What’s new in Office 2013

The first thing you’ll see when you open Microsoft Office is a clean, new look. But the features you know and use are still there—along with some new ones that are huge time savers. The new Office also works with smartphones, tablets, and in the cloud, even on PCs that don’t have Office installed. So now you can always get to your important files, no matter where you are or what you’re using.

Sign-in for Office where you need it

·        Use your Microsoft account to install Office

·        Stream your Office programs to another computer

·        Save files to OneDrive for easy access and sharing

·        Keep your personal settings wherever you are

Save and share files in the cloud

The cloud is like file storage in the sky. You can get to it anytime you’re online. Now it’s easy to save your Office files to your own OneDrive or your organization’s site. From there you can access and share your Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and other Office files. You can even work together with your colleagues on the same file at the same time.

Shared meetings

Join online meetings and share PowerPoint slides, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and OneNote notes. Meeting attendees can see the files, even if they don’t have Office installed.

Improved Save As and Open

No more browsing and scrolling in dialog boxes. Your most-used folders are right there from the start. You can also pin a location so it’s always available.

Easier file sharing

Now there’s one place in your Office programs, File > Share, that puts together all your options for sharing your files with others.

OUTLOOK 2013

Microsoft has always focused on simple user interfaces in its office suite, but the new Outlook looks even simpler yet lavishly elegant. There are no fancy colours here and there, and the whole interface is carved out of the white background from top to bottom, the only exception being the status bar, which is blue. Folders change more fluidly and are more dynamic with the folder pane looking sleeker, as the folder items have been moved to the bottom and are shown from left to right.

Backstage view

The backstage view has changed in appearance and allows you to control all your email accounts through one window. There is now a back button at the top to return to the Outlook user interface. The Info tab has been moved to the top of the pane now. This view is accessed by selecting the File menu.

Exchange ActiveSync Support

Connect Outlook with Exchange ActiveSync, to receive push-based email, appointments, and contacts via email servers and services.

Change the order of folders in the Folder Pane

A new feature in Outlook 2013 enables you to rearrange the folders you create in the Folder Pane (formerly called the Navigation Pane.) In the Folder Pane, drag the folder to a new location in the folder list. Search Folders can’t be moved and are the last set of folders for an account.

Tip: You can also add folders to the Favourites section which appears at the top of the Folder Pane.

Folder Pane and the Peek feature

The Folder Pane and the Peek feature provide quick and convenient ways to open your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. One of the new features is the ability to peek at the details of the other Outlook objects such as Calendar, Tasks and Email.

In order to peek at the Calendar while you are in the Inbox, place your mouse over Calendar on the Navigation Pane and the preview of the Calendar will appear with any appointments scheduled for the current day. The preview will stay until you move your mouse away from the peek window.

You can also dock the Peek window so it stays permanently visible on the right hand side of the screen like it would appear on the To Do Bar. At the top right hand side of the Peek window, click on the window icon as highlighted.

Social Connectors

Get the very latest updates automatically from people in the social networks you rely on most—LinkedIn, Facebook, and others.

When you open an email in Outlook, the Outlook Social Connector is minimized as a single line at the bottom of the Reading Pane. To expand it, click the arrow or drag the top of the minimized pane up until it's the size that you want.

If you cannot see the Reading Pane or People Pane do the following:

·        Turn on the Reading Pane Click View>Reading Pane, and then click Right or Bottom.

·        Turn on the People Pane Click View>People Pane, and then click Normal or Minimize.

·        Make sure your organisation lets you connect to the Internet. Some organisations don’t allow access to social networking sites outside of their intranet. Contact your network administrator for more information.

If you use Outlook and SharePoint at work, you can see contacts in your organization. If you have an account on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can also use the Outlook Social Connector to view updates from those sites without having to leave Outlook.

1.      Click View>People Pane>Account Settings.

2.      Check the boxes next to the social networking accounts you want to link with, and add the appropriate information, such as user names and passwords.

3.      Click Connect>Finish.

 To connect to more than Facebook and LinkedIn, you’ll have to download and install a provider add-in for each site you want to use. These add-ins don't come from Microsoft, so go to the social network sites you use to find out if they support the Outlook Social Connector. Once you have done this you go to the People pane and click the link ‘Connect to your online social networks’.