Best of all, you can try Office 2010 for free and then decide whether you want to buy it or not. WinFuture shows you how to install the program step by step. Then we will introduce you to the most important new features and show you central functions.
Installing Office 2010
The Professional version is designed for professional use and is aimed at companies. We have chosen the medium version because it also contains the e-mail program Outlook. If you don’t want to use it, you can see the https://news4c.com/office-2010-home-and-student-how-to-become-a-power-user/ at entry-level version Office Home and Student.
If you already have a live account with Microsoft, you can log in directly, otherwise click on “Create new account”. In the next step the product key will be displayed, then the download will start. First, a small, approx. 1.5 MB program is downloaded. You save this program on your computer. Now all you have to do is double-click on the file and confirm the question whether you want to run the software. Now Office 2010 starts with the installation.
If there are problems downloading the files from the Internet, check the firewall settings or deactivate them during the installation. Everything worked fine on our test system with Kaspersky’s Internet Security Suite. Thanks to a fast DSL line, Office was up and running in minutes.
Now all that is missing is a check mark for automatic activation and a click on “Use recommended settings” and the “Default file types” setting. You’ll see the new user interface. Convenient: Programs, such as the external PDF editing tool Nuance, are automatically recognized and integrated as an add-in, just like their predecessor.
Now you can try out the new features
The first thing that stands out is that the ribbon interface has been significantly revised by the Microsoft developers and has become noticeably clearer. The round Office button has disappeared from the upper left corner and has been replaced by the “File” tab. All information about the document is now clearly summarized there. For example, information about file size, editing date or author is provided. The interfaces for Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint are very similar and differ only in nuances.With “Protect presentation” manipulations of documents can be prevented by using a password or a digital signature.
The “Check for problems” button can be used to check whether documents are barrier-free or incompatible with old variants or contain personal information. With the “Manage versions” function, unsaved variants of a file can be reconstructed.
The navigation on the left side contains elements known from Office 2007 such as “Save” etc. and presents the important options clearly.
Menus
The old navigation point “Menus” became “Start” in Office 2010. Here, all important points concerning the layout, such as font size and justification, are combined. All in all, the menu navigation is now much tidier and the searched functions can be found much faster. For example, presentations can be designed more easily, because if you click on an element, the appropriate editing function is immediately called up in Office 2010. At Microsoft, this technology is called “point-and-click formatting”.
If you want to edit an extensive document and the size of the screen is not sufficient, just click on the arrow in the upper right corner and the menu bar will fold up to give you more space.
Interesting new features in Word, Excel, Outlook & PowerPoint
If the user wants to start an action in Word, Office 2010 reacts intelligently and the user can only select those functions that are not grayed out. For example, if you want to copy an image into a text, click on the first tab in the menu bar and then on “Graphics”, then select a photo and paste it at the desired position. You can easily change the position of the image by dragging and dropping it. Afterwards a purple colored window “Image Tools” appears via “Format”; now the image can be edited very easily.
As soon as a function is selected, you can immediately see what effect this action would have. So you can easily try out the effect of different borders of an image. If you are not satisfied with the result, you can simply “Reset graphic” to return to the old version.
Very nice functions are offered by the Smart Art templates, which offer interesting effects. For example, images can be converted into hexagons, where the image can be seen on one side and a text can be entered on the other. Office 2010 automatically adjusts the font size to the available space.
Word 2010 even offers an integrated translation function
Select the desired passage and select the “Translate” option under “Check”, and the text can be translated automatically or via Microsoft Marketplace by a third-party provider.
Some new functions to spice up tedious series of numbers in Excel can be found under “Insert” and “Line”, “Column”, “Circle”, “Bar” or “Area”. Excel will now create a vivid mini chart that will fit into the table.
With the new version of PowerPoint, presentations can be easily created because the editor has been reworked and options such as inserting text, images, movies made easier. For example, if you click on the movie icon, a start image of the video is automatically generated and a convenient player is built into the presentation. In addition, PowerPoint presentations can be easily viewed live using a browser.
The classic e-mail program Outlook is also much clearer than its predecessor. E-mails can be grouped together more easily – so you always have an overview.
A very practical program is One-Note
The improved virtual notepad stores information from all areas and records links, images or e-mails. The tool facilitates the research of complex texts and presentations and can even be used by several users.
Improved collaboration through WebApps
Microsoft is responding to the Google-driven trend for online collaboration Text & Tables . The Microsoft Office Web Apps, first integrated in Office 2010, can store, view, edit, and share files online. This allows groups to work on a document simultaneously and exchange information conveniently.
Even smartphones benefit from the new online options and can now edit Office documents. Outlook Connector allows you to follow discussions in social networks effortlessly and thus easily keep track of membership in several communities.
