Microsoft Office 12 Screenshots and Information

Advertisement (Why?)

Microsoft today released screenshots and information at PDC 2005 on its future plans for Office.

The whole UI for Office 12 has been overhauled. The main user experience is codenamed "ribbon" and will provide the central place for users to author documents they're currently working on. Microsoft are removing the stack of task panes and menus/toolbars to look through, instead giving the user one place to look for commands.

A new feature named "galleries" gives users a visual representation of the kinds of formatting choices they can make in their documents. The galleries also offer “live previews” in many instances, so you can see exactly what the document is going to look like before you make the choice, which makes it easier to experiment and change content.

A feature code-named “Super Tooltips” integrates Help topics into the product in a new way.Super Tooltips are integrated Help tips that provide quick access to information about a command directly from the command’s location in the ribbon. The tooltip itself will usually give you enough information about what that feature does so that you can use it.

Another feature is the “Quick Launch Toolbar,” which allows you to customize the UI by adding as many commands as you like to a toolbar. It’s a place where the user can collect the specific set of commands they use frequently.

Office 12 is expected to enter into beta by the end of the year with a release along side Vista in late 2006.

Screenshot: Microsoft Word 12

Screenshot: Microsoft Office Powerpoint 12

Screenshot: Microsoft Excel 12

Screenshot: Microsoft Access 12

Windows Vista Starter Edition

Only sold in emerging markets
Very feature limited
Only 3 simultaneous applications running

Windows Vista Home Basic Edition

Equivalent to XP Home
Includes firewall, parental controls, Security Center, Movie Maker, Photo Library and more
For first time buyer / budget conscious

Windows Vista Home Premium Edition

Everything from Vista Home Basic
Adds DVD video authoring, HDTV support, DVD ripping support
Similar to current XP Media Center edition but with added features

Windows Vista Professional Edition

Aimed at the business consumer
Can join domain, has IIS web server
Akin to XP Pro

Windows Vista Small Business Edition

Designed for small businesses without IT staff
Backup and Shadow Copy support, Castle and server-join networking, and PC fax and scanning utility
Pre-paid access to the Windows Live! Small Business or Microsoft Office Live! subscription services

Windows Vista Enterprise Edition

Optimized for the enterprise
Ships with Virtual PC & the multi-language user interface (MUI)
Aimed at business decision makers, IT managers and decision makers, and information workers/general business users.

Windows Vista Ultimate Edition

"The best operating system ever offered for a personal PC"
Superset of both Vista Home Premium and Vista Pro Edition
Podcasting application, Game Performance Tweaker, possible free music/movie downloads

(2 replies) #1 roadwarrior on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:15

Those toolbars look like they would be very intimidating and confusing to a new user.

I wonder if that theme will be in the new build of Vista? Looks nice.

#1.1 sphbecker on 14 Sep 2005 - 03:33

Is it just me or do the colors on these look a lot like Mac OS 9 stuff?

#1.2 Rekoil on 14 Sep 2005 - 11:41

QUOTE

I wonder if that theme will be in the new build of Vista? Looks nice.

Yeah I especially like the status bar.

(9 replies) #2 amrinders87 on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:16

Nice improvements to the GUI

#2.1 theh0g on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:18

I second that. I always found MS designs disgusting, but this one I actually like. Nice job

#2.2 lbmouse on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:34

Not surprised you like it. They "borrowed" the look, feel, and interface from Apple Mac OS X.

#2.3 mugwhump on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:06

Apple apple blah blah blah. I'm sure that matters for the two dozen or so people that actually use a Mac, but for the rest of the world, this is a good thing.

#2.4 lbmouse on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:52

Yes, it is a VERY good thing that MS didn't try to re-invent the wheel. Then again, their motto is Innovation through Imitation. BTW - Just because something sells more, doesn't make it better. Does McDonald’s sell the best tasting burger in your town?

#2.5 mugwhump on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:07

Just because something sells more, doesn't make it better.

I'll keep that in mind for the next argument I see about the iPod. You guys need to pick one path of logic and stick with it. Makes you look sorta silly.

