to know the meaning of the word, "simplify". (Where, with 2003, removing the "markup" sidebar took one click, now it takes about ten. I lost count.)

Obtuse, obtuse, obtuse, obtuse, obtuse!

Did I say obtuse? Despite a 127 IQ it took me a full half hour just to find out how to show my bookmarks! (Type the old, straightforward command, "show bookmarks", into the "Help" menu and see what happens.) As for the new .docx file format, I have virtually to rewrite my 140,000-word manuscript because the transition heartily screwed up all my nice paging.

Listen; do listen, to what the CNET editor says of Word 2007, "If you're ready to let go of old habits from previous versions of Word [...--then--] Microsoft Word 2007 is worth the upgrade." ("Habits?") How flattering--but you'd better believe it. What he means is: be prepared to be run through the ringer with your pants down. If I wanted such treatment, I'd go to the Sudan and name a teddybear Muhammad.

When I ponder the rippling effects the new learning curve is going to have on the stock market, I shudder--and we have to pay to have this done to us.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 stars

this really sucks

by jamieweiss on October 11, 2007

Pros: At least you can still type stuff.

Cons: They completely moved everything around. I was a whiz at Office 2003, it takes forever to find what you're looking for. No more "file" "edit" "tools" and all the things we were all used to.

2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

The "Wow" doesn't start until you buy this

by thegeorgebush on August 5, 2007

Pros: Goes well with Vista, tons of features, can do anything with it

Cons: Can't think of any

Summary: The old Word releases (2000, 2003) had collected a lot of plaque over the years. Microsoft completely redid their Office and revamped it to dominate the market in Word Processing....

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Summary: The old Word releases (2000, 2003) had collected a lot of plaque over the years. Microsoft completely redid their Office and revamped it to dominate the market in Word Processing.

In fact, before 2007 came out, I was struggling so much with Word 2003 that I was about to make the switch to Google Docs & Spreadsheets just to avoid all the crappy features that Word 2003 had.

Word 2007 renewed my faith in Microsoft. Now I know they can do software right.

The Ribbon was just what I needed. Word 2007 doesn't necessarily has too many new features, per se. They just made the featueres they already had more usable. Word 2003 had so many of those annoying menus, you would have to be a pro to find all the features.

I'm glad I bought it because it goes so well with Vista. Combined with Vista, you can't get any better interface-wise than that.

Overall, great buy.

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2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 59

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Part number: CNETMSOFFICEWORD2007PRERTM
Bottom Line: If you're ready to let go of old habits from previous versions of Word and want to make sleeker-looking documents, Microsoft Word 2007 is worth the upgrade. However, less-expensive alternatives handle its core features without the clutter.

General
Category Office applications
Subcategory Office applications - word processor
Language(s) English
License pricing Academic
Localization English
Software
License Type Complete package
License Qty 1 PC
License Pricing Academic
Platform Windows
Distribution Media CD-ROM
Package Type Retail

System Requirements
OS Required Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Software Requirements Internet Explorer 6.0
Peripheral / Interface Devices CD-ROM, SVGA monitor

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