I caved in and subscribed to Office 365 Home Premium. I haven’t had time to did deep, but I have at least glanced at what Microsoft has changed.
Before I start, perhaps I should explain my decision to spend some dough on a $100 per year subscription when I could have just used the old. I used to use Office 2000. For personal use, it seemed like I didn’t need to upgrade often. I liked the added features of 2010, and I felt that I could justify finally upgrading when Microsoft released it. One day, I was using Excel and wanted to count items that met multiple criteria. I plunged into the world of array formulas. When I got my formula to work, I discovered the additions of COUNTIFS and SUMIFS in 2007. While I’m glad that I learned array formulas, especially since I still use them for other spreadsheets, I was a little upset that I wasn’t on top of what I could do since 2000. Even with this problem, I should point out that I have been exposed to both 2003 (I believe my brother had it) and 2007 (workplace after I bought 2010 for home).
With my previous oversights, it seemed like the best approach would be to develop my understanding of Excel as the program progressed. I didn’t want to skip one version, look at new features in the following version, and miss something important. I decided that from that point on, I would keep up with Office.
Which version should I buy? I’m a little upset that 2013 only allows a single installation for boxed copies. While I’m not worried about the condition of my current computer, there are always things that can go wrong. I don’t want too much of a hassle just to recover. That made Office 365 a little more appealing. Another issue is that I was developing a bit of curiosity about some of the features of Outlook. I was never planning on buying the low end of the boxed versions of 2013. One more factor in my decision was the inclusion of Access. This is a program that I don’t have a lot of experience with, but I wouldn’t mind playing around with it. Office 365 sweetened the deal with Office on Demand and 20 GB extra storage on SkyDrive. After comparing the prices and the features, Office 365 Home Premium seemed like the best deal.
So how is it so far? I have got to say that the new interface is almost disorienting. I have been looking at Excel so much over the years that the differences really pop out. The odd thing about this is that it’s very similar functionally. I just haven’t adapted to the flatter look and the bolder colors.
In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting this to big a very big jump from 2010. Microsoft has been trying to push tablets in recent years, and it was obvious that improved functionality on touch-enabled devices was going to be one of their primary focuses this time around. For those of us with a standard keyboard/mouse interface, that’s an investment that’s not going to do much. I still expected noticeable changes. I would say that Office 2013 roughly met my expectations.
Microsoft has made it easier to work with the cloud. The Save As screens have been redesigned, and SkyDrive is listed above your computer. New icons have replaced the familiar. I am also staring at a solid green bar at the bottom of my screen. I should also point out that when I click on a cell in Excel, they have now animated the selection moving instead of an instantaneous feel.
On the functionality front, each Excel Spreadsheet now has its own dedicated window instead of being windowed (or more likely maximized) within Excel. With this change, they no longer needed the minimize, maximize, and restore buttons for the worksheet, so they have been removed. A few Flash Fill allows easy separation of data. While Excel has had tools for dividing names in previous versions, you can now start typing first names in one column and last names in another. If you are entering these names and have a column with full names, Excel will see that and automatically fill the correct text into the table.
They have also added a Quick Analysis tool. This is like the pop-ups for auto-fill and auto correct. If you select an entire table, a button will appear at the bottom right. This provides a faster method of adding charts, PivotTables, and Sparklines.
One more change that you would likely notice is the interface used on charts. In past versions of Excel, you could make all sorts of changes to charts if you knew where to click. The most important tools now have buttons that appear when a chart is selected, so you don’t have to know which component of the chart you need to select.
Although I haven’t gone into the depths of PivotTables for the new version, it looks like Microsoft has made a number of changes there.
Overall, I’m not seeing much that you can do in Excel that you couldn’t in the previous version. Perhaps I can find some things in PivotTables. Even without the expansion of capabilities, there are some definite advantages to the new version (if I can adapt to the interface changes) due to streamlining and ease of use. If you are as Excel-obsessed as I am, that might be enough to justify the upgrade.
As for Word and PowerPoint, it’s harder for me to evaluate since I don’t use them nearly as often. A lot of changes were made throughout the Office Suite, so look for the same basic functionality of the interface with a significantly altered appearance. Like Excel, the Save As screens have been redesigned with SkyDrive on top. Connections with online sources have been streamlined. I can visit Flickr while in Word (I probably should have mentioned that feature in Excel since that program also supports Flickr) to insert images into my documents.
With the exception of OneNote, I either haven’t been using the other programs or I haven’t had them. I really can’t get a sense of how they have improved. I do use OneNote regularly, but not while I have been playing around with my new software. I’m sure that I’ll see the differences, but I don’t think that I can say much right now.
Overall, the value of Office depends on you. $100 per year for the best productivity tools on the market is a pretty good deal, but it’s not for everyone. Most people don’t need the best and could probably survive without the latest Office offering (Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anyone who does NOT survive due to the lack of Office). If you are a power user or want to keep on top of technology, this is definitely worth the money. If you can’t stand the thought of lacking features of paid office suites but don’t need the latest, I would say the value of upgrading depends on what you are currently using. I would say 2003 is a dinosaur, and 2007 is starting to show its age due to the lack of SkyDrive support.
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