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Microsoft Word 2010 Ribbon Tutorial

Kyle — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:06 +0000

In this Microsoft Word 2010 tutorial, Kyle gives us an introductory look at the “Ribbon” that has replaced the traditional toolbar in Microsoft Office.

Video Transcript

Hello and welcome back to SoftwareMedia TV. My name is Kyle, and today I’m going to be taking you through a quick, introductory look at Microsoft Word.

One of the biggest changes that you’re going to notice between Word 2003 and Word 2010 is what’s called the “Ribbon.” Now, instead of having drop-down menus like file, edit, window… you’re going to have various tabs that include all of your formatting and tools, right here for quick access.

So, first of all, is the File tab. This is where you’re going to do all of your saving, opening of documents, closing, info, recent documents that you’ve worked on, creating new documents, printing, and your help option is in here, too.

Next, you’ve got your Home tab. This is probably the most commonly used tab. It incorporates all of the text formatting. So all of your fonts, font sizes, text format, strike-throughs, changing the sizes, colors, paragraph formatting… everything like that is going to be here on the Home tab.

Next, you have got the Insert tab. This is where you are going to put in your pictures… that’s my dog Riley. This is where you can insert pictures, clip art, hyperlinks, bookmarks, cross-referencing, headers, footers… everything like that will be done in the Insert tab.

Then, you’ve got Page Layout. This is where you can put in page colors. You can adjust the margins, page orientation (whether it’s landscape or portrait), page size, columns, line breaks, watermarks. Everything is done in the Page Layout tab.

Then References. You can add text, update tables, table of contents, you can insert footnotes and endnotes, insert captions, insert your citations and bibliography, all in the References tab.

Then you have your Mailings tab. Now this tab helps you to create documents when sending out mailings like printing out envelopes, labels, processing mail merges. You can set your recipients. You can do it all through Outlook as well.

Next you’ve got your Review tab. This is where you’re going to find SpellCheck, researching, word count, translating… it’s really cool that you can translate right here in Word, and not have to copy and paste into Google Translate.

And then you’ve got your View tab, which is where you’re going to change the way you’re looking at your document. You can zoom in and out, you can set it to one or two pages, you can adjust your page width, you can open new windows, you can set macros. This is all done in View.

So, that is the Ribbon in Microsoft Word 2010. In our next tutorial we are going to look at getting started, so stay tuned here at SoftwareMedia.com

Microsoft Office 365 Beta

Kyle — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has recently announced the release of Microsof Office 365 beta, their new web-based productivity suite. Office 365 is a subscription-based suite of web applications that basically allows small-businesses and larger enterprises to utilize most of the Microsoft Office tools and capabilities from nearly any device: desktops, laptops, tablets or smartphones. It is designed to replace the current Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) program.

With more and more people using using mobile devices to conduct business, Microsoft developed Office 365 as an online suite of Microsoft Office applications designed almost exclusively for mobile access. Office 365 allows you to share files and documents, manage your schedules and contacts, hold online meetings via your mobile device, and boasts an impressive 99.9% uptime guarantee. In our digital world, communication is an essential part of life and business, and Microsoft Office 365 promises to make that communication even more efficient.

Check out the Microsoft Office 365 Beta testing page and sign up today.

Microsoft Office on Mac App Store?

Justin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:19:05 +0000

Office 2011: Coming to a Mac App Store Near You?

Microsoft Office 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 are in full-swing. In addition to the traditional retail boxes found at your local brick and mortar or online discount software retailer, Microsoft is weighing its options with other venues. Senior director Jason Bunge commented on the future of Microsoft Office: “You can absolutely expect Office to expand its presence across other platforms.” The question many consumers are asking is, “does that mean Microsoft Office on the Apple App Store?”

The Mac App Store tallied over one million downloads on launch day, and it has only exploded since then—with over 10 billion (yes, with a b) in under three weeks. With such popularity, it would make sense for Microsoft to add Office on the Mac App Store. However, keep in mind Apple takes a 30% cut from all Mac App Store sales. It might not be so easy for Microsoft to give their competitor almost 1/3 of the Office 2011 app sales.

Despite this tough pill to swallow, Microsoft will most likely negotiate some sort of deal. After all, Office for Mac has been very popular in recent years. Also worth noting is now customers can buy individual Office for Mac 2011 applications. For example, buy Word for Mac 2011 without springing for the entire suite (an approach Apple has taken with iWork Pages and other apps on the Mac App Store). Could this be Microsoft priming itself for a move to put Office 2011 on the Mac App Store in order to compete more effectively with Apple iWork? Perhaps. If the customers demand it, Microsoft, like most companies, will oblige.

Office 2010 SP1 Released in Private Beta

emily — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:55:48 +0000

Redmond has released a private service pack for its popular Office 2010. The release contains a slew of bug fixes, patches and updates that Microsoft describes are “under the hood”. It’s not likely this release will be available for the masses, but it’s a good sign that a more public service pack could be in the works. SND will have up-to-the-minute information about future service packs, so stay tuned.

