Entered CNET Catalog: 11/07/2006
SKU: CNETMSOFFICEXCEL2007PRERTM
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/15/2006
Microsoft Excel 2007 RTM
After following Microsoft's various alpha and beta developments of the Office 2007 system, we're now testing RTM code that will come preinstalled on many computers sold by vendors with Microsoft software partnerships. See our first takes of the RTM builds of Office 2007 for more.
Installing Office 2007 RTM took us a quick, painless 10 minutes on Windows XP. Upon opening Excel 2007, a colorful, thick new toolbar greets you. This Ribbon of features sits atop each screen and replaces the gray drop-down menus of the past. Most familiar commands are in new places, with functions organized into tabs: Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, and View.
Because so many options are now front and center rather than buried within pre-2007 menus and dialog boxes, Microsoft doesn't show certain features until you appear to need them. For example, Chart Tools tabs (Design, Layout, Format) don't show up until you click on a chart. Similarly, you must select an image for the Picture Tools' Format tab to appear. The dynamic tabs perplexed us at first; with our cursor on some text instead of an image, we couldn't figure out where the image-editing commands had disappeared. It took about a week to train ourselves to click objects first, then look for their associated features. It may drive you batty at first that you visit the Home tab to add a row, not the Insert tab--we kept forgetting this, even after writing about it for a year.
Once you highlight desired rows and columns, you can pick from among many Table Styles galleries to add instant color. The dynamic galleries within Office 2007 applications let you preview changes before applying them to font and objects. These galleries can be helpful, but they don't fully satisfy our imagination. Sure, you can see 48 designs from the Chart Styles menu, but most are variations on a color scheme that we weren't crazy about. At least you can create your own table style and save it to use in future files.
And while most of the graphical galleries within Office 2007 are designed to let you mouse over a style for a preview, Excel's Chart Type and Chart Styles didn't work that way. Instead, we had to click on a type or style, then apply the change to see it reflected in a chart. It wasn't simple to figure out how to select one slice of a pie chart and change its color, either. However, you can create and save your own designs for later use.
Many changes within Excel are surface-level, as the new interface is intended to bring to the forefront dozens--perhaps hundreds--of functions that you perhaps never noticed in older iterations of Excel. We're grateful for the shortcuts, especially the drop-down lists of functions (such as Sum and Average) and abbreviations of formulas (financial, logical, math, and more) within the Formulas tab. In the past, you may have printed or handwritten a cheat sheet to jog your memory. Also among the advanced functions under the Data tab, you can ask Excel to flag potentially duplicated data.
Excel also delivers new ways of analyzing data. Its Conditional Formatting options let you select a column of numbers and instantly highlight the top or bottom 10 values, or those that are above average, and so on. Within several seconds, you can select spreadsheet cells and apply arrows, flags, and smiley-face icons to analyze the numerical ups and downs.
We suspect that Excel's smaller, XML-based files will be useful in conserving hard drive space if you tend to accumulate giant spreadsheets. However, you'd be wise to save your work in Excel 2007 as an older XLS document if you plan to send it to people running Word 2003 or earlier. A user of Excel 2003 and Excel 2000 can open the new, XLSX files--but only after jumping through some hoops that include visiting a Microsoft Web site and installing a Compatibility Pack.
Judging by our early tests of the RTM code, Excel 2007 may be a worthy upgrade for people whose bread-and-butter work involves spreadsheets--especially those that require quick visual analyses of data, such as for sales charts. This may not be the case, however, if you've already memorized old Excel formulas and don't need the visual pizzazz, or if you use spreadsheets only casually. Excel 2007's interface is a big departure from the traditional layouts of the older editions of Excel as well as its rivals, such as Corel Quattro Pro. Excel 2007 also stands apart from the crowd of bare-bones online services, such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets beta, which can't even make charts at this time.
Microsoft offers lots of Web-based support for users of Excel 2007, including Flash-based tutorials for finding where specific features have moved from Office 2003. Without relying heavily on such support, we were able to adjust to many features within several weeks but remained stumped about others, even after months of tests with the new design. Our adjustment period was shorter than it was for Word, possibly because Excel places so many more features within easy reach. We'll continue to test-drive the new Office software and will provide rated reviews when the consumer edition is available. In the meantime, you can find the beta edition of Excel 2007 for free at office.microsoft.com.
