Office 2001 for the Mac is here, and, overall, Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) has made a product that should appeal to Mac users. The latest version suite revamps Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2001, and adds a new component to the suite.
Each Office 2001 application features a new interface with a modern Mac look and support for key Apple technologies. The toolbars and icons have been redesigned and simplified. New support for the system-level Appearance Manager gives users greater control over the color schemes and styles presented in window controls and dialog boxes.
Each application takes advantage of new under-the-hood technologies offered by the Mac operating system. For instance, a new My Identity feature in Office 2001 for Mac complements Mac OS 9's multi-user functionality by providing intelligent features that help simplify and automate common tasks such as filling out forms or getting driving directions.
The Project Gallery
Office now sports a Project Gallery, similar to the Starting Points feature of Apple Works 6. The task-based Project Gallery (a Mac-first Office feature) provides a central point to access new customizable templates and wizards for any of the Office applications, letting you browse document samples in categories such as business cards, greeting cards, and calendars.
Office 98 for the Mac had templates, but not a lot. Nor were they customizable. Office 2001 boasts 400 colorful, customizable templates. Newly designed "wizards" (onscreen helpers) simplify the customization process by letting you change the theme and color of templates to personalize a project.
Projects are organized in category folders. Once selected, category folders expand to reveal large preview icons. And the Project Gallery is customizable; you can enable or disengage it in the different Office components.
Formatting Palette
A new context-sensitive Formatting Palette (another Mac-first feature) simplifies common tasks such as formatting text, images, and documents. As a user works on different parts of a document, the Formatting Palette adapts and displays the right tools for the job. For instance, Word 2001 now features a single-row toolbar by default. The formatting toolbar from Word 98 has been consolidated into the Formatting Palette, which can be moved anywhere on the screen and docked wherever a user prefers.
Image effects
To accommodate the growing popularity of digital cameras, color inkjet printers, and graphics-rich Web pages, Office 2001 has built-in tools for importing and editing images. Various editing tools deal with red-eye reduction, scratch removal, automatic color correction, and image rotation. Office 2001 also includes Picture Effects filters that, with the click of a button, change the entire look of an image. For example, you can make a photo look as if it was sketched in charcoal, or turn it into a mosaic.
Changes in Word
Mail Merge is now called Data Merge, which is designed to simplify the process of compiling a mass communication, regardless of whether it's regular mail or e-mail. For example, a user can merge data between a newsletter created in Word 2001 and information stored in Entourage, the suite's new integrated e-mail and personal information manager (see below).
Completing a data merge in Word 2001 can take as few as 10 mouse clicks, compared with more than 50 clicks for mail merges in previous versions of Word. Just drag and drop the Address Book into the Data Merge Manager, which then completes the merge. You can even preview a data merge before implementing it.
People who do lots of cutting and pasting will appreciate the new Office Clipboard, which goes beyond the single-step Copy/Paste used with previous versions. It lets you copy multiple blocks of text or pictures from one or more documents, e-mail messages, Web pages, presentations, or other files. You can then paste these blocks into any Office application, either individually or all at once.
Excel changes
Excel 2001 offers new List Tools to simplify the chore of managing such common list types as CD collections, inventories, and customer lists. As you create a list in Excel, the List Tools feature automatically offers to convert the relevant cells into a manageable, sortable list.
The List Tools feature attaches individual cells to the corresponding list row and offers a floating palette of List Tools, which provides the means for easier management of lists. A new Total Row command adds a new row at the end of a list, which lets you calculate such information as the sum or average of the data in a particular row. This eliminates the need to run a separate feature.
The new Excel lets you import data from FileMaker Pro database files directly into Excel worksheets. You can just drag a FileMaker Pro file from the Finder onto Excel, and the Import Wizard helps to select the database records to import. Once data is imported, you use Excel to sort, filter, format, analyze, and chart the information. You can even refresh the data inside Excel at any time to reflect the most recent changes made in FileMaker Pro.
