Smart Art

One of the things the new XML-based file format has helped is the revamp of SmartArt. SmartArt is Word's word-based charting tool, which was available in Word 2003 and earlier versions, but has been expanded in scope and variety in Word 2007. It's ideal for most kinds of chart, but particularly strong at list-based and hierarchical ones.

As well as a wider range of chart types, including process, cycle, relationship and matrix, the elements of the charts can be given more exciting and modern styles, from the SmartArt Tools, Format Ribbon and the fonts themselves can take on 30 different designs. Because all these parameters can be set out as text descriptions within the various XML files which make up a .docx document, there's a lot more scope for flexible page design.

If you're an existing Word owner, you're bound to have a large collection of existing .doc files, and Word 2007 has no trouble in opening and editing these, in Compatibility Mode. The program switches to this mode automatically, whenever you open an older-format document. It's also possible to convert these files into .docx files. There's an option in the Office button menu for direct conversion, and you'll then be able to take advantage of the flexibility of the new format.

If you're exchanging files with people running Word 2003 and earlier, you can either run Word 2007 in Compatibility Mode, using .doc documents, or they can download and install Microsoft's Compatibility Pack, which enables older versions of the word processor to work with the new file format.

There's no doubt Word 2007 is quite a departure from previous versions, not just in the introduction of the Ribbon, but in its use of an XML-based file structure. This should make files easier to maintain, though, and for anybody with the nerve to probe a bit deeper into them, make them more flexible and open.

Whatever you think of the adoption of Microsoft's .docx format as an international standard, it should make the format of most of our documents even wider spread than before. It could also make files more secure, more robust and smaller, so it's hard to take a stance against the new format. Run the videos that accompany this feature to find out still more about its ease-of-use and improvements to common word processing tasks.

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