#2.6 SeBsZ on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:29

I get sick of the Apple this Apple that stuff. It doesn't look like OSX at all.

#2.7 jasondefaoite on 13 Sep 2005 - 20:54

Yup, exactly.

#2.8 boutwell on 13 Sep 2005 - 20:56

I have been using Macs (at work) for years...and this looks nothing like OSX. Give them a little credit when they deserve it, geez.

#2.9 EduardValencia on 16 Sep 2005 - 16:55

yup,that's right,why the apple fanboys yell about having credit of everything designed and invented? take a trip guys,you need some fresh air

(5 replies) #3 sebaz on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:18

I see that MS is going with a brushed aluminum look now, I wonder where they got that from?

#3.1 Ravensworth on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:59

That's not brushed aluminum, but thanks for the troll attempt.

#3.2 sebaz on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:07

You are telling me the interface doesn't resemble Apple's Brush Metal ( I said Aluminum by mistake)? Not only that but take a look at the glass/aqua like buttons and everything.

Cmon now is evident..

#3.3 mugwhump on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:25

Who cares? Perhaps they decided that with the direction and look of Vista that this interface would look the best. Better than the hodge-podge mess of mixed UI elements currently going on the Apple world.

#3.4 phedot on 13 Sep 2005 - 21:04

Yeah you're right... That Brushed Metal look looks awful on Windows...Specially if we're talking about Vista

#3.5 dp123 on 13 Sep 2005 - 23:21

Better than the hodge-podge mess of mixed UI elements currently going on the Apple world.

Oh please, people don't complain about inconsistency in Windows because it is and always be horribly inconsistent. I could post several UIs within the same app, across Office apps, across the system, and across their other products. Don't act as if, because Apple has grown more inconsistent, that Microsoft is not inconsistent.

(1 reply) #4 neufuse on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:18

2nd excel there is really access

#4.1 lardiop on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:24

Thanks, fixing it now.

#5 Shibby on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:19

Whats with the slight toned colours and shadows. Look very flat to me.
Word ugly
Powerpoint ok
Excel ok but toolbars look stupid
Access i like alot

#6 Louis on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:20

Looking nice, good that its customizable.

#7 Swank on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:23

Wow...its about time Office starts looking sexy.

(2 replies) #8 hotdog963al on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:23

Wow Nice GUI, looks very farmiliar! But I'm sure Microsoft Invented it first anyway, as they do everything.

#8.1 mugwhump on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:35

Your on a roll this morning, aren't you?

#8.2 SeBsZ on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:32

For once and for all: hotdog963al: cut the Apple business. Go talk somewhere else about Apple. mugwhump: stop replying to his comments every time! It inspires him to go on.

The GUI is wonderful.

#9 Netrack on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:25

(Y)

#10 ibear on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:26

looks like you need a much bigger screen to use these.

#11 eltomo on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:26

Hmmm.... Is it me or is the last link labled wrong?

#12 LanMan874 on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:26

I would love to Beta test this

#13 frogworm on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:28

thanks for the news, looks good.

#14 neufuse on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:30

reminds me of UNIX mixed with Mac OS UI's

#15 Y2Stu on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:31

looks nice, might take a while to get use to

#16 stezo2k on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:32

looking much better, love the design

#17 RaiderOnline on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:35

wow.
niiiiice

#18 DJ Prem on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:35

Lovely

, cant wait for the beta

#19 Angel Blue01 on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:36

This is going to look terrible at 1024x768 or lower.

#20 Riggs on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:37

Very sexy. Looking good there Microsoft. I'm really looking forward to this. Too bad my company still uses Office 2000....yuck.

(2 replies) #21 Valkyre on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:48

And the award for most butt ugly interface design in history goes to...

Microsoft!

#21.1 Zolk on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:57

The usability of it seems awesome though and that's what's most important.

