If you've used a previous version of the Office software, you'll notice that Office 2000 has a number of new features and improvements:
The following features are common to all Office programs:
Office 2000 has been carefully tested for adherence to the Microsoft Year 2000 Compliance Standard and for handling date issues in general.
Office now includes Publisher, a popular desktop publishing software program that creates newsletters, brochures, and Web pages.
Each application in the Office 2000 software suite can now save files in HTML, or Web page, format, so you can immediately deploy them on the Internet or corporate intranets. The traditional application file formats are also still available.
Office applications now have a standard Save As Web Page command that lets you seamlessly save your document as a Web page and set useful Internet publication options. A new Web Page Preview command also allows you to view your HTML document immediately in Microsoft Internet Explorer or another browser.
Enhanced Hyperlink commands allow you to link to electronic mail addresses, new Internet resources, and hot-spots in documents.
You can now save several blocks of cut or copied text to the Clipboard (up to 12), and then paste any of these blocks into an Office document. A Clipboard toolbar facilitates the pasting process.
Most Office 2000 applications can now automatically detect foreign language text rather than requiring you to mark all blocks of foreign text using language formatting. The proofing tools will then use the appropriate dictionary for correcting text in each language.
In creating documents, you can work together with other people on the Internet or on a company intranet using the commands on the Online Collaboration submenu of the Tools menu in most Office 2000 applications.
Office 2000 is now easier for system administrators to customize and install, and it adapts to your work style by using install-on-demand features, self-configuring menus and toolbars, and improved IntelliSense (natural-language processing) technology.
Word now includes the following new features:
The Web page features are now tightly integrated into Word. You can save any Word document in HTML format—that is, as a Web page. You can view the page in Web browsers, and you can later reopen it in Word without losing any features. Word also provides a large collection of templates and wizards for creating documents designed specifically as Web pages, or for building entire Web sites.
Word now features a Web Tools toolbar, which allows you to add scripts, forms, movie clips, background sounds, and scrolling text to Web pages.
The new Click and Type feature lets you add text to an empty place in a document by just double-clicking that place and then typing the text. Word adds all necessary space characters and formatting to position the text where you double-click.
Word tables have acquired new features derived from Web-page tables. For example, you can create nested tables and tables that are automatically resized to accommodate the text they contain or the size of the window, and you can have text flow around tables.
You can now quickly modify the overall appearance of a document by applying a visual theme. The theme will apply a consistent look to elements throughout the document. You can choose from a list of more than 25 themes provided with Office.
The following new features make Excel an even more dynamic program:
The new Save As Web Page command creates HTML documents that you can use interactively on the Web via Internet Explorer. Interactive features are provided in Internet Explorer by ActiveX controls called Microsoft Office Web Components.
Excel 2000 can now create pivot charts from pivot tables, so you can graphically manipulate the rows and columns in a database list.
You can now set date entries using two new formats that help combat the year 2000 problem.
You can now use the new Euro currency symbol and accounting format to manage European financial transactions.
PowerPoint includes a lot of new features, too:
PowerPoint now includes an enhanced Normal view—which combines Outline view and Slide view—for easier editing and slide organization.
Tables are easier to create and format in presentations, and PowerPoint now handles them internally, which makes them faster.
The Save As Web Page command creates HTML documents smoothly and efficiently, and offers the same user interface and publication options as Word and Excel.
The Print dialog box has new Grayscale, Handouts, and Print Hidden Slides options.
You can now broadcast your presentation, complete with video and audio, over the Internet or your corporate intranet.
Access includes the following new features:
The Database window now includes a customizable Shortcut Bar like the one used in Outlook, it provides different ways to list objects, and it contains icons for quickly creating new database objects.
A new database object, the data access page, is similar to a form but allows users to manipulate a database in a Web browser as well as in Access.
Datasheets can now include subdatasheets, which allow users to view related information from other tables.
You can now use Access to create front-end interfaces, known as projects, for other databases such as SQL Server.
And finally, here's what's new in Outlook:
You can now assign a Web page to any Outlook folder, and you can display that page when the folder is opened.
You can browse Web locations stored in your Favorites folder using the new Favorites menu. You can now open Web pages directly in the Outlook program.
You can now create personal distribution lists in your Contacts folder so that you can e-mail a message to a group of people by inserting a single entry in the message form's To field.
You can take advantage of Word's mail merge feature to print form letters, envelopes, or labels using selected items from your Contacts folder.