Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I think I hate Word 2007

I'm sitting in Paul Mueller's session on how to automate Word. He's using Word 2003, a design that hs essentially endured the ages. Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom (as many of you probably know), revamped the UI of Office applications for the 2007 release, getting rid of menus and adding something they call a ribbon.

Paul's talking abut using field codes for numbering, long a much, much better alternative to Word's autonumbering feature. Used to be, you'd go to the Insert menu and select Field Code.

Now?

Well first, there's no menu.

So I open the help system. Takes me a bit: I finally figure out it's by clicking on the very small question mark icon tucked in the upper-right corner. I search for "insert field code." Here are the search results, in order:

Field codes: UserName field
Field codes: Date field
Field codes: UserInitials field
Field codes: ListItem field
Field codes: FileName field
Field codes: Title field
Field codes: Sections field
Field codes: Advance field
Field codes: MacroButton field

Field codes: DocProperty field
Field codes: Template field
Field codes: Quote field
Field codes: SectionPages field
Field codes: CreateDate field
Field codes: Comments field
Field codes: FileSize field
Field codes: Embed field

Field codes" NoteRaf field
Field codes: Symbol field
Insert and format field codes in Word

Wow! the 20th item in the search results, two pages down, the only title with all of the search terms in the title.

Is there something wrong with Word's sedarch algorithm? From this limited evidence, I'd say so.

But wait, as they say on the late-night informaercials, there's more! Here's how to insert a field code (note, you don't start with an Insert menu):

On the Insert tab (OK, that's not so bad), in the Text group (huh?), click Quick Parts (huh???), and then click Field.

"Quick Parts"????? Where in bloody blazes did someone come up with that term? How is that anything approaching intuitive?

The irony is that the dialog box that comes up is essentially unganged from past versions.

The Quick Part button is actually a menu that has the following commands:

Document Property > (leads to s submenu, and is unavailable)
Field
--------------------------
Building Block Organizer...
Get More on Office Online...
Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery... (unavailable)

Again: huh?

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