What's New in Word

Word is the most popular application in the Microsoft Office software suite, and Word 2002 has been updated and enhanced in a number of important ways. For the interface improvements that apply to the entire Office suite, see the Introduction to this book. Word 2002 includes the following new features.

Document Collaboration

A number of tools make it easier for business users in distributed office environments to work on shared documents. Word 2002 allows multiple users to edit a document at the same time by making copies of the document for each user and merging the documents back together. An improved Compare and Merge feature allows for the creation of a third document and better tracking of merge results. Open Document Management API (ODMA) compliant systems can now benefit from mail merge, insert file, comparison, and other features. Document tracking is much improved, and allows multiple edits to a document to be tracked carefully and unobtrusively. Finally, you can now use digital signatures to authenticate documents.

A Focus on Everyday Tasks

A number of common features in Word, everyday features have been enhanced to make working with Word easier and faster. You have the option of having Word create a new document icon on the Windows taskbar for each document (the default behavior in Word 2000) or you can enable the Multi-Document Interface (MDI) feature to create only one "master icon" on the taskbar — the default in Word 97. You can now select multiple areas in a document by holding down the Ctrl key, and the Find and Replace dialog box has been improved and made more consistent with Microsoft Excel. Bulleted lists and numbered lists are easier to create and modify. Tables can be copied via drag and drop. Footnotes, proofing tools. Autocomplete, and Word Count features have been extended and enhanced. Mail merge has been streamlined via a new Mail Merge Wizard.

Drawing Canvas

Word includes a new feature called the Drawing Canvas that lets users create a drawing area, oi canvas, within which all objects have an absolute position. Within the canvas, you can use "smart connectors" in OfficeArt to keep shapes together when one connected shape is moved around the canvas.

Format Checker

With the Format Checker tool, you can now inspect what formatting commands created a particular formatting effect that is visible in a document, demystifying previously hidden formatting in a document.

Improving the Fundamentals

Fundamental tasks have been enhanced to increase productivity and reliability. For printing, Word now supports "Print Zoom" in landscape layout, and supports folios, booklet, and pamphlet formats. Improvements have been made to Word's capability as an HTML editor. In terms of accessibility and support for disabled persons. Word now supports the Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) 2.0 standard as well as Federal Accessibility laws. Power management is better in Word. Document Recovery has been significantly improved in Word and other Office applications.