Introduction to MS Word 2007

Microsoft Office Word 2007 helps in producing professional-looking documents by providing a comprehensive set of tools for creating and formatting the documents. The new environment of Word has been designed in such a way that its powerful features are easier to find and use. In Word 2007, the commands are displayed on the Ribbon. The Ribbon is an area where all the most frequently used commands are placed.

The new features of Word 2007 are as follows:

1. Microsoft Office Button: It is placed on the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This button replaces the File button in the previous versions. It holds all the commonly used commands such as New, Open, Save, Print, and Recent Documents. It also contains the Word Options commands that were previously located in the Tools menu in the previous versions.
2. Ribbon: Ribbon is an area at the top of the screen below the Title Bar where almost all the frequently used commands are placed. It makes it easier to see and find the commands to format a document. The Ribbon groups buttons for common tasks together in tabs on a graphical interface. For example, when a user clicks the Insert tab, a Ribbon appears with buttons for items that he can insert into a document, such as clip art, a hyperlink, a picture or a table. The Ribbon can be reduced to a single line of tabs by pressing Ctrl+F1.
3. Tab: Tab is an area on the Ribbon that contains buttons organized in groups. The default tabs are Home, Insert, Page Layout, Reference, Mailings, Review, and View.
4. Quick Access Toolbar: It is a customizable toolbar placed beside the Microsoft Office Button. By default, it displays the Save, Undo, and Repeat buttons. It provides easy access to frequently used commands. The toolbar can be customized by clicking on the dropdown arrow and selecting the commands to be used.
5. Title Bar: It is a horizontal bar at the top of an active document. This bar displays the name of the document and application. Minimize, Restore, and Close buttons are placed at the right end of the toolbar.
6. Group Categories: It is a group of buttons on a tab that is exposed and easily accessible.
7. Dialog Box Launcher: It is a button that launches a dialog box containing options for refining a command.
8. Status Bar: It is a horizontal bar at the bottom of an active window that gives details about the active document.
9. View Toolbar: It is a toolbar that enables, adjusts, and displays different views of a document’s content. It is placed beside the Zoom Button.
10. Zoom Button: It is placed at the bottom right corner of the window. It is used to magnify or reduce the view of contents in the document window.