office 2013 Do You Like Office 2013? Thoughts on Preview

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

First impressions:

• The UI is too white. The lack of contrast between page and application background in Word for instance is awful.
  
• What's with the animations when typing in Word, or moving around cells in Excel?
  
• Save to SkyDrive as default? I can't be the only one thinking this is a bad idea.
  

I'll be playing some more with it for more in-depth impressions. Do I like it? Too early to tell.

[Calum Veteran]

Considering it hasn't been available for even 24 hours yet, I don't think anyone has had enough time to give it a fair chance. First impressions aren't usually a good indicator; impressions after one has used it regularly for a certain amount of time are best to go on.

It seems great to me, so far, but I'll get back to you once I've used it regularly for some time.

[Calum Veteran]

[. . .]

• What's with the animations when typing in Word, or moving around cells in Excel?
  
• Save to SkyDrive as default? I can't be the only one thinking this is a bad idea.
  

[. . .]

The animations are probably the main contributor to the user experience being more pleasant for me than in previous versions of Office :) I love them.

Why do you believe saving to SkyDrive by default is a bad idea? I'm not so sure. I like that Microsoft are betting on the cloud, and I think it's great that users will be able to save a document in the default location, then access that document as soon as they log onto another PC, without having to specifically go to the SkyDrive website at all. This change might cause some confusion, but I would hope Microsoft could educate them about this change. I believe it's a change that will have to happen at some point, so it happening now makes sense to me.

[Calum Veteran]

[. . .]

• What's with the animations when typing in Word, or moving around cells in Excel?
  

[. . .]

To add to my previous comment on this point, perhaps they should provide a way to turn the animations off (if they don't already)? I can see why someone might not mind them in Windows Phone (for example) but would mind them in such a productivity application. Is that the case with you, and if so, what do you see as the reason for that?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Why is saving to SkyDrive by default a bad idea? Think about this scenario:

• Joe User works on a document on his laptop. Saves it to SkyDrive
  
• The user then sits on a plane or train without internet connection and wants to continue editing the document.
  
• Much to Joe User's chagrin the file is MIA.
  

See the problem?

[Calum Veteran]

Why is saving to SkyDrive by default a bad idea? Think about this scenario:

• Joe User works on a document on his laptop. Saves it to SkyDrive
  
• The user then sits on a plane or train without internet connection and wants to continue editing the document.
  
• Much to Joe User's chagrin the file is MIA.
  

See the problem?

That's a great point, and I agree with you, now you've pointed that out to me (thanks). Perhaps this shouldn't be the default until people can access free WiFi on all public transport and in all public places (if that day ever comes); or do you see further vital problems with this being the default?

[Calum Veteran]

I would have preferred the UI match your window chrome color, rather than always be white. My current window chrome is red, and it's jarring how Office 2013 does not follow this.

It's important to remember that Microsoft have changed Aero in the RTM version. Looking back at the screenshot they provided of this, it's greatly white, just like this Office preview.

As this is only the first preview, perhaps they may add in something to match any chosen colour, at some point before the release, or at least an option to change the colour that uses the same colour pallet as Windows?

I hope they do :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Security is a potential concern. I know Microsoft have heavily invested into making their products secure - but an element of risk remains. Can you guarantee me full security of my documents on SkyDrive? Or can Microsoft for that matter?

[rfirth]

Security is a potential concern. I know Microsoft have heavily invested into making their products secure - but an element of risk remains. Can you guarantee me full security of my documents on SkyDrive? Or can Microsoft for that matter?

They are probably more secure on Microsoft servers than they are on users' computers. What percentage of Microsoft servers are compromised with viruses, versus end user computers?

I know what you're saying, but in most cases that doesn't matter. And in the cases it does, you simply tell Office to save it locally to your hard drive. Problem solved.

[rfirth]

You have huge icons and text so it's awkward visually when you are using it with a mouse and it's not really properly optimized for finger where things need to be fairly big compared to desktop.. so they found some middle ground that just doesn't look like it's really working from design/usability perspective at all.

At least for me it's awful. Just another proof that trying to merge desktop and tablet into one OS and apps like Office is just a terrible idea.

Ummm... the huge icons and text? You're just noticing this now? It's called the Ribbon... it's been around since Office 2007...

I mean, really. Open Word 2010 and Word 2013. They are only different by a few pixels in alignment. Excel 2010 and Excel 2013? Several more pixels off, but still basically the same thing. Outlook? Basically the same, with more tweaks than the other Office apps.

So why are you attacking Office 2013 for this like it's something new - like it's a branch of Windows 8 touch madness - when these things have been this way for 5 years?

[TheLegendOfMart]

Oh my god, I just installed it, all I can see is a sea of white with grey outlines.

It looks like they let the new interns use paint to 'design' the UI.

Awful, truly awful. I fear for the future of Windows, an OS I have to use to play games on.

[temis]

Really unfinished UI !

