MCR Online Rating:

	Word 97
	By: Microsoft

Word 97 is a solid word processing application that has taken the best from earlier Word versions and built upon those features while adding more. While reviewing Word 97, MCR Online discovered so many powerful features that we needed to limit our review to new features so it doesn't become too lengthy to post or read. We have listed some of the main features found in Word 97 and offer a brief explanation of what they do. Instead of trying to explain how Word 97 works, we can inform you of what it offers and make the statement that ease of use, power, and user friendliness seem to be the base ingredients found in the design of this program.

While exploring Word 97 we used two books as reference material. One was entitled "Step by Step Microsoft Word 97" and the other "Word At a Glance". These books are written and distributed by Microsoft Press. We found the books to be informative and helpful as they outline many features of Word 97 and by providing lessons written to guide you through various activities "step by step". Although Word 97 is very user friendly, we found that the books could be helpful to users who may not be aware of various shortcuts and features that exist within the program.

The following are some of the features and capabilities found in Word 97.

• HTML Format - You can now save any Word document to HTML format for posting on to the Internet.
• Web Page Wizard - Give you step-by-step assistance with content and design to create Web pages.
• Auto Hyperlinks - Creates a live link to a file or site automatically when you type e-mail address, URL address, or UNC path.
• Online Layout View - Word 97 offers a new online layout view that is optimized for online screen reading. What works best for reading physical printed pages is often different from what is best for reading online. This new view restricts the column width to display an average of 66 characters per line. Research shows that optimal line width for legibility is approximately 60 to 70 characters per line. The fixed column width also aids online authoring since it guarantees a constant line width across various displays and platforms. Font size is scaled to at least 12 points to make documents more readable.
• Web Toolbar - Add the web toolbar to Word 97 allowing you access to navigational and searching tools.
• Document Versions - A feature that allows users to maintain and track a working history of changes made to a document. You can save versions of a document manually or by using the "Versions" command. Word 97 keeps track of each version by the date and time it was saved so you can compare one version with another.
• Portable Documents - In the past, when a user opened an existing document on a different machine, the layout and font of the document could be different. Word 97 maps the layout to a virtual device instead of the printer a user is connected to so the document will always look the same no matter which machine it is opened on.
• Letter Wizard - Structures the layout of your letter and inserts dates and addresses automatically.
• Address Book Integration - Word 97 integrates seamlessly with Outlook 97 allowing you to store all contact information into one file and have it available for use in multiple programs. A drop-down menu displays the most recently used names and addresses and will automatically fill in the information if a user re-selects the name again.
• AutoComplete - Start typing in text and Word 97 will automatically complete the word by pressing the ENTER key replacing the partially typed word with the completed word.

• Enhanced AutoCorrect - Corrects common multiple-word typographical and grammatical errors, fixes capitalization mistakes, and creates handy shortcuts for often-used text and graphics. For example, type in the initials to your name and have your full name appear in your document along with your address, telephone number, etc. This feature saves you a ton of keystrokes for often entered information.

• AutoSummarize - Analyzes a document statistically and linguistically to determine the most important sentences and creates an instant summary based on this analysis. You can specify a percentage of the original document's length or a certain number of words be selected for the document summarization. This also works with e-mail messages when you use Word as your e-mail editor. Not particularly useful to us but some readers may really desire this feature.
• AutoFormat - You can automatically format documents, headings, lists, bulleted lists, and other paragraphs. You can also select options to replace straight quotes with smart quotes, ordinals with superscript, fractions with the fraction character, symbol characters, and internet and network paths with hyperlinks.
• Thesaurus - Hotkey (shift + F7) will automatically bring up the thesaurus to find a word with a similar meaning.
• Grammar Check - Natural language grammar check proofreads your document for grammatical errors as you type. It displays possible corrections with a click of the right mouse button.
• Spell It - Spell checking now has enhanced editing tools. In addition to see the familiar red underline on words that are misspelled, you can simply right click on a misspelled word and instantly possible corrections from the dictionary. The spelling dictionary now contains additions of personal names of varying ethnicity, company names, all country names and names of U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more, new words that describe industry and economic conditions (such as reengineering, downsizing, etc.), and computer-related terms.
• Table Drawing Tool - Enables you to draw custom tables with an on-screen pencil and eraser to fit any data, defining the sizes and shapes of columns, rows, and individual cells.
• OfficeArt - Drawing tools that are shared across all Office 97 applications that offer 3-D effects, shadows, multicolored fills, textures, and curves.
• Clip Art - Select from approximately 3,000 clip-art images within Word 97 and access an additional 2,000 more images at the Microsoft Web site.
• Document Map - Navigate through your document by dividing your screen into two panes. With your document to the right create a hyperlinked document outline on the left. One click on the hyperlink takes you to the corresponding section in your document.
• Comments - Word 97 lets you insert and add comments to any desired spot within documents without changing the original text. The comments are there for your viewing pleasure and assistance. When viewing a document, you can select whether or not you want the comments to be visible in the document.
• Visual Basic - Provides a common programming language to build custom solutions with Microsoft's Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.
• Office Assistant - Office Assistant offers a single way to access information and eliminates the need to learn multiple Help and utility features. Similar to the answer wizard, users only need to type in the question they are wondering about and the Assistant will find the answer for you and walk you through the steps necessary to complete the task.
• IntelliMouse Integration - Navigate around your document more easily using Microsoft's IntelliMouse. You can now scroll your document automatically.
• Ruler Screen Tips - Tips now appear for tab stops, indent, column, and table adjusters which makes it easier to manage the layout of a document.
• Smart Disabling of Character Formatting - If you select text and apply formatting, such as bold or italics by clicking on the Bold or Italics toolbar button, Word 97 will now automatically turn off the formatting once you click outside the selected text.
• Textbox Replacements - Textboxes now replace the frames that were used in older versions. (Note - frame information is still maintained in Word 97 from older documents). The advantage to this is that textboxes are implemented as drawing objects in OfficeArt. Therefore they have all the capabilities of OfficeArt allowing shadows, 3-D effects, fills, backgrounds, rotation, sizing, and cropping.
• Blinking Text - Blinking and other popular text animation can now be added to your documents to draw attention to specific ideas.
• Text Wrapping - Word 97 offers greater flexibility in laying out documents and wrapping text around objects allowing text to be wrapped around any shape or picture. The distance from the picture to the text can be controlled by adjusting the top, bottom, left, and right text boundaries.
• Linked Text Boxes - Users can now link several textboxes for a continuous story flow across multiple pages when creating newsletters where the article will continue on a different page. When entering text into a linked textbox the text additions, deletions, etc. will automatically flow and readjust themselves in each separate textbox treating multiple text boxes as one large one.

By now it should be easy for anyone to see that beside the common features like cut, copy, paste, find, replace, and a whole host of other features we now take for granted, Microsoft has far supassed those expectations and defined the meaning of true word processing. In addition they have done this in a manner that is easy for any user to learn.

System Requirements:

Windows

• IBM PC and 100% Compatible
• 486 /SX33 or higher processor
• 8 MB of RAM for Windows 95, 16 MB for Windows NT
• Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51 or higher
• 20-60 MB Hard drive space depending on installation configuration
• CD-ROM drive, Microsoft compatible Mouse, Keyboard
• 640x480 @ 256 colors
• Modem (optional unless using WordMail)
• Windows compatible sound card (optional unless desired for multimedia effects)

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