FAQs: Microsoft Office 2010 What's new in Office 2010? When you first open Microsoft Office Word 2010, Office Excel 2010 and Office PowerPoint 2010, you may be surprised by the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface, first introduced in Office 2007. You'll see a lot that's familiar, such as your Word document, Excel worksheet and PowerPoint slide, but you'll also notice a new look at the top of the window. The old look with menus and toolbars has been replaced by the Ribbon at the top of the window. The Ribbon contains tabs that you click to get to the commands you already know how to use. With a little time and exposure, you'll find that the Ribbon works for you, not against you. In fact, the Ribbon was developed in response to what Office users — possibly you — have asked for: programs that are simpler to use, with commands that are easier to find. Explore the new look and features of Microsoft Office with this video, Cool things you can do with Office 2010. What are the new Office 2010 file formats? Documents, templates, workbooks, and presentations that you create in the 2010 Office release are saved with new file‐name extensions with an “x” or an “m.” For example, when you save a document in Word, the file now uses the .docx extension, instead of the .doc extension. Fordham IT 1 The following tables list the file extensions in Office Word 2010, Office Excel 2010, and Office PowerPoint 2010: Word File Format Excel File Formats PowerPoint File Formats More about Office 2010 file formats on the Microsoft website Fordham IT 2 Will I be able to open files created in previous versions of Office? You can open and work on a file that was created in an earlier version of Office, and then save it in its original format. To prevent introduction of features in the 2010 Office release, Office programs use a compatibility checker that reports those features to you and then you can remove them before continuing with the save. Will people using older versions of Office be able to open my Office 2010 files? People using versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint can open 2010 files by downloading file converters. On the computer with an earlier version of Office (prior to Office 2007), download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2010 Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint File Formats. By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2010. Are Office 2010 and the compatibility pack available for Apple Mac users? The Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0 allows you to convert Open XML files that were created in Office 2008 for Mac so that you can open, edit, and save them in earlier versions of Office for Mac. Open XML Converter can convert Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations that are in the Open XML Format so that you can open and edit the files in Office 2004 for Mac and Office v. X for Mac. You can choose to convert and open one file, or convert a large number of files. For additional information, help, how-to and training, visit Microsoft.com. Please check Fordham University’s training registration site for Microsoft Office 2010 workshops. Source: Microsoft.com Fordham IT 3 .