I ran a few access databases remote piloting excel to create custom sheets:

- result : what took 5 minutes with 2010 versions now takes 25 minutes with 2013 !!!!! :|

Should I be angry or sorry for that !? :rofl:

[V23]

- File menu animation is too long

- Too much white space

- Name of tabs in caps

+ Cursor animation in Word

+ PowerPoint slides finally moving to 16:9 aspect ratio

[Subhadip]

Why is saving to SkyDrive by default a bad idea? Think about this scenario:

• Joe User works on a document on his laptop. Saves it to SkyDrive
  
• The user then sits on a plane or train without internet connection and wants to continue editing the document.
  
• Much to Joe User's chagrin the file is MIA.
  

See the problem?

This is not how it works. It saves it to the local SkyDrive folder, which syncs through the SkyDrive app.

So you have a local copy as well as a copy on your SkyDrive. I don't see any problem at all.

Of course, the SkyDrive app itself is in its infancy, I am sure it will grow to add much more functionality by Windows 8 / Office 2013 RTM time, such as syncing multiple folders.

Overall, loving the new visuals. Thank goodness all the cheese is gone, and especially loving the full screen mode.

[Nathan Borger]

I am glad someone pointed out how Skydrive works. It saves a local copy and then syncs to Skydrive. Awesome. I do not use a thumb drive any more for work or even for small things to and from work any more and I have shared things like my work roster with those who need to read it so they have read only access to information I allow them to. AMAZING.

Also I love the new animations.

I do have one issue. Has anyone tried setting up a Live or Hotmail account in the new Outlook? There is no Outlook connector like 2010 had and I assume its not needed any more but my emails are all over the shop. It shows that emails I recieved in 2009 are new and I have only gotten them today. Whats going on?

[scumdogmillionaire]

I do have one issue. Has anyone tried setting up a Live or Hotmail account in the new Outlook? There is no Outlook connector like 2010 had and I assume its not needed any more but my emails are all over the shop. It shows that emails I recieved in 2009 are new and I have only gotten them today. Whats going on?

Hotmail just works for me. No connector needed. (Remove your old hotmail account and re-add it though.) The only annoyance with it that prevents me from switching from 2010 to 2013 is that Hotmail doesn't pull down the calendars that the Hotmail Connector in 2010 did. My wife's calendar that is shared with me, Birthday Calendar and US Holidays aren't in there. So I have to stick with 2010 for now, which is too bad. Unlike most people, I like the look of 2013.

[tsupersonic]

I am undecided - I'm not fan of the overly huge ribbon, and the worst part is the interface is too "white." I miss the black theme from Office 2010! I don't like the current backgrounds - they remind me of the Zune themes. I don't think I'll be in a rush to upgrade, as it doesn't offer much for me over Office 2010. If it's offered cheap, I definitely will snag a copy, but not sure I'd install it.

[Guest]

Word's cursor inertia is by far the best feature imo. Stupid as it sounds, it make typing feel pleasurable.

[Harrison H.]

Word's cursor inertia is by far the best feature imo. Stupid as it sounds, it make typing feel pleasurable.

I had a discussion with a friend over that yesterday. We both agreed it should be made that way in Windows 8. Who knows, it might be in the RTM version.

With Office 2013 preview being released yesterday, I finally pushed myself to move from Gmail to Office 365. It's that nice, and I can't wait until Office 365 is updated at the end of the year.

[PGHammer]

That's a great point, and I agree with you, now you've pointed that out to me (thanks). Perhaps this shouldn't be the default until people can access free WiFi on all public transport and in all public places (if that day ever comes); or do you see further vital problems with this being the default?

It's the default with Office365 - however, this can be changed even there.

And the reason it saves by default in Office365 is because Office365 is itself cloud-based.

If someone is preparing to board a plane, saving locally either by default or even in terms of a specific document makes sense - and has *always* been possible with Office365.

However, it means you have to actually think.

[Jose_49]

+ PowerPoint slides finally moving to 16:9 aspect ratio

16:9 aspect ration has been available since loooooong time ago.

You could go to the design tab, and at the left-most icon (if I don't badly remember) you could switch between a variety of aspect ratios including 16:10

[Guest]

I had a discussion with a friend over that yesterday. We both agreed it should be made that way in Windows 8. Who knows, it might be in the RTM version.

With Office 2013 preview being released yesterday, I finally pushed myself to move from Gmail to Office 365. It's that nice, and I can't wait until Office 365 is updated at the end of the year.

Although it would probably never get passed on to the Windows team, and it might be too late, I clicked the smiley face and noted that I loved this, hoping that they might be able to squeeze it in as a last minute feature if they haven't already done it :)

[mikeleo]

No I'd rather have software to instal on the PC that can work without internet access all the time.

But! I guess when I get a new PC and it comes pre-installed it will have to do.

[xn--bya]

What has happened with cleartype? They're now using some grayscale text smoothing. The UI needs some colour added to it, it currently looks so bland.

[George P Global Moderator]

I hear some people saying the ribbon is bigger now? Maybe you've turned on the new touch mode which spaces the ribbon buttons out more? I don't think the 2013 ribbon should be any bigger than the 2010 one.