If you are into Office 2007, you might not know it, but The New Paperclip is not your only option (if you thought it was, I am very flattered though!).  There are plenty of quality resources out there that you can leverage to make you far more productive using Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook or the rest of the suite.

Here are a few places you should look…

Number 1: Alltop’s Top Microsoft Office News – [http://microsoft-office.alltop.com/]

This is a great resource if you want to keep your finger on the pulse of everything happening with Microsoft Office.  This one page displays all the news from 30 or so of the web’s leading Microsoft Office sites, which means you can quickly get up to speed on exactly what the ‘blogosphere’ is thinking about when it comes to Office.

You can also read the latest AllTop Microsoft Office news simply by watching out for the AllTop section to the right of this article – it gets updated every hour!

Number 2: Inside Office Online – [http://blogs.msdn.com/inside_office_online/]

This blog is run by the folks who run Microsoft’s own Office help site – Office Online.  Great to get their perspective on what new and exciting things are happening in the world of Microsoft Office.

Number 3: The blogs of all the Office teams at Microsoft

There is nothing better than getting it from the horse’s mouth right!  These blogs are run by the folk who actually build the products in Office, so they are filled with interesting stories, tips, and tricks that will help you become more productive with Office 2007

• The PowerPoint Team Blog
• The Word Team Blog
• The Outlook Team Blog
• The Excel Team Blog
• The Project Team Blog
• The Groove Team Blog
• The Access Team Blog
• The InfoPath Team Blog
• The OneNote Team Blog (well one of the team anyways!)
• The Visio Team Blog

There are literally hundreds of other resources out there that you could find, and the ones I have listed in this article would be a great place to start… well, of course after you have read all the articles on The New Paperclip!

‘till next time!
TNP

Related posts:

1. Office 2007 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM)
2. I have a friend on the inside…
3. The New Paperclip recognised as the best by Alltop.com!

What does that mean?  If you have any question at all about Office 2007, whether it is Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access or even SharePoint Designer… you now have a place where you can look for answers.

I will be there frequently, and we will be able to draw on the collective knowledge of the community to get your question answered!

Here are the links to each of the forums:

• Word 2007 Forum
• Outlook 2007 Forum
• Excel 2007 Forum
• PowerPoint 2007 Forum
• Access 2007 Forum
• Groove 2007 Forum
• InfoPath 2007 Forum
• OneNote 2007 Forum
• Project 2007 Forum
• Publisher 2007 Forum
• SharePoint Designer 2007 Forum
• Visio 2007 Forum

So there you have it – the quick and easy way to get your Office 2007 question answered!  See you on the forums!

‘till next time!
TNP

Related posts:

1. Do you have Office 2007 Questions? Get the answers at The New Paperclip forums – now ONLINE!
2. The New Paperclip… Coming Soon!
3. Do you want to try Office 2007 without having to download the trial versions?

All you need to do is register using this form

Register today and you will receive a free copy of my e-book “Your 10 minute guide to getting up to speed with Microsoft Office 2007″

’till next time!
TNP

Related posts:

1. Do you want to try Office 2007 without having to download the trial versions?
2. Welcome to 2007: T-23 days until Office 2007 is available
3. Deploying Office 2007 in the Enterprise

On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of November, a group of Aussie Office fanatics are putting together a conference called Office DevCon2008.  From what is on the agenda it looks like a great event for anyone involved in managing Office products in their workplace, or for those interested in getting a little more intimate with the Office 2007 suite, SharePoint and more.

Registration is free… and there might be sneak previews of Office 14 as well!

If you are in Sydney in mid November, make sure you check it out.  You never know, you might bump into yours truly there as well

You can find out more by visiting the Office DevCon 2008 website

’till next time!
TNP

Related posts:

1. Do you have Office 2007 Questions? Get the answers at The New Paperclip forums – now ONLINE!
2. Office 2007 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM)
3. Deploying Office 2007 in the Enterprise

Well – instead of helping everyone else all the time, how about you take some time to invest in yourself – and get a credential that proves your worth to your organisation!

You want to become a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (or MCAS).

What is a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist?  Someone who knows their stuff – that’s what!  Basically it means that possess the right skills and expertise to shine when using one of the Microsoft Office 2007 programs.

There is a different exam for each program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access).. and you don’t have to do all of them! – Say you are just the best at PowerPoint and want to show that on your resume… then just do the PowerPoint 2007 exam.  Simple!

