Dear College of Education user,

As you may have heard, Microsoft Office 2007 has been released as a replacement for Office 2003 (for Windows PC users).   Many students , along with Purdue home computer users in general, have adopted Office 2007 in recent months.  The Purdue ITaP / TLT and COE computer labs have already upgraded to Office 2007.  Office 2007 is available at no additional cost to Purdue departments under the Purdue Microsoft Campus Agreement.

Your computer may have been recently been upgraded to Office 2007. All documents created in Office 2003 will work with Office 2007. As noted in an earlier email message, Microsoft has released the Office 2007 “Compatibility Pack” which will  enable Office 2003 users to open most documents created in Office 2007.

The Office 2007 interface is quite different from Office 2003 so you might want to obtain some training before you jump in with Office 2007.

TRAINING OPTIONS

There are several training options that we would like to recommend (the first two being the most important initially):

1. Microsoft Online “Up To Speed” Courses [recommended for everyone]
1. We recommend that all COE faculty/staff take, at minimum , the “Up To Speed” course for each Office application you rely on to accomplish your work.  The Up To Speed course is the first course in the list for each Microsoft Office 2007 application.   You can find the Microsoft online courses here:
   
   http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102255331033.aspx
   
   
2. If you have time, take the additional Microsoft online courses for each Office application after you take the “Up To Speed” course.
               
            
2. Reference books
                
1. There are many good books which can be found at local and online book retailers.  Some books you may find include:

   • i. “Teach Yourself VISUALLY Microsoft Office 2007”

   • ii. “Using Microsoft Office”

   • iii. “Office 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies”
                     

3. Purchase Office 2007 for use at home
1. You can purchase Office 2007 at a significantly discounted rate through the Purdue Boiler Copy Center and install it at home on your personally owned computer/laptop.  This will help you learn the new interface at your own pace.  Here's more info about obtaining a personal copy of Office 2007 for your personally owned computer/laptop:
   
   http://www.itap.purdue.edu/shopping/online/software

CONTACT

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Education IT team at edit@purdue.edu .  

Thank you and happy computing !  

Regards,
Your Education IT Team