No new features were announced with the beta. General feedback on Office 2010 has been positive, and it has been widely picked up across corporate and SOHO America. It has been the fastest selling consumer version of Office ever with six million copies sold since June 2010.

If you have not taken the plunge and are interested in upgrading, check out SoftwareMedia for the lowest prices on Office 2010 software. To compare which programs are included see the Office 2010 Edition Comparison.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Now Available

Justin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:55:52 +0000

Microsoft has released its latest version of Office for Mac and SoftwareMedia is jumping out of the gate with several editions to choose from: Home and Student and Home and Business. With these you can get either single or multi-user installations. This is a great way to make sure all your needs are met without having to pay extra for a features you won’t use. From families with several computers, to a businessman with a single Macbook, Office for Mac 2011 has a solution for all.

So, What’s the Difference?

Both editions get the same base programs: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Use these programs to create powerful spreadsheets, dynamic presentations, and write polished term papers. The main difference between Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 and Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 is the Business edition coming with Outlook: Microsoft’s e-mail and calendar software. Office for Mac 2011 is designed for the user in mind. And at SoftwareMedia.com, we boast some of the best prices anywhere. The real question is: what are you waiting for?

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A Brief History On – Microsoft

Justin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:42:42 +0000

This week for “A Brief History On,” we celebrate one of the most (in)famous software companies of all time: Microsoft. From humble beginnings in a small, downtown Albuquerque office to one of the largest corporations in the world, Microsoft has paved the way in software development. Love them or loathe them, Microsoft’s influence on the world cannot be denied and it has played a pivotal role in the advancement of the personal computer.

Micro-Soft and BASIC Programming

To begin, we must go back to 1975 Harvard University where a young sophomore student named William Henry Gates III teamed up with childhood classmate Paul Allen to create a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800. Together the two formed a partnership and named it Micro-Soft. Quickly the program gained acclaim from computer hobbyists all over and the team officially registered the trade name “Microsoft”—this time without the hyphen—with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on November 26, 1976.

Over the next ten years Microsoft continued to write programs for dozens of computer systems. Back at that time, each manufacturer used its own proprietary components and software needed to be designed for each individual machine. It would be like having to formulate a new type of gasoline for every car model released. Luckily, in the early 80s, Apple Inc. established its Macintosh and IBM its IBM PC as the two standards for consumer-level computers. This allowed Microsoft to focus more on the features of its software and not the hardware compatibility.

Welcome to Windows

On November 20, 1985 Microsoft launched its first retail version of Windows. It was with this program that Microsoft became a household name. From its conception in the 80s to its latest release of Windows 7, Windows has gone through countless updates, modifications, and improvements to better meet the needs of the user. This strict focus on anticipating and producing what the customer wants—better and cheaper than the competition, mind you—is largely the key to Microsoft’s success.

There Ain’t No Party Like an Office Party

Microsoft has never been satisfied with solely one project. Before Windows was flying off the shelves, Microsoft decided to jump on the office productivity software bandwagon with a program called Multi-Tool Word (later just Word) and compete with such rivals as WordPerfect and WordStar. Microsoft’s productivity programs later got bundled into the Microsoft Office suite and were, interestingly, launched first for Macintosh systems in 1989, with a release for Windows’ then latest version, 3.0, in October of 1990. This trend of Macintosh versions being released before the PC counterpart continued up until the release of Office 97 (PC) on November 19, 1996 followed by Office 98 for Mac over a year later. From then up until today, with the recent release of Microsoft Office 2010, the PC versions have been launched first.

Branching Out: Video Games and Hardware

The latter part of 2001 brought with it a whole new realm for Microsoft to conquer. Microsoft continued its reign as the software king through its entering the video game market by acquiring Ensemble Studios (creators of the Age of Empires series) and shortly thereafter introducing Microsoft Game Studios to represent the company’s video game publishing interests. But more than just mere software in the multi-billion dollar industry, Microsoft cut its teeth with its own video game console, the Xbox. It was a smash success and was followed up with the Xbox 360 in 2005.

Microsoft also dipped its hand in the music and mp3 player market with the Zune. Although not as successful in taking a large chunk of the market as the Xbox has, the Zune has earned a reputation for being a quality music player in an iPod dominated society.

Microsoft Made for TV Movie?

Believe it or not, there is actually a movie based on the birth of Microsoft and Apple, Pirates of Silicon Valley. What’s even more surprising: it’s actually a decent flick. Sure, it’s all nerd jokes and computers, but watching the story of these two tech giants is quite fascinating—that is if you’re into that kind of thing. I don’t know if I’d pop it in for a date night; unless, of course, the first half of the evening consisted of you and your significant other participating in a tag-team Slayer round. But, hey, who am I to judge?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey into Microsoft’s past and learned a couple things along the way. Check back here soon for the next installment of “A Brief History On.” And remember, if there’s a company you’d like to see showcased, just suggest it in the comments below.

enjoy.