If you are interested, here is a quick list of the exams that you could take:

• 77-601: MCAS: Using Microsoft Office Word 2007
• 77-602: MCAS: Using Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• 77-603: MCAS: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• 77-604: MCAS: Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• 77-605: MCAS: Using Microsoft Office Access 2007

What kind of things do you need to know?

Here is a quick look at the topics covered in the Word 2007 exam:

• Creating and customising documents
• Formatting content
• Working with visual content
• Organising content
• Reviewing documents
• Sharing and securing content

To learn more about the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist, and what could be on the other Office 2007 exams – visit http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/msbc/requirements/default.mspx

And if you are studying for any of the exams – make sure you take a look through the rest of this site (www.TheNewPaperclip.com – just in case you didn’t know)… as you might learn a thing or two that will be handy in your exam!

’till next time!
TNP

Related posts:

1. Office 2007 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM)
2. All the top Office 2007 Resources…
3. Office 2007 Forum – get your Office 2007 question answered!

Guess what – you might be already!

Microsoft have released an extra section on Microsoft Office Online called Lighten up: Reduce your carbon footprint and workplace costs.

Obviously they left one tip for reducing your impact on the environment… instead of investing in all those Office 2007 self help books, why not just bookmark your favourite Office 2007 help, tips, tricks and tutorial site!

’till next time!

TNP

Related posts:

1. Download the 2007 Office Resource Kit
2. Do you want to try Office 2007 without having to download the trial versions?
3. Deploying Office 2007 in the Enterprise

One of them is Alistair Speirs, a Office Technology Specialst at Microsoft Australia.  If you want to dive deep into everything office (beyond the tutorials from yours truely!) then you should check out his blog…

http://blogs.msdn.com/alspeirs/

Check out some of his posts on Business Desktop Deployment, Enterprise Search, Office Busines Applications, OpenXML, and one he stole from me… Random text in Word

TNP and Alistair go way back… he knows his stuff!

’till next time!
TNP

Related posts:

1. Deploying Office 2007 in the Enterprise
2. Download the 2007 Office Resource Kit
3. Reduce your carbon footprint with Microsoft Office 2007

First step is to visit the 2007 Microsoft Office System Plan and Deploy with Confidence site.  This site includes Webcasts (from level 100 through to 400), Virtual Labs, and Podcasts to help you get you complete your deployment successfully.

Secondly, check out some of the articles on deployment from media outlets such as Computerworld.  These start to give you a real world perspective on the types of issues you might face during your deployment.

Thirdly, if you are ready to go now, check out articles from experts in the community, just like Aaron Parker’s post on Deploying Office 2007 with Group Policy Startup Scripts.

Finally, once your deployment is complete, make sure you let everyone in your organisation know about Thenewpaperclip.com – so they can get up to speed quickly with the new features of Office 2007!  Remember… the key to a successful deployment is not the deployment itself, but the training and adoption that takes place afterwards.

’till next time,
TNP

Related posts:

1. Download the 2007 Office Resource Kit
2. Do you have Office 2007 Questions? Get the answers at The New Paperclip forums – now ONLINE!
3. Office 2007 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM)

There are four different titles available, Planning and architecture for the 2007 Office release, Deployment for the 2007 Office release, Security for the 2007 Office release, and Technical reference for the 2007 Office Release

You can download each of them from the Microsoft Office System site on Technet

Related posts:

1. Deploying Office 2007 in the Enterprise
2. Do you want to try Office 2007 without having to download the trial versions?
3. Office 2007 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM)

Do you have questions about Word 2007, Excel 2007 or Outlook 2007, but don’t know who to ask?  Are you stumped by something in Access 2007, OneNote 2007, or Visio 2007?  Do you know what to do with SharePoint Designer 2007, Publisher 2007, Groove 2007 or Communicator 2007?

If you have answered yes to any of those – you need to start asking your Office 2007 questions at The New Paperclip forums – http://forums.thenewpaperclip.com.

Not only are their forums for all the desktop programs that are in Office, there are also forums for the server programs that make up the Microsoft Office System – SharePoint Server (MOSS), Performance Point Server, Project Server and Groove Server. 

I will be on hand when I can to answer your questions – and most importantly members of the community will also be there to help out.

I look forward to answering all your questions in the near future – start posting them today! http://forums.thenewpaperclip.com!

’till next time,

TNP

Related posts:

1. Office 2007 Forum – get your Office 2007 question answered!
2. The New Paperclip… Coming Soon!
3. Office 2007 has been Released to Manufacturing (RTM)