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4 Smileys - 1 Smiley Poor, 5 Smileys Excellent
Platforms: Mac OS
Forward Microsoft Office 2001 combines four programs into one package: Word 2001 (word processing), Excel 2001 (spreadsheet), PowerPoint 2001 (presentation), and Entourage 2001 (email, news reader, personal information manager). Many Mac users have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft Office, often being required to use the product to be able to read the files sent to them by colleagues, but hating the interface that was obviously ported directly from Windows. Starting with Office 98, Microsoft promised a product that was made for Macintosh users and they repeated themselves with Office 2001, promising several Mac-only features and an elegant interface. Has Microsoft followed through on their promises or is Office 2001 a step backward from Office 98? This review is geared towards the person who would like to know whether
upgrading is worthwhile and the reviews assume that you have some familiarity
with a prior version of Office. I'll focus on the changes and improvements
between Office 98 and Office 2001 and my overall experiences with each
program. Likewise, the score will be based on how worthy the upgrade is,
the features of the program, and how easy it is to use.
Improvements in Every Office 2001 Application
All of the Office programs come with a Project Gallery that is divided into categories. A thumbnail of each project is included and you can restrict which application's projects are shown. A nice addition is that there are a number of themes that are used for letters, envelopes, catalogs, etc. so if you want a unified look you can simply pick the same theme. The projects are divided into category types instead of by application because it seems that many people knew what they wanted but didn't know which application they had to use. That makes a lot of sense but I would like the option of seeing all projects that, for example, Word or Excel can create and not even look at the categories. There are a few wizards that give you even more power in modifying the project by being able to choose the format of each page, the theme, and colors used. The wizard I liked best was the catalog wizard that creates a pamphlet that you often find in stores. You can use a pamphlet not just for catalogs but for a family newsletter, store promotion, information about a political candidate, and many other things. Let's say that you're working on a document but can't or don't want to get it done in one session. You can remind yourself to finish it later by clicking on the Flag for Follow-up button on the main toolbar. You're then given a simple dialog box that lets you enter a date and time to be reminded to continue working on the document. No need to make a task or an appointment in Entourage and link to the file as all of the work will be taken care of for you.
The dictionary and thesaurus are probably the neatest of the new features. While a thesaurus has been included for a while, it was not always possible to remember the fine distinctions between words. So you look up the word "journal" in the thesaurus and you will see what words it can mean and other words that you can use for it. A nice feature is that the word that appears in the dictionary when it's opened is the same word that the cursor is in at the time. Unfortunately, you can't open the dictionary after you open the thesaurus so you'll need to open the dictionary first and then open the thesaurus to use them both at the same time. This doesn't happen in Entourage because it doesn't boast the thesaurus although it does have the dictionary. Another negative is that when you paste the definition you get a blurb about Encarta at the end that you have to remove. I have used the dictionary many times when I have heard unknown words on the radio or in a book I've been reading. The dictionary and improved thesaurus are definitely a great bonus to Office 2001. So you have Word, Excel, and PowerPoint open and you have a million things to copy/cut and paste between them. Before Office 2001, you would have to go to Word to copy and switch to PowerPoint to paste and repeat until finished. Fortunately there is the Office Clipboard which can hold multiple objects including text, pictures, email messages, web pages, presentations, etc. You can paste and delete just the selected object or you can paste and delete all of the objects with the buttons at the bottom of the Office Clipboard. This is another great time saver but you can't view the Office Clipboard in Entourage even though items that you copy/cut in Entourage still appear in it. I would like to see this fixed in the next update since people do as much copying, cutting, and pasting in Entourage as they do in Word if not more so.
Given Microsoft's emphasis on the Internet, it should come as no surprise that there are more features to do with converting documents to web pages. You can create links to web sites in your Internet Explorer Favorites, to email addresses, and places within the same document. These links work both in the document and when you convert it to a web page. Word also has beefed up its Clip Art Gallery with a search function, categories (standard and custom), drag-and-drop, and more pictures available through Microsoft's Clip Gallery Live (an online collection with thousands of clip art). After all, if you want to make a web page or a colorful document, you need to have a good selection of pictures. You can also use pictures as the bullets in lists from a list that Office provides or you can import pictures of your own. Office treats these picture bullets as ordinary bullets so you don't have to learn a new method of dealing with them. When you're finished making your document, you can preview it in a web browser to see how your document will look as a web page before you create it. Naturally, the best way to make a web page is to use a program designed for the job but if you don't need high-end features such as Java or other special effects then Office will do the job adequately.
I remember a picture in a review written by Mr. Pogue on Word 5 that was published in MacWorld. It showed a document with all of the toolbars open which nearly made the document disappear because it was so small. There's no doubt that there are many toolbars available, all of which take up valuable screen space that could and should be devoted to the document. To rectify this, all of the Office applications (except Entourage) have a new context-sensitive Formatting Palette which contains all of the commands that are applicable for what you're working with. For example, if you are working in Word and typing text then the Formatting Palette will have commands that have to do with text formatting, alignment, margins, etc. When you select a picture or a table than the Formatting Palette will change to have commands to do with pictures and tables. You might not even have to use a dialog box or open up another toolbar just to get something done. You can still use the Formatting toolbar and all of the other toolbars that you like, but I have found that I like using more of the screen for the document than for lots of toolbars. Considering how often pictures are used, Office 2001 has increased support
for importing pictures from all scanners and digital cameras that support
the TWAIN interface. There are also image-editing tools including redeye
reduction, scratch removal, color correction, and filters that can change
the entire look of an image. You can make a picture look as though it
were made with a graphic pen or dry brush or with an embossed or mosaic
look. These filters are neat and there are plenty of them, but there is
no preview window so you have no idea what the effects will be until you
apply the filter. So it's apply filter, wait 5 seconds, undo, change filter
settings, and repeat. If you could find out what the image will look like
before you applied the filter, it would have been a lot more useful. Still,
the filters look pretty neat and I like being able to change my pictures
in ways that I couldn't before.
Individual Reviews Now that you know about the improvements that every Office 2001 application has, read the individual program reviews to see the changes that are unique to each application. Then come back to read my conclusion. Conclusion Whether or not you should upgrade depends entirely on how often you use the Office applications and how useful you think the improvements are. I can tell you that from my perspective, Office 2001 is ten times better than Office 98. Not only are most of the improvements and new features great, but the interface has also been refined and I find that I get my work done in less time and with fewer hassles than ever before. There are a few bumps that need to be smoothed out, especially with integrating Entourage more closely with the other Office applications. For example, I would have liked to been able to use the Thesaurus and the Office Clipboard. Fortunately, there a number of scripts that work to bridge the gap and they can all be found at AppleScript Central. In addition, there are AppleScripts for AOL Instant Messenger, BBEdit, AppleWorks, and a whole bunch of other applications. You can easily upload your own scripts for instant fame. Maybe some of the functionality that these scripts provide will be integrated into a future released of Office. Until then, I recommend upgrading to Office 2001 and enjoying what it has to offer.
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