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Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008

  • Office 2007 is the new version of Microsoft Office for the Windows operating system (PCs).
  • Office 2008 is the new version of Microsoft Office for the Apple operating systems (for Macs).
  • You do NOT need the newest version of your computer's operating system to upgrade to the new version of Office.

For Faculty and Staff

Upgrading Office on University Owned Computers

  • Office 2007 is available at no charge for university faculty and staff computers.
  • Office 2007 can be installed on faculty and staff computers in several ways:
    • To install it yourself, borrow the disk from your department technology contact.
    • To have it installed by the ITSS Desktop Team, contact the UMD Help Desk at 726-8847.

Upgrading Office on Personally Owned Computers

  • IMPORTANT: It is ILLEGAL to install Microsoft software purchased under the university's current campus agreement on personally owned computers. This includes all versions of Microsoft Office.
  • Faculty and staff may purchase Microsoft Office ($99 for Office 2007 for PC, or $89 for Office 2008 for Mac) from:

    http://www1.umn.edu/ucs/Microsoft/personal-soft.php

For Students

CEHSP recommends Microsoft Office. Several versions are available from UMD for about $10. For more information, see http://www1.umn.edu/ucs/Microsoft/ms4students.php/ and/or http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/software/ca/msca_students.html.

General Information about the Software

Compatibility Issues

Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008 save files, by default, in a new format that cannot be read by older, more commonly used versions of Office. For this school year, we urge you to save your Office files to the older, more commonly used formats. Faculty should have students to do this, too.

Recommended Settings

Until at least the end of 2008, we recommend the following setting for Office 2007 and 2008:

  • Word should be set to save, by default, ".doc" files (the older format - not the new "docx").
  • Excel should be set to save, by default, ".xls" files (the older format).
  • PowerPoint should be set to save, by default, ".ppt" files (the older format).

Tech Tip

If your file extensions (i.e., .doc at the end of a file name created in Microsoft Word) aren't displayed on your computer, set them to show:

  • Windows: From Start Button > Control Panel > Folder Options > View > and uncheck the box that says Hide Common File Extensions.
  • Mac: Click on the desktop; under the Finder menu, choose Preferences > Advanced > and check the box that says "Show all file extensions"

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