#21.2 dp123 on 13 Sep 2005 - 23:26

It's relative. It looks like it really impairs pro users while making grandmas happier. How is mouse over insert tab, move left and right to select something, when half of the options don't get used easier than pulldown insert menu, continue action downward on the pulldown menu 'til you reach your selection, select? Why would I want a toolbar that's 4 to 5 toolbars tall? Why would paragraph formatting have like 5 toolbars compressed into a big rectangle requiring moving left and right and up and down to make selections? Why does the Clipboard entry have a big fat entry on one side, an arrow indicating they didn't fit the selections in the big fat square because of the size of the icon and a bunch of little selections on the right? Why are some galleries one row that slide left and right and some cover the whole screen? If the application menu was so ineffective, why did they put the entire menu in right click? Etc...

#22 sgr55 on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:50

Well m8, i dunno about you but i for 1 am going to cash in on this. ITS HORRIBLE but loads of foke that upgrade are going to get lost very quickly and that means more work for me.

More work = more £££ in support invoices going out to people

so meh.

I'll stick with 2003, considering i just bought the dang copy as well, it'll do me for a few more years yet.

(1 reply) #23 Colin-uk on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:51

those toolbars are huge

and i dont see the point in the live preview feature, why not just "undo" if its not what you want..

#23.1 Zolk on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:55

Less keystrokes.

#24 Mathiasdm on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:54

Looks nice :-)

However, looks an awful lot like OS X Brushed Metal.

(1 reply) #25 Zolk on 13 Sep 2005 - 16:55

The new Office tabbed-interface looks awesome and will likely be very usefull.

#25.1 Jebadiah on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:08

Yep really good GUI. I believe those are the ribbon controls they were talking about. And those have really paid off.

#26 Zerosignull on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:29

im sorry but that "style" is a plain rip off of burshed metal/aqua

(3 replies) #27 chrisxtreme on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:30

Why don't the minimize / maximize / close buttons in office 12 look like the standard ones in vista?

#27.1 b_pizzle on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:05

i bet these screenshots were taken on XP or something similar and not Vista (not sure?)

#27.2 Jebadiah on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:09

The Segoe font tells me it's Vista.

#27.3 SeBsZ on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:34

Office might have the Segoe UI font included with it. It doesn't seem like Vista to me.

#28 GwaRGuITaR on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:35

heheh this is interesting...

i showed my development team the vista UI guidelines and the discussion came up if they were going to redo office, the biggest offender to actually conform to those...

that answers that question...

big question however... wanna see outlook!!!!!!!

#29 SMeK on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:48

Ill be make them as small as possible then, if i upgrade that is

#30 AnalogKid82 on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:49

I'm not an Apple fan by any means (I strictly use PC's), but by continually making their products more Mac-like with each release, MS is only supporting the claim that they copy everything from Apple. Vista and Office 12 couldn't be more Mac-like if they tried, just look at these screenshots and the animations of the Vista UI effects.

#31 The Napster on 13 Sep 2005 - 17:49

Man, it looks nice.

And i dont give a damn if people say "it looks like OSX"

And yeah i like to see outlook. And the new features...

#32 nihilistphx on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:05

Wow, that is quite impressive. Can't wait until I can use those programs.

(3 replies) #33 ncc50446 on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:09

I really don't like it...I like the old Office look and feel...hope there will be a way to change it to the old one...like with the start button on XP. I use the XP one, but its nice to be able to switch to the old style one.

#33.1 Hawkeye on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:24

Actually, yes. The thread about it in the forum sort of answers this question. You will still be able to get your old, classic menu bar and options. Not everybody likes change, so Microsoft won't force it on you completely.

#33.2 kev64 on 13 Sep 2005 - 21:38

Users who like the old look of Office will be unhappy to hear that there is no way to revert back to the classic UI. Microsoft feels that in order to move the application forward, getting users acclimated to the new UI now was the smartest move.

#33.3 Hawkeye on 14 Sep 2005 - 05:54

In that case, I retract my previous statement. I'll definitely admit it when I'm wrong, and I was most clearly wrong with this one!

There could be a lot of unhappy campers with this decision by Microsoft, at least until the new UI grows on them.

