Microsoft Office 2010 Beta – Microsoft Word 2010 First Impression

Being a fan of the Microsoft Office Suite, I recently downloaded Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Beta, which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Microsoft Outlook Tools.

There are plenty of changes from Word 2007 to Word 2010 Beta. Some of the highlights include an improved search and navigation, more options for collaborating (co-authors), post your document online and access it with a Microsoft Word Web App or Microsoft Word Mobile 2010.

File Menu

Additional added features include the visual effects. You can add enhancements to text, pictures and the document itself. You can now further manipulate the fonts with dozens more SmartArt Graphics. Create a professional looking diagram by simply typing in a bulleted list. Picture Tools include Corrections, which allow you to sharpen and darken images, Artistic effects (below) that is a bit similar to the artistic effects within Photoshop CS3 and CS4.

Click the photo, select Picture Tools -> Artistic Effects

Microsoft Word 2010 adds a translation feature. You can translate any word, phrase or the entire document to the language of your choice. The text to speech option is also available.

Perhaps the most noticeable change is the Blue File tab. This tab is extremely useful and reminds me a bit of the Windows Button used on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Click the Info tab to edit the Permissions or Prepare for Sharing. The Recent tab makes it easy to find previous documents, while improving upon the recovery for deleted work. The New tab opens to an assortment of available templates. The Print tab gives you all the print settings to modify within the conrol panel.

The Share tab gives you several options such as creating an e-mail that includes a link to the document, attaching a PDF copy of the document to an e-mail, sending as Internet Fax, etc. Additional options include saving as PDF, publishing as a Blog Post, changing the file type, etc.

File -> Share

Of all the added features, my favorite is the new File tab. I like the concept of having one tab that stands out and gives me the ability to modify permissions, file type and the publishing and sharing options once I’ve finished my document. The enhanced visual effects you can apply to pics and text within the document are also extremely useful to me. You can now right click a pic within a Word Doc and save as a PNG, JPG, etc. There are so many other additions to Word 2010, it’s tough to cover them all. I definitely recommend trying Word 201o. If you’re familiar with Word 20o7, you’ll be able to find your way around 2010.