User opinions
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User Rating: 
10/10
Extremely powerful tool to build state of the art model
Pros: significantly improved interface
no size limit
new powerful formulas
good help
desgn capabilities
Cons: none at all
User Rating: 
1/10
Why would MS do this to its users...Oh ya $$$
Pros: They gave me a nice Free Trial so at least I didn't have to buy it.
Cons: I can't determine where to start, since I feel it is a total disaster.
Now just about all of that functionality and ease of use is gone (or at least hidden so well I can't find it.) I'm afraid my Swiss Army Knife has become a really pretty butter knife with a dull edge. No, Microsoft, I will still with the older 2003 version, truly the best one you ever did.
User Rating: 1/10
I could not agree more. Garbage !!!
Pros: Nothing,,, nothing at all !! (Except maybe more pocket money for Mr Bill !!)
Cons: Everything ! Menus are crap, and illogical, hopelessly complicated.
VBA references and add-ins all screwed up. Help is awful, even worse than before (if that's possible). Much slower. Compatibility is all messed up. Files are HUGE !!!
I can only assume any good review is written by a:) a microsoft employee, 2:) someone who knows nothing about spreadsheets, has never used previous versions, and/or uses no functions beyond adding up grocery lists.
Can I say this strongly enough ? GARBAGE !!!! I'd give it zero stars (heck negative stars) if CNET let me. Looks like 1/2 star is the lowest.
User Rating: 
2/10
A downgrade disguised as an upgrade
Pros: MS intention was to probably make the interface more intuitive for beginners. The end result will probably make both new and experienced users confused. The formulas still work, however!
Cons: Problems that have existed for years still remain, e.g. print titles cannot be set within print preview. The old Pivot table interface has been killed off and replaced by a monstrosity; a hidden one at that!
User Rating: 1/10
Nothing but Garbage
Pros: If you have a choice between having your fingernails pulled out with a pair of pliers or using Excel 2007. Excel 2007 is a slightly better option.
Cons: The ribbon = Garbage
The "user friendly" layout = Garbage
The inability to find things simple to do in older versions = Garbage
The slow Execution of VBA Macros = Garbage
The charting = Garbage
and on and on
What is MUCH worse is that you can no longer buy Excel 2003, at least I was told by Dell that it is "end of life". If that is true then Excel in general is "End of life". I asked to simply have my Excel 2007 license downgraded to Excel 2003 and was told it was not do able.
User Rating: 2/10
Painfully slow
Pros: It's kinda pretty
Cons: To slow. Miss Chart Wizard.
I just can't get over how slow it is. SLOOOOOOOWWW
User Rating: 1/10
More bells and whistles. Less functionality. Why oh why
Pros: It's pretty. Charts, graphs, improved conditional formatting options, 3D options. It looks good!
Cons: No dig down/sub menus, no simple micromanagement/customization of charts, excessive tabs and icons, no customizable toolbars other than the limiting "quick access bar"
-Double-click funcitonality removed. Must right click for all chart options. Not a small difference when you're doing this hundreds-thousands of times a day.
-Right click options severely reduced. Many chart elements must now be controlled through the bulky tabbed toolbar up top. i.e. Adding a chart title
-Can't edit individual points on a scatter plot. Scatter plot series still a royal pain to manage. I assume this limitation extends to other aspects.
-Can't drag various toolbars around and arrange them for a custom workspace. Must instead rely on the "quick access" toolbar which, when filled to the brim, is far from quick to use.
-Customizable color palette (now called Theme) reduced from 16 non-specific colors to 12 set ones. 2003 had 16 custom color slots to modify and use in any manner. (in fact you could modify all the colors). 2007 offers 4 text/background colors, 6 accents (used for graphs), and 2 hyperlink colors. Each theme automatically includes gradients of the 12 main colors. What if I don't want gradients? What if I want 32 completely distinct colors?
