The series of tutorials on Word 2007 are meant for beginner to intermediate users. Even if you have a lot of experience using previous versions of Word, you’ll soon realize that Word 2007 is totally different. It looks different, it feels different.

Note: The tutorials on Word 2007 use print screens taken on a Computer running Windows XP SP 2. Office 2007 needs at least Windows XP SP 2 to install (and works incredibly well on Vista as well). I installed the application on a computer with the following hardware: Intel 3.06 Ghz processor, 1024 RAM DDR2 , 120 GB hard drive and GeForce 6200 with 256 RAM DDR2 video card.

Figure 1 Word 2007 Main Windows

The easiest way to open a Word 207 document is to click: Start->All Programs ->Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Office Word 2007. Also, you can open a new document by clicking Start-> All Programs->New Microsoft Office Document or by double clicking a previously saved document and choosing “New” from the only Menu existent.

Figure 2 Word 2007 New Document

What’s new?
Honestly, everything is new in Word 2007! There is a new look which will probably make some wonder if they’ll ever get the hang of it. No more menus! So if you are looking to insert a caption, don’t look for Insert but look for “References” ribbon and then click on Insert Caption. You’ll also notice that when you insert a caption, it’s by default of a bluish color, instead of the old black. But if you want to insert a Picture, a Clip Art or a Chart, you should look in the “Insert” ribbon.

Figure 3 How to insert a Caption

Office 2003 introduced the Smart Tags. Office 2007 and hence Word 2007 continues to use them and, as in Word 2003, they are quite helpful.

Figure 4 Smart tag

Word 2007 has a new default Font called Calibri. It looks good and is little larger than the old default Times New Roman.

Figure 5 Default font: Calibri

Office 2007 makes it easier for us to save the document while working. Near the Office logo (which you have to click to access the menu, there is the Save button. Also pressing CTRL+S saves your work.

When you first start to use Word 2007 you might not be able to find the Page Setup dialog box. It took a while for me to find it also. To access the information click on Page Layout to display the ribbon and then click the arrow near “Page Setup” to display the Page Setup dialog box.

Figure 6 Page Setup dialog box

Considering that almost everything is new about Word 2007, I decided to stop this introductory tutorial here. I’ll continue with discussing each of the ribbons at a time because I believe that’s the easiest way to understand this new Microsoft application, which will be available for the general public sometimes in January 2007.