Microsoft Office Standard 2010 or 2013?

Posted by DenverAl-Anon

on 12 Jun 2013 12:31 PM

I am the office coordinator for a small nonprofit with only two computers (sharing a network) in the office. I have been using Microsoft Office 2003 for years, with a converter program downloaded from Microsoft.com to handle docx and xlsx formatted documents and spreadsheets that my version of Word and Excel can't read without conversion.

I am now considering getting Office Standard 2010 or 2013. I haven't used either before, so I'm not really familiar with the ribbon interface and how to use it. However, I'm willing to learn if it's worth it. So does any recommend that I upgrade (or does anyone recommend that I don't upgrade), and if you think I should, would your suggest 2010 or 2013.

I definitely don't need the Professional version of Office. Word, Excel, Publisher, and occasionally PowerPoint, are the only programs in Office I am currently using, and the only ones I really need. I am also using Windows 7 Professional as my operating system.

I welcome your input. I'm hoping to make a decision about this before the end of June 2013.

Thanks!

Cheryl

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Posted by dleichter

on 17 Jun 2013 7:42 PM

Hi, I am the "IT Department" for a school, and we have about 10 computers. We really only use Word and Excel, so I can't say much about any of the other programs included in the Suite.

The largest adjustment for me was switching from Office 2003 to 2007. The ribbon interface takes some getting used to, but once you get used to it you'll like it. For example, we make a lot of graphs in Excel, and I find formatting them to be much easier. The same goes for editing tables in Word. Everything is right there, without having to click through a bunch of menus.

It seems to me, that there is not as much of a learning curve going from 2007 to 2010 or 2013 (which I am slowly switching all of our computers over to).

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Posted by Discover_the_delta

on 25 Jun 2013 2:15 PM

Hi Cheryl,

I would definitely upgrade. It took me about three hours to figure out the ribbon interface and how to use it. Each upgrade adds more convenient options and makes your programs run more efficiently making the time faster to accomplish the same goals. They also have shortcuts where you only have to use one or two options where it used to take me four or five. It is well worth it to keep upgrading every two years or so. I just went from Office 2007 to 2010.

Bev

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Microsoft Office Standard 2010 or 2013?

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