Microsoft Office Versions at Weinberg

The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern has a group license for all available versions of Microsoft Office, including versions 2003 and 2007 for Windows and versions 2004 and 2008 for Mac. The Microsoft Office standard in the College is still 2003 for Windows and 2004 for Mac. We have not moved to 2007 and 2008 as standards for the College because there is a significant learning curve associated with this upgrade, and the benefits do not appear to be substantial for most users.

You are welcome to request a free upgrade to 2007 for Windows or 2008 for Mac. Here is some information to assist you in determining if you wish to request an upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008:

Standards in your department and in the Dean's Office:

All Weinberg department offices and the Weinberg Dean's Office are using Microsoft Office 2003 and 2004 (as of 6/2/2008). If your department has a need to upgrade to the new versions, please enter a service request.

New features of Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008:

Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008 represent a major revision in the user interface with some significant changes in the utility of the software. For a list of the major new features, please see the following links: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access.

Compatibility of files as you collaborate with others:

The file format and file naming convention for Microsoft Office 2007/2008 has changed. For example, you may have noticed Microsoft Word files with a .docx extension. If you are collaborating with others who are already using Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008, you will need to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to open documents they have saved in the new format. Once the Compatibility Pack has been installed, you will be able to open, edit, and save the Office 2007 or 2008 documents even though you are working with a previous version of the software.

The WeinbergIT software image includes the Compatibility Pack for Windows. If you do not yet have the Compatibility Pack on your computer, you can enter a service request to have it installed for you, or you can download the Compatibility Pack yourself from the Microsoft web site.

If you have already made the transition to Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008, but you are collaborating with others who are Microsoft Office 2003 or 2004 users, you might consider changing the default "save as" format to 2003 or 2004.

Again, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to enter a service request for assistance.

Sharing Files between previous versions of Microsoft Office and Office 2007 and 2008:

MS Word

There are several new elements available in the MS Word 2007/2008 releases. If you have an older version of Microsoft Office and are using the Compatibility Pack to open a 2007/2008 file, these features become fixed, that is the text appears, but you cannot edit these elements. The list of new elements that can be viewed but not edited includes: new equation editor, themes, content controls, tracked moves, heading and body fonts, relative text boxes, margin positions as set in the document style, dynamic bibliography and citations, expanded offerings for Office Art, new options for charts and diagrams, and custom XML.

If you are using MS Word 2000 and you have installed the Compatibility Pack, when you open a Microsoft Word 2007 or 2008 file, please be aware that you will not be able to open password-protected files, macros and macro signatures will be removed, mail merge data will be lost, and you will not be able to connect to mail merge data sources.

MS Excel

The Compatibility Pack allows you to open Excel 2007 workbooks so that you can edit and save them without having to upgrade your version of Excel. Features specific to Excel 2007 and special Excel 2007 formatting may not be displayed in the earlier version of Excel, but they are still available when the workbook is saved and then re-opened in Excel 2007. Excel 2007 has a compatibility checker that you can run to see which features will not be compatible with earlier versions.

MS PowerPoint

Features and formatting that are specific to MS PowerPoint 2007 may not appear in an earlier version of PowerPoint, but are available if you save the presentation in the earlier version and then re-open the presentation in MS PowerPoint 2007. The following features may change when you open MS PowerPoint 2007 presentations in an earlier version of PowerPoint with the Compatibility Pack: charts, custom slide layouts, drop shadows, heading and body fonts, shapes, pictures, objects, animations, new effects, and SmartArt graphics. Details of these changes can be found on the Microsoft site: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101023491033.aspx.

MS Access

MS Access 2007 has many new features and is arranged quite differently from previous versions of MS Access. For a full explanation of migration considerations, it's a good idea to read some of the technical documents.

Getting on-line help:

If you decide to upgrade to Office 2007, you can find some useful tutorials on-line to assist you in making the transition. Please see: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx.

Note to EndNote Users:

EndNote is not compatible with MS Office 2008 for the Mac. For more details see the EndNote information page.