Comments on: Help on moving from MS Office Pro 2000 to 2010?

Question: Help on moving from MS Office Pro 2000 to 2010?

InsertNiftyNameHere — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:57:57 -0800

Advice for help on moving from MS Office Pro 2000 to 2010?

I decided to finally take the plunge and upgrade to MS Office Pro 2010 after using the 2000 version for ages. I've never even seen any of the versions post 2000.

The ribbon thingy freaks me out based on all the comments I've read over the years about how unintuitive it is. I've been looking at books on amazon, but it seems that none really fits my needs well because I've skipped so many versions (2003, 2007, IIRC). The books seem to be mostly aimed at people who have never used Office and are just starting out (how to enter text, copy, paste, etc.) with the 2010 version or people who already are accustomed to the ribbon in 2007, and who want to know the differences between 2007 and 2010 versions.

I'd appreciate any info you folks can provide regarding resources that will help me migrate from the 2000 version to the 2010 version.

Any type of resource is welcome. Having said that, I'm learning this on my own, so expensive training classes are not an option because I can't afford that sort of thing.

I guess the biggest thing is I'm trying to avoid buying a bunch of intro books for all the apps in the 2010 version and then have to go back and buy a whole other set of more advanced books for those very same apps.

Many thanks in advance!

By: soelo

soelo — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:19:59 -0800

The ribbon is annoying for about a week and then you learn where everything is and you get used to it. Give yourself at least 3 days and use google if you can't find something. Then if you need the old menus back, try http://www.ubitmenu.com/.
There were big changes from 03 to 07, so those are the articles you should read, but I don't think you need a book. For example, in Access, the extensions change from .mdb to .accdb.

By: la petite marie

la petite marie — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:26:19 -0800

I too found that it was extremely frustrating for about a week or so and I googled a lot to try to find out where things were, then I found that I really liked it. I don't think you'll need a book as long as google exists!

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:45:55 -0800

I used an earlier iteration of Word for a long time, and got really, really good at it, mostly to design and write long and complex documents and manuals for government.

So 2007 was a shock, and in some ways I never really remastered using Word, although one factor may be that I no longer use Word quite as intensively.

Anyway, there is the ability within Word 2010 to switch back to pull-down menus without installing a 3rd-party script or plugin. It's a little checkbox someplace in the options.

After getting used to 2007 and moving on to 2010, I never did do that. I found that installing a custom tab with my most frequently-used commands ("insert section break" is pretty hard to find in 2010) was pretty useful. The online help files are also super helpful.

Really, since the knowledge-base has basically increased exponentially over the past five years since 2007 was introduced, all you have to do is type in "how to XXX" into Google Search, and you'll find the answer really, really quickly. YouTube is great for this, but the MS knowledge base is also super convenient.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:13:10 -0800

It has helped me to put frequently-used commands in the quick access toolbar.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:20:20 -0800

I have yet to see any compelling reason at all to abandon a pre-2007 version of Office in favour of one of its more beribboned descendants. What, specifically, are you trying to do with 2010 that you can't already do with 2000?

If the main issue is irritation at being unable to open files in the post-2007 formats (the ones that end in x), all an otherwise happy Office 2000 user really needs is this compatibility pack.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:33:49 -0800

On the other hand, if you're motivated by a desire to keep up with what you're likely to find in use in a workplace, your best option is just to accept the horrible productivity hit as you learn to deal with the hideous Ribbon.

People tell me that productivity hit is temporary. I have not found it so. Instead, I find the Ribbon to be such a reliable source of irritation that I now do all my office work with LibreOffice instead.

LibreOffice can work with documents in Microsoft formats, but there are a bunch of niggling layout issues that make editing the same document with both suites a horrid experience, so I don't do that; recipients who can't cope with an OpenDocument just get a PDF.

By: Houstonian

Houstonian — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:06:33 -0800

You can play Ribbon Hero. (It's actually not that bad.) There's also a spreadsheet ("Word ribbon mapping workbook") that lists every menu path in 2003 and its corresponding ribbon location in 2007 (I know those versions don't match your own, but its pretty close in both cases).

By: InsertNiftyNameHere

InsertNiftyNameHere — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:06:42 -0800

flabdablet: "On the other hand, if you're motivated by a desire to keep up with what you're likely to find in use in a workplace"

That's exactly my motivation, unfortunately. Office 2000 was working fine for me (and still has been), but, with 2013 coming out soon (and it's Win8 interface, which I can't imagine I'll ever touch), I thought it might be wise to upgrade to 2010 while it's still available so I have a version of Office with the now ubiquitous ribbon and the traditional Windows UI.

By: InsertNiftyNameHere

InsertNiftyNameHere — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:12:34 -0800

Lot's of great info here, folks. AskMe never fails to amaze. I really appreciate all of you for taking the time to lend me a hand by answering. Many thanks to all!

And, of course, if anyone else has other input, please post if you can find the time.

Thanks once again.

By: healthytext

healthytext — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:23:12 -0800

Transition to the Office ribbon

By: RyanAdams

RyanAdams — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:15:21 -0800

One other thing that's not apparently obvious is that old keyboard shortcuts for the menus still work. I don't remember if it's a straight transition, but it is available.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:49:40 -0800

I think the coolest thing about 2010 is the integration with Skydrive.