The Ribbon

• Past versions of word had a tool bar at the top of the document window. In Word 2007, at the upper left-hand side of the screen, a colorful "Office Button" replaces the old "File" command and the "Ribbon" takes the place of the tool bar. The Ribbon is a series of tabs across the top of your screen. Clicking a tab opens that portion of the ribbon. If you want to set the page margins, for example, click the "Page Layout" tab, which opens the portion of the ribbon that shows sections such as "Page Background" and "Page Setup," which contain sets of icons pertaining to commands like "Page Color" and "Margins," respectively. Word 2007 gives you an option to style the Ribbon with your most-used commands, removing those you don't use. The only remnant of the old tool bar is the "Quick Access" tool bar, which is a tiny, customizable series of icons -- "Save," "Repeat Typing" and "Undo Typing" by default -- next to the "Office Button."
  
  

File Extensions

• Before Word 2007, Word documents automatically saved with a ".doc" extension. Word 2007 introduces the ".docx" extension, with the "x" meaning that the file contains the XML programming language, which is more stable and compact than the previous binary data-encoded files. The other new Word 2007 extensions are ".docm" -- documents containing macros -- and ".dotx" and ".dotm," which are template files without and with macros. You can still open ".doc" files with Word 2007, and if you create a file in Word 2007 that you intend to send to someone who has an earlier version of Word, you can use the "Save As" command to save your Word 2007 document in ".doc" format.
  
  

Time-Saving Features

• Word 2007's new features help streamline document creation.Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
  
  A few new features in Word 2007 help you save time with creating and formatting documents. "Office Themes" contain preset fonts, colors and graphics. "Building Blocks" let you save graphics you create, such as your company name in a distinctive font and color, for frequent use. In past versions of Word, if you wanted to see how a different font would appear on screen, you had to make the change and then view it, pressing "Undo" if you didn't like it. Word 2007's "Live Preview" lets you scroll through options and view them immediately on the screen before you select one you like. Enhanced document-sharing features let you and designated co-editors make and view changes more easily and securely.
  
  

Retired Features

• If some of the features you are used to seeing in Word seem to have disappeared, you are not imagining it. Among the commands that were replaced, updated and renamed, or removed are wizards, frames, animated characters, the office assistant -- also known as "Clippy" -- WordPerfect help, and the commands "AutoFormat," "Close All," "File Search," "Save All" and "Save As Web Page."