(2 replies) #34 XML on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:15

its funny how all the mac trolls get around to criticize whenever there's a news about vista or office 12

#34.1 SOB BOT on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:19

It's not about being a troll, everyone thinks that, it does look like osx even in a slashdot article they say the same thing about it. I use windows xp and osx, I'm not a fanboy but just *look* at it, if you don't think it looks like osx then you haven't seen it.

#34.2 AnalogKid82 on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:31

Yeah, who's trolling? We're simply pointing out that MS's latest products do indeed look very much like Apple's offerings over the last few years. MS has been continually criticized for copying Apple, yet their products continue to look more Mac-like with each release.

#35 SyntheticDarkness on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:15

I love how it looks, things look more organized and it looks damn sexy...

#36 GaMMa on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:20

Looks a lot like something I'd see while running OSX. Innovation...? [hahahaha] Also the button bar tripled , if not quadrupled in size. It looks a lot easier to use, but I lost more vertical screen space if I were to upgrade to Office 12. I'm not liking it, but I guess from a user standpoint, it must be better if the GUI looks better.

I see vector graphics in Powerpoint, which is REALLY cool. I love vector graphics. That wasn't in previous versions right?

#37 Mr. Dee on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:22

Office 12 is based on iTunes?

#38 vcv on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:24

OMG it looks like OS X!

Oh wait, no it doesn't.

#39 Fritzly on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:43

Any screenshot of Oulook? How come? Outlook absence seems very weird to me.

#40 Mateus on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:49

I like it. I like it a lot

Use clean lines and png type icons and everyone shouts osx!

#41 Oblivion on 13 Sep 2005 - 18:55

Where's Outlook, The Big Question

#42 djesteban on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:26

YEY! more bloated and bigger icons than ever before

#43 SamN05 on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:29

I expect i'll get used to it, but overall, so far that is, it looks good

(1 reply) #44 AnalogKid82 on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:33

Outlook:

http://pdc.xbetas.com/images/outlook12.png

http://pdc.xbetas.com/images/outlook12-2.png

#44.1 machorro on 13 Sep 2005 - 21:37

the first one seems a little bit fake

#45 NewXStar on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:35

Microsoft Office 12 Screenshots

Last edited by 112307 on 02 Oct 2005 - 23:21

#46 Osprey on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:44

I like how using a soft grey in the GUI automatically equals MacOSX for some people. Honestly, it's as if certain colors are off-limits because they've been used in other products, already. MS has been using light gray since Win95 (long before OSX), yet when they want to dress it up, they're accosted for copying Apple <scratches head>

#47 Joel on 13 Sep 2005 - 19:44

For everyone complaining about the "metal" GUI; that has nothing to do with Office12, more to do with the OS theme installed on the user's PC. Any other comments on this regard are just stupid. It's been a long-known theme for Vista, and it's called Slate.

#48 bryce_56 on 13 Sep 2005 - 20:18

I think it looks great and I hope I get to beta test it. Was there any word on when beta1 is expected???

#49 Winston on 13 Sep 2005 - 21:00

I wonder if the graph models are being rendered using Windows Presentation Foundation, if it is, good to see them leveraging their own technology.

#50 bostonfanx on 13 Sep 2005 - 21:30

Nice can't wait for final release...

#51 CheeseCow on 13 Sep 2005 - 21:55

The toolbars look like crap, other than that it is crisp and professional-looking.

(1 reply) #52 Joshie on 13 Sep 2005 - 22:14

Yanno what I don't get?

The MacOS interface really has not changed all that much over the years. This color and that texture changed, bits and pieces here and there, but the overall look and feel have remained constant.

Windows' GUI, however, has taken twists and turns, changing and playing with this and that, from ugly to neato, and every single time, someone says it looks like MacOS. How can twenty different MS program GUIs all look like one MacOS GUI?

#52.1 neufuse on 13 Sep 2005 - 22:29

because they have *gasp* buttons and toolbars and scrollbars and mac has them too!

kidding aside... everyone likes to say everything is a copy of mac

Neowin.net