The "Task Pane" in Office gives easy access to some tasks used extensively, like searching, researching, protection and workspaces. The research task pane is useful to search for meaning, clipart, thesaurus, MSN search and even get MSN stock quotes. It helps in getting relevant information without leaving the workspace. Then there is "Office online", a Microsoft Office Web site which provides extensive resources for Office products, including a wider variety of clipart, presentation templates and even Web services such as online fax services.

Outlook 2003

As far as Outlook 2003 is concerned, the focus is on making the mail system easier for the user to manage. Searching for your mails and organising them is no longer a headache. With multicolor flagging, you can flag important mails with different colours and segregate them. The folder list is no longer a simple list of folders. You have `search folders' where you can have defined searches based on your mail types, read/unread mail, colour-flagged mail and even based on the content of the mail. The beauty here is you need not make a new search every time. Once the search condition is set for a search folder, every incoming mail is pointed to the respective searching folder based on the search condition. So next time you click on the search folder, the search is already there for you. This looks more or less like your message rules filter but here it is just a search pointer, no mail copying or moving is done.

Trapping junk mail

Junk mail capturing is a noteworthy upgrade in Outlook 2003. Junk mails are trapped by their content and relevance, and the best part is you can control the level of filtering by using the `Junk-mail-Option.' You also have the "Safe Sender List" where you can add your important mail address or mail domains that you trust and don't want them to be scanned for junk mail and thus avoid erroneous filtering. Outlook has a new reading pane which can be positioned right or at bottom. It is an enhancement of the preview pane. Now the user need not open the mail, he can just click and have the mail read from the reading pane itself. The other features in Outlook are calendar and contacts sharing, and side-by -side viewing of calendars.

Excel 2003

Excel 2003 now has extensive support for XML. XML data provides high level of portability and is widely being used for data representation. One can now import XML data into Excel and by using the "XML source Task pane" you can view the elements of the scheme in the XML and design your data presentation by mapping the cells with elements, something similar to designing a `Pivot Table.' Once this is done, you can import and export XML data and make analyses. The List view is an additional feature in Excel 2003, similar to the Sharepoint list view. Using list view in Excel, you can treat each table of data in an Excel sheet as a separate list or record set. Now it is possible to insert, delete and analyse lists individually without disturbing or affecting the other tables. The list can then be directly published on a Sharpoint site as a list view which the workspace members can view and analyse. Excel 2003 has advanced Web query features. Now users can have data gathered from Web pages more accurately and have them live and updated for real-time calculation and analysis.

`Compare side by side' is a feature of interest to data analysts. It helps to compare two workbooks side by side, similar to a horizontal window view, but what's of interest here is that when you scroll one window, the other window also scrolls along, making it easy to compare a lengthy table in both the workbooks. This feature is also available in Word.

Word 2003

Word 2003 also supports XML. Now you can save a document as an XML schema making data in Word leave the confines of just binary store — meaning Word in no longerjust words but can have `Structured Data' and also convert word formats to structured date. Word now provides support for ink devices like the Tablet PC where you can have handwriting in Office documents using the tablet pen. Smart documents is another feature available with Word 2003. Smart documents can have fields gathering information from users. One can even have some of these fields linked to database tables and these smart documents can be saved and routed in a workflow as the document knows to whom it has to be sent next. The enhanced drag and drop feature in Office 2003 lets you literally drag and drop almost any relevant document resource from any Microsoft products. You can have a clipart from the Office Online Web site or an Excel chart dragged and dropped on to a presentation document and have the data still linked with the Excel sheet or an external data link which will give you a really live presentation.

PowerPoint 2003

Now it is possible to make a Power Point 2003 presentation efficiently with the online presentation templates in Office Online. There is a wider variety of online templates to choose from. You can have your presentation shared on a workspace and have your team members comment on it. Charts are more live and can be updated with real-time data, making the presentation more interactive. Trend-line forecasting and data projection is possible through charts in PowerPoint and Excel. You can have a chart drawn over a set of data and have a trend line running over it, then using the format options forward the forecast to `n' number of years and have your forecast based on the given set of data.

Access 2003

Access 2003 has an added feature, which might interest some database designers. It has a task on its task pane called `Object Dependencies'. This task gives the same information as the relationship window, but it gives this information in object model, showing a hierarchy of dependency of the different elements in the database. Using object dependencies information view, it is possible to find out which form is linked to which table, and which report is linked to which view, and to which table the view is linked. This makes it easy to identify what needs to be changed and where.

Access also has some advanced link facility which enables it to have "Link Tables" with a wide variety of databases which include Excel, dbase and other relational databases. With this, one can avoid importing the tables into the access database. This way, data is not duplicated. Now it is possible to have access to reports that span across more than one database. You can have a report running into 100 rows, fetching 10 rows for one linked database, say dbase, and another 50 rows for Excel link and the rest from another linked RDBMS, and the best part is you can have it readily published on the workspace through the SharePoint service.

Info path

Info path is a product by itself and shipped with Office Professional Edition 2003. It is basically used for designing and filling out forms whereby the user gets information. The advantage of Info path is that it uses XML to store the form data. This gives all the advantages of XML usage and portability. Designing a form in Info path is much simpler as compared to other form designers. Also, Info path provides a wide variety of templates to match most of the business scenarios. An Info path form can be easily connected to Office documents and other external databases, including XML. One can have a complex form presented in a simple manner in Info path by defining conditions and conditional formation, validations are live and interactive. Most of the job can be done through wizards and section display and drag and drop features are added advantages.On the whole, Office 2003 provides improved user interface and provides a collaborative environment to have work done more interactively and to provide data in its integrity and with ease, exactly when it is required.

Tips for the user

Office 2003 is a welcome package for users who work in an environment that requires team interaction and for those users who extensively handle data and use Excel as their major analytical tool. However, if it is just for user `interface', base level documentation and data storage, an Office XP/2000 user will not enjoy using Office 2003 as a new product. It must be noted that some of the features mentioned are available only with the Professional version of Office 2003, including XML support and IRM. Also, Shared Workspace collaboration effectively requires Windows Server 2003 running Windows SharePoint Services.

grajah@thehindu.co.in

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