This is after a couple of hours of fiddling through that stupid toolbar and trying to figure out why, oh why M$ replaced functionality with gloss. I'm sure if I spent more time with it I would discover more goodies and more faults. Unfortunately, for the work I do, the lack of graph & palette customization options and inability to create a streamlined workspace cannot be countered by gloss. Another testament to Microsoft's ability to make a pretty but utterly hopeless piece of software.
Stick with 2003 till the bitter end, everyone.
User Rating: 2/10
Beware if you like to customize Excel
Pros: Haven't found any yet
Cons: Unable to customize
***??? So, instead of clicking a button that I've put on a toolbar because I use it all of the time, I now have to select the ribbon tab that it's buried in, and then a couple more clicks to find the dang command.
Absolutely the worst upgrade experience I've ever had. I got 2007 through a purchase deal with my employer, but we're still using 2003 at work (MS did not give an option for version)...which makes it even more irritating to switch between my beloved 2003 at work and this piece of garbage at home.
User Rating: 1/10
It Sucks!!!
Pros: Nice for begginers
Cons: Difficult for advanced users
User Rating: 
3/10
Not impressed......
Pros: Million rows, 16K+ columns
Cons: Everything else; RIBBON :(
User Rating: 2/10
Who thought this mess up!
Pros: None in my opinion
Cons: Learning Curve
User Rating: 2/10
This new version is just about worthless
Pros: Looks pretty in the box
Cons: For Engineering work this is a horrible product
User Rating: 2/10
Good for 1st graders
Pros: Easy for first time users of computers
Cons: Much slower and switching the menus was pointless
User Rating: 1/10
If you have ever used Excel in the past, don't buy this version
Pros: Can do the same things Excell 2003 did
Cons: You will never be able to figure out how to make it do those things
Don't buy it if you don't have to.
User Rating: 2/10
As far as upgrades go, it doesn't get much worse than this
Pros: We're still working on coming up with one
Cons: The learning curve should not be this steep for a produce we've used for 20 years
We're not sure why Microsoft thought this new format is a good idea. Have they done any market research?
CNET is awfully generous with their assessment of this mess of an upgrade.
User Rating: 3/10
Never should have happened
Pros: Sleeker graphs
Cons: Messed up interface; crashes.
So, ok, I'm a seasoned veteran. What about new users? Well, I teach freshman-level computer courses, and my students aren't faring any better with the new Office 2007. The interface frustrates them--it's big and has fun colors, but it's not intuitive at all--even the simplest commands require a visual search. Where is "Save As"? You have to click a big unlabeled circular button to see the menu (how is this better than plain old "File"?) and now the "Save As" item has 2 parts, unintuitively.
Stuff like this trips up my beginner students and crotchety old expert me equally. So who benefits? How is this easier than "File/Save As"?
I could go on and on. The frequently-used "Data Sort" dialog is no longer keyboard navigable. Chart options are as hard to find as always. Also, the app crashes randomly during simple tasks on nearly-empty spreadsheets.
On the plus side, graphs now look much cooler. And crashes recover much more reliably than before. But overall this mess only looks good on the showroom floor--don't try to get any work done with it.
User Rating: 2/10
Its Broken.....
Pros: Must be lots of great advantages....somewhere
Cons: Bears no realationship to previous versions. Plan to start over learning 2007/
User Rating: 3/10
Don't Upgrade!
Pros: additional levels of sorts allowed, can also filter by color
Cons: Very poor layout, compatibility issues, problems with subtotals and refresh
Some people may like the new "Ribbon" format of displaying commands at the top, but it can be confusing, and has created problems for me. Pivot tables are no longer in the "Data" category, but now in the "Insert" category, a logic that didn't need to be changed. If you refresh data in from SQL or any other source, there is a "Refresh ALL" that not only refreshes your spreadsheet, but your entire workbook. I keep downloaded data by month in one spreadsheet and this icon updated each tab of that workbook. There is a way to refresh only your worksheet, but it's not on any ribbon header. You have to set it up through Excel Options to be on a Quick Access Toolbar. That toolbar can be located at the very top of your screen, however you'll have to hover over the icons to figure what they represent.
We have several compatibility issues with graphs that we have downloaded through third parties and they too are quite concerned they were never informed of MS changes. It's as if MS was looking for another dollar instead of the consumer.
Be aware of the problems that can occur!