Office 2010 Is Here!

Brian — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:50:15 +0000

It’s official Office 2010 is in stock here at SoftwareMedia.com and we have already began shipping orders. The highly anticipated release from Microsoft is a very worth upgrade from Office 2007. We have been working with Office 2010 for the past couple of weeks here at the office, and we have experienced first hand all the new and useful features included in the latest release. Here are some of the best.

Slicer in Excel

Slicer is a new feature in Excel that gives users a new way to control the way they view data. Slicer allows you to filter data from your sheet and view it in a pivot table. Once your data is in a pivot table it is possible to sort through your data to view only the info you need.

Better tools for Handling Video in PowerPoint

PowerPoint now offers new tools that let you add all sorts of videos to your slide shows. You can now add videos from your favorite video sharing websites, by copy and pasting the embed code from the site, and the video ends up in your presentation. You can also import videos to your presentation from your hard drive. Once a video is added to your presentation, PowerPoint provides you with a lot of features for editing your video. This saves a lot of time and hassle, and makes adding videos to your Slide Show a breeze.

Remove Background Tool in Word

Voila! No Background

Office 2010 offers a lot of new tools that make creating documents a lot easier. In Word new photo editing features are introduced. The coolest new feature is the remove background feature that automatically removes the background of an image when you select the general area of you want without a background. In the example below I was able to isolate the Real Salt Lake logo from its background and get a new version of the logo with just a few clicks. This saves tons of time, and eliminates the need for using additional programs to get the image you need.

You can start experiencing Office 2010 for yourself today. Check out your options for purchasing now, or explore more new features in our Hands on With Office 2010 Series.

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Hands on with Office 2010: Word

Brian — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:17:17 +0000

Next month Microsoft is scheduled to release Office 2010. We decided to check out the trial versions available, and try it out ourselves. Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting some of the new features available in the Office suite. Today we will be taking a look at what’s new in Word 2010.

Here are my Top 5 favorite new features in Word 2010:

1. Backstage

At first glance the most noticeable change is the return of the File tab which was replaced by the Office button in 2007. Clicking the File tab brings you to the new Microsoft Office Backstage feature. Backstage gives you multiple options for publishing your document, saving on your hard drive, emailing to a colleague, posting to the internet, and more. Backstage makes it easier than ever before to share your documents, in a variety of formats.

Microsoft Office Backstage

2. Remove Background Tool

Image before Background Removal

Select the general area of the image you'd like without a background.

Voila! No Background

3. Image Editing Tools

In addition to the Remove Background feature, new Image Editing tools have been added to Word as well. An Artistic Effects option gives you the ability to edit your image with many of the same filters that you would find in a program like Photoshop. A Color option allows you to correct any color problems within your document quickly and effectively. The corrections tab gives you access to brightness and contrast settings, as well as saturation options. The new editing tools are a huge improvement to previous tools available in Word.

4. Screenshots

New in Word 2010 is the ability to grab Screenshots while you are creating a document. A new Screenshot menu shows you all the current windows you have open as well as an option to choose only part of your screen. This eliminated the need to use outside programs when using Screenshots in Office.

5. Protected Mode

Protected Mode is a great new feature that will not allow you to edit documents downloaded from the internet without you enabling editing. This ensures you don’t make changes to files you may receive from other people such as Invoices, Contracts, etc.

There are even more new features in Word 2010 that make it an awesome upgrade from 2007. Stay tuned to SoftwareNewsDaily.com for more information on the new features in Office 2010. Need to buy a copy of Office today? Don’t worry if you purchase Office 2007 today you will be eligible for a free upgrade to 2010 when it’s released next month.

Microsoft Office 2010 Rolls Out with Free Word and Excel

Lansia — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:39:25 +0000

Microsoft Office 2010 has been in beta for some time. It’s also been free to try out for some time. In a press release from Microsoft, senior vice president of the Microsoft Business Division, Chris Capossela said, “Office 2010 is the premiere productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones and browsers.” Office 2010 definitely gives more heed to mobile computing, social media and collaboration.

In fact, an article from Inc. announces that Office 2010 will be rolling out with free versions of Word and Excel to compete with Google Docs and Spreadsheets. These “stripped-down online programs,” says Inc., “will be accessible on computer browsers and Web-enabled mobile phones.” Continue reading at Inc.com.

Buy Microsoft Office 2007 and Upgrade to Office 2010 Free?

Lansia — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:42:08 +0000

Ina Fried over at CNET’s Beyond Binary blog posted a tip about a “technology guarantee” for Microsoft Office 2010. Cut straight to the chase, Ina reports how Microsoft may be offering a tech guarantee (later purchases of a product about to head for the grave are given a free upgrade to the inevitable new product being released soon) for those that buy Microsoft Office 2007 from March 5 to September 30. The tip was a quickly concealed leak from an Microsoft employee and Microsoft does not confirm anything, but it’s likely to hold true. Read the Beyond Binary post for full details.

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