History & Evolution Of Microsoft Office Software

When it comes to office automation, the first thing that comes to mind is Microsoft Office. One cannot imagine a Windows-based computer without a local copy of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The future may hold the key to cloud based apps, but as of now, a pretty large chunk of Microsoft users is still dependent on local installations. For the past few years, an exception being the statement released on Jan 24-25 2013, the office automation software bundle from Microsoft generated more revenue compared to its Windows range of operating systems. The evolution of office automation is tied to the evolution of Microsoft Office as the latter remained and stays ahead in offering the latest features that enhance and support the functions required by the ever-changing needs of business houses worldwide.

Microsoft Word For MS-DOS Pre Windows Era

The history of MS Office starts officially from November 19 1990 when Office for Windows (also called MS Office 1.0) came out for use with Windows 2.0. Prior to Office 1.0, the basic elements of the package were still available as separate programs but for MS-DOS. The primary input devices for pre Windows Microsoft Word were keyboards. Mouse was a luxury not used by many. Though they have many good features, formatting and printing requires good expertise. You can still download one of the DOS based Word from the Internet - but I wont recommend any site as I dont know if they would be clean.

Evolution & History Of MS Office: From Keyboard To Touch Interface

We will take you on a pictorial tour of the different versions of Microsoft Office that debuted as an add-on for Windows 2.0 and went on to change the face of office automation across the business houses on the planet. It shifted users from the then famous WordPerfect to MS Word and killed the formers market. A major factor for the huge success of MS Office was and is the keyboard shortcut system as opposed to the formatting system of WordPerfect that required users to type in special codes.

Year 1990 Microsoft Office For Windows (Office 1.0)

A combination of Word 1.1, Excel 2.0 and PowerPoint 2.0 released in November 1990

Year 1991 MS Office 1.5 Improved Excel (with Word 1.1 & PowerPoint 2.0)

Year 1992 MS Office 3.0 For Windows (Office 92 on CD-ROM)

Contains Word 2.0; Excel 4.0A and PowerPoint 4.0. Do note that the version numbers are not consistent; they were made consistent only after Office 95 that well check out below. IMPORTANT: For versions and sub versions prior to Office 92, the distribution packages were either sequential storage devices (tapes) or a set of floppies (Setup would be like: Insert Disk 2 to continue etc.!)

Year 1994 Office 4.0 For Windows

There was one small upgrade for Excel between Office 3.0 and Office 4.0 and the same was continued in Office 4.0. Instead of Excel 4.0a, it was now Excel 4.0. PowerPoint version was same 3.0. The major overhaul was MS Word which now had a very rich interface focusing on formatting. Thus, Office 4.0 composed of following: Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, and PowerPoint 3.0.

Year 1995 Office 7.5 or Office 95

Naming convention was changed to match the version numbers of each application software in Office suite! Thus, it was Word 95, Excel 95 and Presentation 95. Note that each version of MS Office also brought in other software such as Publisher etc. For this picture article, we will stick to the main three components as including others as well will confuse some. I will later talk about the other software in a separate picture roll. IMPORTANT: This version was not backward compatible and would work only on Windows 95 and later operating systems. You might get one from the Internet if curious but make sure it is not a fake or malware.

Year 1996 Fall Office 97: Introduction Of Office Assistant!

Mid 1999 Office 2000 (Better User Experience)

Among the many updates to previous versions were smoother user elements and improved security

Mid 2001: Office XP

With XP, Microsoft provided almost all features to users working under restricted mode on corporate networks. Notice the shine on the Window title that is inherited from the basic elements on Windows XP that continued to rule for almost a decade.

Fall Of Year 2003 Office 2003: The Most Used MS Office Version Ever
In case of MS Office however, the most used version is version 2003 with plenty of functionality and security features. Blended with Windows XP completely and presented icons and toolbars with the same look as the operating system. Other than the looks, the rich feature arranged neatly under different menu tabs made it users choice to years until they were forced to upgrade to Office 2007 and Office 2010.

Office 2007 introduced the Ribbon Interface

Office 2007 introduced the ribbon interface and helped you produce professional-looking documents by providing a comprehensive set of tools for creating and formatting your document in the new Microsoft Office Fluent user interface.

Office 2010 introduced Office Web Apps

Microsoft Office 2010 let people & employees keep in touch and working effectively no matter where they were. They could use the same applications from their PCs, from a smartphone, or from a Web browser.

Office 2013 comes with cloud integration

The Evolution Of MS Office continues with Office 2013 and Office 365 and makes use of cloud computing and takes it to the next level, while introducing Touch.

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New Features of MS Office

Connect to the Cloud, Connect to Your Content When you are online and signed in, the new Office saves your documents to the cloud (Microsoft SkyDrive) by default. You can get them on your tablet, PC and phone and share them with others by just sending a link. All of your Office applications, documents and personal settings go where you go. That means things like your custom dictionary follow you no matter what device you're using. Plus, when it's in the cloud, it's backed up you don't have to worry about losing your work. Make Multiple Versions a Thing of the Past Managing and reviewing documents is designed to be easier, as all changes and comments are consolidated in a single version on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro. Even if you don't have Office installed, you can collaborate; threaded comments allow you to see who replied to whom and when. Mark a comment as "done" and it will collapse and gray out to indicate that it's closed, yet it will remain accessible for future reference. Worried about not catching a change? Use the lock tracking feature so that no change can get by without you seeing it. Bookmark Files Automatically Have you ever closed a report, only to reopen it and spend five minutes trying to figure out where you left off? With the Last Location feature, Word and PowerPoint automatically bookmark your last position. When you reopen the file anywhereeven on your phone you can pick up right where you left off. Use Outlook to Stay "Socially" Responsible Miss a colleague's promotion? The new Office helps you stay in the know by connecting your social networks. The People Card in Outlook joins multiple contacts into one view, reducing duplicates, and offers the latest social context, including status updates, contact information and pictures from Office, Facebook and LinkedIn. You can even share part of your spreadsheet on your social network pages. SharePoint, meanwhile, will recommend people and documents for you to follow based on your interests and responsibilities. Take Notes With Digital Ink Now you can use touch and "inking" functionality to take notes, write emails and access features with the new Office and Windows 8. Specifically in OneNote, the inking is designed to let you draw, erase and edit content using your finger, stylus or mouse. Inking also converts handwriting into text for you.

