BasicsWith the release of Microsoft Office 2007, an innovative change that is instantly noticeable is the new Fluent interface.  The core of the Fluent interface is the Ribbon which appears on all of the mainstream Microsoft Office applications.

1. Office Button - The new Office Button replaces the file menu in Microsoft Office 2007.  Through this button you will be able to save/print/create new documents/etc.
2. Quick Access Tool Bar - Every command in the entire Microsoft Word application can be put into this toolbar as a shortcut.  This should only be done for most used commands as otherwise it would get too cluttered.
3. Ribbon - Replaces the entire menu system that was in the previous version of Microsoft Office.  The ribbon was intuitively designed to better organize all of the thousands of features within Microsoft Word.
4. Ribbon Tab Bar - Can basically be seen as the individual menus that appeared in older version of Microsoft Office.  By double clicking on the tabs will allow you to activate the ribbon "auto-hide" feature.  To see the ribbon simply roll-over the ribbon tabs or double click on ribbon tab bar.
5. Clipboard Group -The clipboard is the temporary location of files/text/pictures that get copied from websites or other documents on  your computer
• Click Paste to simply place the text in the document without altering any formatting that is also associated with the clipboard information.  Or you can click the arrow for an option to paste as unformatted text.  This is especially useful for copying information from webpages.
•  Format Painter - this very neat tool allows you to copy the exact formatting of one part of the document and past the formatting onto another section of the document.  Simply highlight the text which has the formatting you want, click Format Painter (the paintbrush icon), then highlight the text that you want formatted.
6. Font Group -Allows you to manipulate the basic text of what you are typing including font/font size/bold/italic/underline as well as minor coloring options.
7. Paragraph Group -this group focuses on the appearance of paragraphs in relation to the layout of the paper.  You are able to set specific indentations and listing styles.
8. Styles Group -Microsoft Word 2007 has predefined styles setup for all documents that are created with it.  By hovering over the different styles you can see how the style will look on your paper through a live preview.  The style is only applied once you click on the specified style.
9. Editing Group -Provides the basic functionality of searching and replacing specific text in a word document
10. Tab Stops - this button provides functionality that is very useful and it is often forgotten.  By setting custom tab stops for a document  you can specify advanced formatting that is usually not accessible through the Paragraph tab group.  To toggle through the tab stops, just click on the button highlighted in the above diagram.  To use the tabs, first set the tab by clicking on the ruler at the top of the document, and then use the Tab button on the keyboard.
    
• Left Tab - Text will appear to the left of the tab stop
• Center Tab -Text will centered in the middle of the tab stop
• Right Tab -Text will appear to the right of the tab stop
• Decimal Tab -Decimal number will be aligned appropriately at this tab stop
• Bar Tab -Does not position text, it simply places a bar at the specified location on the ruler.
• First Line Tab -Controls how the first line of a paragraph is indented
• Hanging Indent Tab -Controls how all except the first for a paragraph are aligned for the document
11. Ruler Toggle - sets the visibility for both the horizontal and vertical rulers
12. Status Bar - The status bar is divided into 2 main sections [which are denoted as 12 & 13 in the diagram above].  You can customize what appears on the status bar by right-clicking the status bar and selecting the various options.
    
• The left side of the status bar can contain numerous miscellaneous buttons for Word Count, Page Number, and various button toggles.
• The right side of the status bar optionally has the zoom bar and quick buttons for the page layouts

Font Dialog
To access this dialog, click on the little pop-out button on the lower right-hand corner of the Font Group in the Home Tab.  Through this window you can set advanced font settings including strikethrough, superscript, subscript, shadow, emboss, and engrave effects.  Through the second tab of this window you are also able to set Kerning and Leading for character alignment for the particular segment of text.

Paragraph Dialog
To access this dialog, click on the little pop-out button on the lower right-hand corner of the Paragraph Group in the Home Tab.  This dialog allows you to set the spacing of the paragraphs as well as the ability to set a hanging indent for a particular paragraph.

Office Button

1. Save  - Provides the most basic way of keeping the information currently stored in the document. 
• The standard filetype for Microsoft Word 2007 is *.docx.  In order for older versions of Office to open these files, be sure to either save as a Word 97-2003 Document or be sure that the compatability pack is installed on the recipients machine.  Please see the related articles for instructions on obtaining the compatability pack.
• Microsoft Word 2007 [as well as the entire Office suite] does not provide native functionality to save as either a *.pdf or *.xps file format.  In order to do so, Microsoft has the following free download to obtain the functionality: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en
2. Print
• Quick Print - When clicked, the document will instantly be sent to the default printer without any more user intervention
• Print - Will allow you to select and alter settings with regards to the specified printer
• Print Preview - Allows you to see what a document will look like before it actually prints. If a document does not appear to be printing an item on the page that it should be, please refer to part 5 of this article series for how to customize print settings.
3. Prepare  - Provides advanced file level access permissions/properites.  You can also inspect a document before it is sent for any personal information that might be hidden in a document before it actually does get sent.
4. Send  - Works with Microsoft Outlook to send the document through either email or fax.
5. Publish  - Allows you to update the document to either a blog or CMS system.
6. Close -  Closes the active document within Microsoft Word
7. Word Options - Brings up the customization dialog which will be discussed in part 5 of this article series.
8. Exit Word - Exits the application

