New page layout in Office 2008

[Michelle]

I haven't yet purchased Office 2008, but I likely will in the future. I do
have a question about the new features in Word that allow page layout.

At work, I use Microsoft Publisher for Windows to create our school
newsletters. How close to this program does the new page-layout feature
come? Is it even close? It would be terrific if there was an export format
that would allow it to be opened by Window's Publisher, but I'm sure there's
not.

Anyway, this new layout view is one of the most intriguing features of 2008
and one of the main components that is drawing me to purchase it. I'd like
to hear of other's impressions of it.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Michelle,

don't expect miracles from the new publishing layout view. It is very nice
indeed and allows you to create flyers and other layout-heavy documents very
easily. I haven't played around with it that much, though, and a number of
online reviews say that this new view still falls behind Pages' offerings,
which is what I normally use for documents like this. Anyway, give it a try
once you buy Office 2008 to see for yourself.

As for Publisher compatibility: you cannot export to Publisher, your
document will remain a Word document. The advantage to that method is that
your document will remain editable in earlier versions of Word (and in
Windows versions of Word). As such, remember that this is, by all means, a
Word document, so all the tools you will have at your disposition are the
tools that can be found in Word. It should be noted that the range of tools
and formatting features has received an update in Word 2008, partly due to
the new graphics engine that drives Word.

I haven't yet purchased Office 2008, but I likely will in the future. I do
have a question about the new features in Word that allow page layout.

At work, I use Microsoft Publisher for Windows to create our school
newsletters. How close to this program does the new page-layout feature
come? Is it even close? It would be terrific if there was an export format
that would allow it to be opened by Window's Publisher, but I'm sure there's
not.

Anyway, this new layout view is one of the most intriguing features of 2008
and one of the main components that is drawing me to purchase it. I'd like
to hear of other's impressions of it.

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***

 

[Beth Rosengard]

To add to what Michel said ... Do you live anywhere near an Apple Store?
They will undoubtedly have Office 2008 loaded on at least some of their demo
machines and you could try it out. Or maybe a friend has it?

Also possible: There should be an Office 2008 "test drive" sooner or later.
If you're not in too much of a hurry, you could wait for that and try it on
your own machine.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/Mac/WordMacHome.html>
My Site: <http://www.bethrosengard.com>

 

[Michelle]

Thanks. The only Apple Store anywhere near is over an hour away. Not that
bad of a drive, but an area that I generally never go. I may have to make a
trip sometime though.

I'll keep my eyes open for the test drive though. I was gladd to see
another's comment that I can keep 2004 & 2008 both on my Mac and continue
using the old while enjoying the features of the new.