Getting Started with Groove

For many users of the Microsoft Office system, Office Groove 2007 is their first experience with the program. Groove is a new addition to the 2007 Office release, but the program has been around for several years. Groove Networks, the company that first published Groove software, was started in 1997. The first version of the program was shipped in 2001. Microsoft acquired Groove Networks in 2005.

Your work in Groove is organized through workspaces that you and other people are members of. You might be the individual who creates a workspace, making you a member by default. You join other workspaces by accepting invitations that people send to you.

In a nutshell, a workspace provides access to information that teams need to share and tools teams need to collaborate on ideas, communicate with each other, and stay organized. You can think of a Groove workspace as a versatile computer application-a program that rolls into one common tools like a text editor, a sketchpad, a discussion board, file shares, and similar sorts of operational and organizational tools that you’re used to working with in the Microsoft Office system and Microsoft Windows. Some of the tools that you’ll use when you set up or become a member of a workspace in Office Groove 2007 include the following:

• Document collaboration tools used to share files and keep shared files updated. You can also store files on a Windows SharePoint Services Web site through a Groove workspace.

• Discussion tools that let team members conduct online conversations. The Groove workspace Chat tool lets members quickly exchange information as well.

• Meeting and calendar tools that can advise a team of project milestones, meeting times and purposes, and updates.

• Custom forms that teams can use to collect information in a structured format using Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 or Office Groove 2007 Forms.

• Indicators that tell you who is working in a workspace and whether a team member or contact is online.

• Alerts that tell you when files and information have changed in a workspace and when team members perform important activities.

For more information about workspace tools, see “Outfitting a Groove Workspace with Tools” on page 150.

Note 

Groove is integrated with Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 and 2007, so you can initiate a phone call or an instant messaging session with people in your contacts list from Office Groove 2007. For more information, see “Groove Instant Messaging” on page 182.