Microsoft Office 2007
In January of 2007, Microsoft released Office 2007 (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) for Windows. For more information on Office, visit the Microsoft Office Site.
If you have not upgraded, we recommend that you install the Office 07 Compatibility Pack (for Windows). There is currently no compatibility pack for Macs.
BlackBerries are not yet capable of reading attached files in docx, xlsx, and pptx format. It appears that saving in compatibility mode enables xls and ppt files created in 2007 to be read on the BlackBerry, but doc files saved in 2003 format do not yet appear to be readable on the BlackBerry.
Office 2007 is supported by CIS
While this exciting new product offers many enhancements, there are no systems or applications at Brown that require the use of Office 2007. Therefore, we will continue to support Office 2003 on Windows XP for the foreseeable future.
Department users should work with their DCC/SysAdmin to plan the upgrade as there are some compatibility issues and it is advisable for a group of workers to upgrade as part of a planned implementation. Here are some of the technical details that you and/or your DCC/SysAdmin should keep in mind:
- Office 2007 uses XML file formats for Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), and PowerPoint (.pptx)
- Files saved in the 2007 format cannot be opened with Office 2004 (for Macintosh). Microsoft's Macintosh business unit has announced they are working on converters but none are available yet.
- There is an Office Compatibility Toolkit for Office 2003 users. Some new features of Office 2007 will not allow Office 2003 users to properly edit some documents even with the toolkit installed.
- Adobe Acrobat Professional versions 7 and 8 are not compatible, however Office 2007 has a PDF Add-in.
- FileMaker Pro 8.5 cannot import Excel documents saved in 2007 format.
- BlackBerry users cannot read attachments saved in the Office 2007 format.
- Enabling RSS feeds in Outlook has known issues. RSS articles received are equivalent to e-mail messages since they count against your Exchange quota unless configured to be delivered to a Personal Store File.
- Instant Search speeds up searches but may slow down Outlook and requires that Windows XP users install Windows Desktop Search.
Which version is the best for our environment?
CIS offers Office Enterprise 2007 to faculty and staff. Due to our license agreement with Microsoft, we will not be able to provide students with a copy of Office 2007. Students interested in purchasing Office should do so through e-academy.What do I need to do?
- First of all, if you have a Mac, you don't need to do anything because Office 2007 is for Windows only. Office 2008 for Mac is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2007 for Mac. See the following press release for more info.
- Keep in mind that a lot of people on campus will have Office 2007 this Fall.
Talk to your DCC or to CIS
The best practice for departments is to upgrade in a coordinated manner. CIS is working closely with DCCs (Department Computing Coordinators) to be fully informed about best practices and issues regarding this software release. Your DCC can help your department to coordinate the upgrade. If you do not have a DCC, please consult the CIS Help Desk to find out whether upgrading is recommended.
Install Compatibility Pack
If you use Windows and Office 2003, CIS recommends installing the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. The Compatibility Pack will enable you to open files created in Office 2007 even though you do not have Office 2007 installed. At this time, there is no compatibility pack for Office 2004 for Macintosh. When a compatibility pack becomes available we will let you know.
Please click here to download the compatibility pack from Microsoft's download site.
Resources
If you are ready to learn more about how Office 2007 works, we have the following materials available:
Read our Best Practices for Office 2007 document on the CIS Documentation Wiki.
Watch our screencasts for Office 2007.
Recommended minimum requirements
Computer/Processor: at least a 1.0 GHz Pentium 4 (or compatible) processor
Operating System: Windows XP with SP2
Memory: 1 GB of RAM (You really will need this much RAM. For example: Grammar and contextual spelling in MS Word is not turned on unless the machine has 1 GB memory installed)
Hard drive space: 2 GB free space
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