Treat PDF Files Like Word Documents With the new PDF reflow, you can now open PDF files as fully editable Word documents, making paragraphs, lists and tables act like familiar Word documents. Open the PDF file in Word and you can copy text, tables and other content to reuse in other documents. Deliver PowerPoint Presentations Smoothly The improved Presenter View in PowerPoint has new tools that make note cards a thing of the past. Now you can privately view speaker notes; see current and upcoming slides; zoom in on specific areas; jump between slides, and even keep track of how long you've been presenting. With the auto-extend feature, PowerPoint automatically enables Presenter View when you connect to a second screen and ensures that your presentation is projected correctly. Dress Up Your Excel Data New Flash Fill reformatting in Excel makes rearranging data much easier. This feature helps Excel learn and recognize your patterns and auto complete the remaining data cells without all the manual formatting. Analyzing data used to involve quite a bit of work, but now it only takes a few steps to quickly create different types of charts, including line and column charts, or add miniature graphs (called sparklines). You can also apply a table style, create PivotTables, quickly insert totals, and apply conditional formatting. Remember the Forgotten Attachment in Outlook By detecting keywords and phrases, the new Outlook reminds you if you forget an attachment before you press "Send." Or, you can avoid attachments altogether and share links to documents saved on SkyDrive. Use Image Search to Find Files Faster The search functionality in the new Office is improved and available for email, attachments, calendar appointments and contacts. In OneNote, notes are automatically saved and searchable. You can also search the notes and files you've added to find anything you've captureda page in a presentation, text in a picture or a comment in an audio clipby typing a keyword or phrase.

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People involved in the creation of Microsoft: Bill Gates and Paul Allen
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MS Word Windows Elements

Title bar Menu Bar Toolbars Workspace Status Bar Scroll Bars Scroll Box Task Pane

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Command Icons and Dialog Boxes in MS Word

NAME New Open ICON USE Creates a new blank document based on the default or current template. Opens a document previously created and saved in Word. Saves new changes to the current document or file, with its filename, location and document format. Sends the content of the current document as the body of an E-mail message.

Save

E-mail

Search

Finds files, Web pages and Outlook items based on the search criteria you enter. Prints the active document or selection. Shows how a document or file will look when you print it. Checks spelling in the active document, file or item. Removes the selected item from the active document and places it in the Clipboard. Copies selected text or object to the Clipboard.

Print Print Preview Spelling

Cut

Copy

Paste

Pastes the item you cut or copied into (the position of the insertion point) the document from the Clipboard.

Format Painter

Copies the format from a selected text or object and applies it to the text or object you click. Reverses the last action or deletes the last entry you typed. Click the arrow next to this icon to select and reverse multiple actions at a time. Reverses the action of the last Undo command. Click the arrow next to this icon to select and reverse multiple Undo command actions. Inserts a new hyperlink or edits the selected hyperlink. Displays Tables and Borders toolbar, which offers tools for editing/formatting a table and its content. Inserts a table in the document. Click and drag to specify the number of rows and columns. Inserts a new Microsoft Excel worksheet at the insertion point. Click and drag to specify the number of rows and columns. Use the Excel tools on the toolbar to edit the table.

Undo

Redo

Insert Hyperlink Tables and Borders

Insert Table Insert Microsoft Excel Worksheet

Columns

Changes the number of columns in a document or a section of a document.

Drawing

Shows or hides the Drawing toolbar. Used to turn on or off the Document Map. Document Map shows the outline structure of a document so that you can quickly navigate through the document and keep track of your location in it. Used to "zoom in" to get a close-up view of a document or "zoom out" to see more of the page at a reduced size. Shows or hides non-printing characters, such as tab characters, paragraph marks and hidden text.

Document Map

Zoom

Show/Hide Office Assistant (Microsoft Office Help)

Opens Help or invokes the Office Assistant to provide help topics and tips to help you accomplish your task.

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Command Icons and Dialog Boxes in MS Excel

Function of commonly used buttons Creates a new blank document based on the default template Saves the active file with its current file name, location and file format Print preview - Shows how the document will look when you print it. Cut - Removes the selection from the document and places it on the clipboard Opens or finds a file Prints the active file - for more print options go to the File menu and select Print Spelling, grammar and writing style checker Copy - Copies the selected item(s) to the clipboard

Paste - Places the content of the clipboard at the insertion point Undo - Reverses the last command, use pull-down menu to undo several steps Auto Sum - Adds numbers automatically, and suggests the range of numbers to be added Sort Descending - Sorts selected items from the end of the alphabet, the highest number or the latest date Displays or hides the Drawing toolbar

Format painter - Copies the format from a selected object or text and applies to other objects or text Redo - Reverses the action of the Undo button, use the pull-down menu to redo several steps Sort Ascending - Sorts selected items from the beginning of the alphabet, the lowest number or the earliest date Chart Wizard - Guides you through the steps for creating an embedded chart (graph) Zoom - Enlarge or reduce the display of the active document

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Submitted by: Rhessa Lyn B. Navarro