Insert Ribbon

1. Pages Group - Allows you to insert basic types of page breaks/page styles including a preformatted cover page, blank page, and page break.  More advanced page breaks can be found in the Page Layout ribbon
2. Tables Group - Provides the initial insertion of a table into a document.  Once the table is inserted, a new Ribbon Tab Group called Table Tools will be visible.  Through the tabs in this Tab Group, you can manipulate both the layout/design of the table.  This advanced ribbon will be discussed in the last article of this series.
3. Illustrations Group - This group is composed of all of what were previously called Drawing Tools in previous versions of Microsoft Office.
• Picture/ClipArt - Allows you to insert a picture locally stored on your computer or LAN.  ClipArt allows you to insert images that are already provided by the Microsoft Word software. Once the picture/clip art is inserted, a new Ribbon Tab Group called Picture Tools will be visible.  In the Format Tab of the new ribbon group, you can manipulate both the the overall appearance of the image.
• Shapes - Microsoft Word provides nearly 100 predefined shapes that you are able to draw on your documents.  Once the drawn object is inserted, a new Ribbon Tab Group called Drawing Tools will be visible.  In the Format Tab of the new ribbon group, you can manipulate both the the overall appearance of the drawn object. Smart Art -  Smart Art is an extremely easy diagramming solution for presentations and hard to understand concepts.  You select how you want the information organized and then Smart Art does the rest.  Once the Smart Art is inserted, a new Ribbon Tab Group called Smart Art Tools will be visible.  Through the tabs in this Tab Group, you can manipulate both the layout/design of the Smart Art.  This advanced ribbon will be discussed in the last article of this series.
• Chart - With this feature, the functionality of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel basically merge.  As far as charts are concerned, you will see all the settings that you would in ExcelOnce the table is inserted, a new Ribbon Tab Group called Chart Tools will be visible.  Through the tabs in this Tab Group, you can manipulate both the design/format of the Chart.  This advanced ribbon will be discussed in the last article of this series.
4. Links Group
• Hyperlink - Allows you to add a hyperlink to the selected to text to a particular file or website
• Bookmark - allow you to link sections of a document.  You can have select text when clicked go to the specified bookmark
• Cross-Reference - Fine tunes the ability of bookmarks so that you can link to page numbers and paragraphs instead of just bookmarks.
5. Header & Footer Group - All of these buttons provide a simple, easy to use approach to headers and footers.  They will all take you to the same thing in the end.  Once you click any of the buttons you will be able to see the Ribbon Tab Group called Header & Footer Tools and its single tab Design.  This advanced ribbon will be discussed in the final article of the series.
6. Text Group - This is a quick group of miscellaneous tools that were often used in previous Microsoft Word versions.  You are able to create a Text Box, Word Art, Date Time Fields, etc in this Tab Group.
7. Symbols Group - Microsoft Word 2007 provides a robust symbols and equations features.  By clicking Symbol you will be able to select symbols to put in the document that you normally cannot type with a keyboard.  By clicking Equation you will be able to add math problems to your documents, this button will make the Ribbon Tab Group Equation Tools Design tab visible. 

Page Layout Ribbon

1. Themes Group - Provides numerous buttons for changing the style for the entire document.  By rolling over the individual styles after clicking the button you will be able to see a 'live preview' before the style gets applied.
2. Page Setup Group -  Provides easy access to all of the configurable settings for page layout such as margins, orientation, line numbering and columns.
3. Page Background Group -   Allows you to apply watermarks to the entire document as well as allows you to add color to the entire page. 
4. Paragraph Group - this group focuses on the appearance of paragraphs in relation to the layout of the paper.  You are able to set specific indentations and listing styles.
5. Arrange Group - allows you to set visibility options for the objects in a document.  Lets you set which objects should appear in front of other objects.

View Ribbon

1. Document Views Group - Their are a total of 5 different page views within Microsoft Word 2007.  All of which have different purposes.  Print Layout is the most commonly used view.
2. Show/Hide Group - Allows you to set settings for visibility of options that will assist with placement of graphics on a document.
3. Zoom Group - Has various buttons that are preconfigured to set zoom levels.
4. Window Group - This group will allow you to automatically configure multiple Microsoft Word document windows on your desktop.
• Synchronize Scrolling -  for two documents that are side by side, you are able to make the scrolling of one document affect both documents
5. Macros Group - allows you to prommatically alter aspects of a Microsoft Word document