Office 2010 New Features (Part 1)

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The Revival of the File Menu a.k.a “Backstage”

In this post on Office 2010 (Beta), Microsoft has revamped and renamed the File menu calling it “Backstage”. This feature is now more accessible than previously. It has been re-born with new features added yet it still retains the important commands – Save, Save As, Open, Print and Close.

In Word 2007, the conventional File menu was hidden away.  To access it, you had to click the Office Button.

Taking a Closer Look at Backstage

In all applications within Office 2010 (Beta), the File menu or “Backstage” is now easier to access. All iterations of the regular applications within Office contain this modified feature. No matter which application you open, “Backstage” is there.

Once you click the File tab on the Ribbon Bar, “Backstage” opens. Here’s how to access it in Word 2010.

You will note it’s a little different from the File Menu in Word 2007. The new features listed below are worth a closer look.

• Info
• Recent
• Share
• Add-Ins
• Options

Check them out and you will be pleasantly surprised!

In the remainder of this post, we’ll take a look at these new commands. I’ll use Word 2010 as the example. Check out the other applications to see what features are in their Backstage menu.

The Info Window

Open Backstage and click Info.

The Recent Menu

Open Backstage and click Recent.
Not a big change here. All recent documents are listed.

The Share Menu

Open Backstage and click Share. Here there are alternate ways to share documents. The e-mail options are useful.

The Add-Ins Menu

Open Backstage and click Add-Ins. This opens the following screen. It contains two options – Open from Office Live and Save to Office Live.

The first option allows you to open a file from Office live and the second option allows you to save a file to Office Live. As yet haven’t been able to try this feature. Sounds promising!

The Word Options Window

Open Backstage and click Options.
In Word Options, some of the features are similar to those in Word 2007 but there are a few suprises. The notable improvement is the ability to Customize the Ribbon. This is an entirely new feature. While the Ribbon in Word 2007 was set in concrete and inflexible, in Office 2010 (Beta) you have the opportunity to modify it the way you want it.

Let’s hope Microsoft keeps this option available in the final version!

Note: Please keep in mind that Office 2010 is only a beta version and, if Microsoft follows their usual practice, as they did with Windows 7 Beta and Windows RC, some features may be removed or improved upon in the final version.

And another thing!  Did Microsoft listen to the complaints about the inflexibility of the Ribbon Bar? I think the answer is Yes!  I’ll deal with this exceptional improvement in my next post, Super Customizing Options in Word 2010 (Beta).

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