DocSyncer for Google docs

Somebody had to come up with a way to synchronize the documents you edit in Microsoft Office so they are available in Google Docs.

Try the free service at DocSyncer to migrate files to Google.

Best academic discounts for students, faculty & staff

Windows Secrets had instructions on how to get Microsoft Windows software at an academic discount for students, faculty & staff.  Requirements on what they want differ from vendor to vendor.  This article was dated April 12, 2007 so check current prices starting with these sites, and then perhaps elsewhere.

Where to shop for academic discounts

“Using your favorite search engine, you should have no difficulty finding software retailers that offer academic discounts. The ones I’ve found that have the best prices and selection are, in alphabetical order:”

• Academic Superstore
  Campus Tech
  Creation Engine
  CCV Software
  JourneyEd
  School World
  VioSoftware
  

OpenOffice for Macs = NeoOffice

While OpenOffice is the open source answer to Microsoft Office on Windows, for Macs you can use the alternative NeoOffice.

“NeoOffice is a full-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.

Released as free, open source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, so improvements and small updates are made available on a regular basis.”

Speech recognition in Office XP

If you installed speech recognition with Microsoft Office XP or if you purchased a new computer that has Office XP installed, you can use speech recognition in all Office programs.

Internet Fixes has advice on checking for it and using it if you have it.

Here’s looking at you, Office

Microsoft Office viewers are available if you don’t have Microsoft Office programs. Click here for the download page for viewers for all MS Office products, Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, Access, and Visio.

Remember: you can see the files with these viewers, but you cannot edit them in any way.

You can also use OpenOffice (freeware compatible with MS Office Suite before 2007) to view Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Access files (before 2007) as well as edit and save them to MS Office formats such as 97-2003 formats.

Remember: you must not use 2007 formats (ending in “x” such as “.docx“) if you want to use other programs such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect, etc. to view or edit them reliably.

Document & PowerPoint templates to download

Why reinvent the wheel? If somebody else has already created a template for the kind of document or PowerPoint you’re working on, why not use that if it suits your needs? Many of these are free.

Here are some sources, recommended by MakeUseOf.com :

DocStop : “Extremely useful community-powered service for sharing all kinds of business document templates. If you need a professional document, Docstoc is the first place to check out. Whether it’s a legal document, a business form or whatever is out there. Docstoc was launched just recently but already counts over 65.000 user-submitted documents, covering legal, business, financial, technology, and education areas.”

Gazhoo - “Unlike Docstoc, Gazhoo is a marketplace for legal, financial and business documents, case studies and research papers. Mainly it’s a place to buy and sell professional documents. However, with the exception of few scarce document types (i.e. market research papers) most of the listed documents are free. So, it’s a pretty good resource as well.”

Scribd - “Scribd has the biggest document collection, but it’s not focused on professional documents alone. It’s more like a virtual document library, where anyone can freely upload and share any kind of text documents (jokes, facts, stories, legal, presentations, etc.). Although, there is a good deal of useless stuff, it still has lots of legal forms and document templates.”

Online Word Processors

Online Word Processing

Caution: Putting your data online means opening up your information to a third party. Even if the company is honest, it could have legal action taken against it to reveal your information. Use online software at your own risk.

• Google Docs a free Google product (formerly known as Writely)
• Writeboard free collaborative document production

Office 2007 tutorials

Access Librarian Joni Stine recommends the Office 2007 tutorials at Microsoft Online.

Saving money on Microsoft products

Windows Secrets has advice and links on how to save money on Microsoft Windows and other products. Use at your own risk.

WARNING: Student/Faculty, aka “Academic” versions of Microsoft products, may NOT qualify you for cheaper “upgrade” versions later.
For example, the Office Suite’s academic version for 2003 may not be eligible for the discounted upgrade to the 2007 version, even if it
says “all versions” on the box. You may need to buy another complete academic version instead.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 manuals

USC Marshall tutorials on PowerPoint 2007 (copies of these PDFs are posted in the Library too — they’re very good).

Microsoft Excel utilities

Sources of helpful utilities for Excel versions 97 through 2003 are http://www.excel-extools.com and http://www.asap-utilities.com/. Freeware. Recommended by Gizmo’s Tech Support Alert.

Microsoft Excel 2003 cheat sheets for 2007

USC Marshall has some excellent cheat sheets for Excel 2007 giving the equivalents for Excel 2003.

Office 2007 add-ons

Download Free Office 2007 Software from Microsoft is a list of freeware to enhance MS Office 2007.

Office 2007 converters

A converter for 2007 to 2003 is here. Use at your own risk — this has not been tested by Library staff. This site seems to be very slow to load.

NW DocX Converter will convert Word 2007 and OpenOffice swx and odt files to RTF format. Be warned — this will lose a lot of your Office formatting, so expect to only keep the actual text, and not the way it looks on the page. Use at your own risk — this has not been tested.

Microsoft Office 2007 for older versions of Office

Office 2007 Formats

Office 2007 uses a new format for Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) files. In order to use these with older versions of MS Office, you will need a “compatibility pack” from Microsoft which works with Office 2000, 2002 (XP), and 2003.

If you don’t want to do that, you must remember to save as an older version format, such as “97-2003″, so your older version can still read it. Office 2007, of course, can still read older formats, but older versions of Office can’t read the newer formats without help.

The following instructions only work if you already have a licensed older version of Microsoft Office.

The Microsoft Knowledge Base article for this is 924074. Remember that Microsoft may change the location of these files, or the wording, but they should have them somewhere on their site.

1. FIRST download the 2003 viewers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and install them. Several versions may be offered, but you want the 2003 viewers.
2. Then install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats for older Office software (2000, 2002, 2003).

REMEMBER: Office versions older than 2007 currently used on campus cannot read the new formats, so save in an older format if you want to be able to read it without Office 2007.
Be sure to get the free 2003 viewers and install them FIRST before the compatibility pack! They are essential for the compatibility pack to function.
This is NOT for use with other programs such as OpenOffice, WordPerfect, or other software.

Microsoft Office 2007 help

USC Marshall School of Business has some excellent how-to manuals for Office 2007 here.
Copies of some of these are available for use in-library by the 2nd floor computers.

Add-ons & Plug-Ins for Microsoft Office Suite

There are programs that help Microsoft Office Suite that are not created by Microsoft:

• Crosseyes is NOT freeware; you must buy it. It allows you to View Codes in Word the way you can in WordPerfect. The program works with Word versions 97 through XP, and with all versions of Windows except 3.1. Recommended by PC Annoyances
• Word plug-in for ODF is a freeware plugin endorsed by Microsoft which allows MS Word to read ODF format documents from OpenOffice and other sources. Recommended by Gizmo’s Support Alert Newsletter.

Microsoft Office alternatives

Not everyone has Microsoft Office at home, on their laptop or elsewhere. What can you do to see, or edit, Microsoft Office files in that case?

• Microsoft Office viewers are available if you don’t have Microsoft Office programs. Click here for the download page for viewers for all MS Office products before 2007, Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, Access, and Visio.
• You can also use OpenOffice (a freeware equivalent for MS Office Suite) to view pre-2007 formats of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Access files — as well as edit and save them to MS Office formats. OpenOffice is a huge freeware program comparable to (and compatible with) Microsoft Office, including it’s own versions of Word (called Writer), Powerpoint (called Impress), Excel (called Math) and more. You can save in Microsoft format (instead of the default format) and use the files on campus computers.
  For an enhanced version of this with more extras, try OxygenOffice Professional.