As expected, Microsoft is now offering a public beta of Microsoft Office 2010 for download. This version reveals a slightly new interface redesigned. We tried the beta version and we offer an overview some news among the new features of this suite.
No fundamental change was the case in the transition to Office 2007: Microsoft has resumed its Ribbon interface, found in a version, a little more sober. In contrast, the spherical Office button that adorned the 2007 version leaves its place to a File menu. This one opens Backstage, a new full-screen interface giving access to the opening, saving or creating of documents, but also the metadata of the document in use, as well as printing features with overview and exports (to Sharepoint, Skydrive or as PDF / XPS).
If we note a new distribution of editions and the presence of 64-bit, Office 2010 does not present itself as a revolution but rather a smooth revision of the 2007 version, in a way that Windows 7 is Windows Vista. Each application has some new features. Thus, Word is developing a new search panel. Instead of practice, that it displays all occurrences of a word or phrase through a list containing the passages, which seems to facilitate research within a long document. There are also some new level of image editing: thumbnails for effects or removal tool of the background of an image. Other extras include a toolbar overview with paste options.
At the side of Excel, the spreadsheet offers a new type of graph: the Sparklines. These mini-graphics inserted into a cell of a table to quickly visualize a trend. There are also new side of PivotTables that benefit particular Slicers, a tool to quickly filter data. PivotTables also comes with improved performance.
Outlook takes on itself with the "ribbon" look across its interface, while the 2007 version was content to use in the composition window. We appreciate also the default viewer exchange as conversation (while keeping the display date). It is now possible to ignore exchange and send all responses directly in the successive Deleted Items folder. Finally, for users of Windows 7, Outlook handles the "jumplists" of the taskbar and allows to create a new email, appointment or contact directly from a right click in the taskbar. Other software after enjoying such jumplists for opening recent documents.
Finally, PowerPoint adds special features detailed image editing for Word, but also new video features. It is thus possible to embed videos in PowerPoint file itself, edit the videos (point of entry and exit) directly from the software, or to insert videos from sites like YouTube. Presentations can be exported as video file and new transitions. Included as a final glance Publisher, 2010 version also sees its redesigned interface, benefiting from the Office Ribbon. No one believed more!
The beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 is available on the Microsoft site. The download requires a Windows Live ID.
