The New Microsoft Office (Office 2013)

Even at this early stage, I really like The New Microsoft Office, but it's important to point out that this suite of productivity apps is not free. So I wouldn't blame you for asking why a business would pay for it when it could get a comparable set of office tools from Google Docs for a lot less or even free. But after using The New Microsoft Office (that's the official name of the entire suite) for a few days, I can tell you that there are plenty of reasons for trading up.

For starters it's available wherever you are, on whatever device you're using at the time, and with full touch-screen support, the entire suite has been reinvented to work with Windows 8-driven tablets, regular keyboard-and-mouse desktop setups, and even smartphones. Along with a completely reinvented interface, all of these things come together to make it the best Office yet.

C is for convenience

Like most recent versions of Office, the suite comes in many versions with tiered packages from the cloud-supported Office 365 to the desktop standalone Office 2013. Whether you choose to pay for Office 2013 or sign up for a subscription to Office 365, the bigger challenge for Microsoft will be how it markets the suite to both businesses and individual consumers to show why they need to make the switch at all.

So how could Microsoft do it? In a word: convenience. I'm not just talking about the convenience of continuing to use what you've used before -- I'm talking about the suite itself. What Microsoft has done in this latest version is make Office useable on a tablet running Windows 8 and, in converting the myriad productivity tools to support touch screens, the company had to make most actions only one click (or tap) away. So while it has streamlined the suite out of necessity, it's now easier to use than ever before.

Office also offers an enormous number of templates across the suite (with even more available online) to fulfill almost any business need. Almost all have a polished and professional look so you'll waste almost no time creating documents from scratch. In my testing, the suite of apps worked seamlessly together -- and with Microsoft's services -- making collaboration, sharing, and internal communication much easier.

 

The interface

The new interface across the entire suite of applications has been reinvented, mostly for the better. First off, the Ribbon, which disappointed many users when it first appeared in Office 2007, remains part of the new Office. But before you start grumbling, consider that Microsoft has made it optional this time around. So now you can show or hide the exhaustive collections of tools across every tab, and decide how much or how little you want to use them. In my review of Office 2010 I liked the Ribbon, but I've heard enough from users who disagree to know that Microsoft has made a wise change.

Aside from the Ribbon, the interface is similar but much simpler than it was in Office 2010 and earlier. Flat buttons and plenty of white space make the interface look less crowded. Newly added start pages for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel help you get to recent documents and new templates immediately upon launch. Other interface tweaks are tablet-focused such as the radial menus in OneNote that show options (like sharing, search, and zoom tools) in a circle around the area you pressed. The general feel of the suite is more streamlined and more cloud-integrated, and it seems like it will be useful to those looking at the same documents on several devices.

 

he software

The main core apps of the suite have all been updated with the new look and several new features that can be used with touch-screen tablets, desktop computers, and smartphones.

Microsoft says it is trying to make a smoother experience all around, which is shown not just in the interface, but with tweaks to the apps that will make getting things done easier. As an example, a new Read Mode in Microsoft Word lets you flip through documents like a book (on a tablet) and offers only the features that help you with common reading actions such as controls for defining words, translations, and searching the Web. But flashier additions in the new version of Word also let you view video right within documents (with an online connection). There are also other time-savers like the option to collapse sections of a document to get them out of the way, and a navigation pane that lets you know at a glance where you are in the document. Some of these options probably just seem like common sense, but what Microsoft has done has made many complex actions in earlier versions of the suite only require a couple of clicks.

The major theme remains that the most useful features are only a click (or tap) away. In Excel, for example, you have the Quick Analysis Lens that lets you click a small tab to view several recommended ways of visualizing your data. From here it only takes one more click to apply formatting, create a Sparkline, or add a chart or table to make your data clearer.

 In PowerPoint, you may have been working on a presentation in one theme, but want to give it a new look. With only a couple of clicks, you can change themes (and flip through variants of themes) and your content will move to fit the new style. Outlook has time-savers as well, with a new feature called Peeks that lets you peek at your schedule or a specific appointment without the interruption of leaving a message window. All of these quick features add convenience and cut out steps you would have had to perform in earlier versions of the suite.