PowerPoint changes
The 2001 edition of PowerPoint introduces a new Tri-Pane View that lets users combine the Slide, Outline, and Notes views. The idea is that one combined view makes it easier to perform tasks such as adding new slides, editing text within a slide, entering notes while creating a presentation, and navigating while editing. Also, when you change text in the Outline view, it updates on the fly in the Slide view.
PowerPoint 2001 provides support for Apple's QuickTime. If you have QT installed on your Mac, you'll be able to choose from hundreds of QuickTime transitions-including cross-fades, explosions, and dissolves.
The new PowerPoint Movie feature lets you save presentations as QuickTime Movies and share them with anyone who has the QuickTime player installed, regardless of whether they're using a Mac or have PowerPoint 2001. The PowerPoint Movie feature also includes the flexibility to fine-tune a presentation with options for display size, transitions, use of an MP3 file as a soundtrack, etc. And you can use advanced settings in PowerPoint movies, specifying visual size, applying MP3 "soundtracks" to run during a movie, and more.
Introducing Entourage 2001
Office 2001 also introduces a new member of the suite: Entourage 2001, an all-in-one e-mail client and personal information manager (PIM). The new e-mail module offers Word-like editing (with the same keyboard shortcuts) and the Encarta World English dictionary.
A new integrated Address Book lets you organize contact info by categories, including a Summary view of all related info. It includes extensive, customizable fields. The Address Book can be accessed from any Office application, which is particularly useful in Word mail merges.
The Office PIM includes a built-in calendar with reminders, which can be color-coded by categories. It offers a tri-pane view of categories like Today's Events, Tasks, and Schedule. Users can view the calendar by month, week or day. A task list, which can also be color-coded by category, offers automated reminders that can be set to recur as you wish.
Some caveats
Office 2001 is a nice update, but there are some issues that you should be aware of. Several of the older file converters were left out of Word 2001. If you have lots of old MacWrite, WordPerfect, or even Word 2.0 files lying around, you'll need to invest in MacLinkPlus from DataViz.
Also, if you're not careful you can end up with a bloated Address Book the first time you run Entourage. You have the option of importing data from the Palm Desktop organizer and your e-mail program simultaneously, but if you have the same information in both places, you'll get duplicate copies.
Pricing and system requirements: Estimated retail prices are $499 for full version and $299 for an upgrade version. To use Microsoft Office 2001, you need a Power Mac, Mac OS 8.1 or later (8.5 or later recommended); 32MB of RAM with at least 1MB of Virtual Memory for systems prior to 9; 48MB of RAM with at least 1MB of virtual memory for systems 9 and later; 160MB of hard-disk space for a full install; and 75MB for a minimum custom install.
Contributing Editor Dennis Sellers writes and edits for several Mac-specific publications.
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DVD titling; and digital audio, Adobe Photoshop CS3 extended, Adobe illustrator CS3,Adobe indesign CS3,Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3,Adobe Contribute CS3,Adobe Fireworks CS3,Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3,Adobe Soundbooth CS3,Adobe Encore CS3,Adobe OnLocation,Adobe Bridge CS3,Adobe Version Cue CS3,Adobe Device Central CS3,Adobe Stock Photos, Intel Pentium 4 (1.4GHz processor for DV; 3.4GHz processor for HDV), Intel Centrino, Intel Xeon, (dual 2.8GHz processors for HD), or Intel Core, Duo (or compatible) processor; SSE2-enabled processor required for AMD systems Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions) 1GB of RAM for DV; 2GB of RAM for HDV and HD; more RAM recommended when running multiple components 10GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation) Dedicated 7,200 RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD; SCSI disk subsystem preferred Microsoft DirectX compatible sound card (multichannel ASIO-compatible sound card recommended),1,280x1,024 monitor resolution with 32-bit color adapter Blu-ray burner required for Blu-ray Disc creation OHCI compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture, export to tape, and transmit to DV device QuickTime 7.1.2 software required to use QuickTime features Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos* and other services
