Reinstall MS Office 2010?

Will,

CluelessInSeatl said:

Speaking of the ribbon, you posted earlier that you like the ribbon. If it's not too much bother, I'd appreciate hearing from you what you like about it. Maybe I could learn to like it too if someone were to explain to me how and why it's an improvement over the old drop down menus.

I like the Ribbon because it is no more than the old menus laid out differently. Instead of a menu with various items in its list, each menu has become a tab and each of the old items that were in a menu's list are now spread out and shown as pretty pictures.
So I don't think of the Ribbon as revolutionary but merely cosmetic. Everything is still there but I had to go looking for them the first few times. But after some fifteen years of using Office 2007's Ribbon's I rarely need to look any more.
I don't think the Ribbon is an improvement***. It's just different.

[*** Apart from when I am using my touchscreen. It is slightly easier to hit the right thing on the Ribbon's icons but I do still have some applications with old-style menus and I rarely miss the right entry.]

I suggest that you try to reinstall Office 2010 and give the Ribbon a chance.
- Just think of it as a re-arranged set of menus and put up with having to search for things for a little while.
- I'd hazard the guess that you also use the same things all the time so once you've found them a few times you'll remember.
- I think Office 2010 still also has a built-in Help system so searching that can also help you find things. [If, like Office 2007, Help in Office 2010 only seems to take you online then have a look in Help's bottom-right corner - if it says online then click on it and select On this computer instead]

CluelessInSeatl said:

As for which version of Word to install on my refurbished PC, I'm wondering if it might not be time for me to ditch MS Word altogether and seek an alternative. The trouble with doing that is that the main feature of Word that I use every day is the Outline View. I can't imagine living without it. The last time I checked, none of the Word clones such as Libre Office, Free Office, etc., didn't have an outline view.
I just Googled "outliners" and found nearly a dozen options, so maybe one of them would work for me. Then I could replace MS Word with Libre Office or one of the other Office clones for spread sheets and everyday word processing, and get off the merry-go-round of Microsoft's planned obsolescence, forced upgrades and "user-hostile improvements." (Love that phrase! )

I spent a year trying out Office 2016 and being dismayed by it.
Like you, I considered non-MS office suites but I also found them lacking. I have lots of small macros in Office 2007 and I'd lose their handy little functions if I changed.
So I decided to accept the unknown level of risk and stick with Office 2010.

You will have two advantages over me:-
- Office 2010 has the built-in ability to customise its Ribbon in each Office application. If, when you have got used to it as it is, you would like to alter it then post back here and I'll post my remaining Office 2016 screenshots because they explain where & how to do this [it's not very different to customising toolbars & menus in Office 2003].
- Office 2010 has a much better password protection scheme. If you & I both set a password for being able to open an Office file then they will crack my one well before yours.

I only have one password-protected file so it is not a frequent requirement.
I was never able to quantify the improvement in Office 2010 passwords but it is an impressive difference.

I believe that my Office 2007 password would only have a 1/1,000,000 chance of being hacked in the 100 hours that many hacking services were offering as their standard service when I investigated the subject.
And I conducted my analysis assuming significant progress in processing technologies over the next twenty years.

An Office 2003 password would be hacked in less time than it took me to type this sentence.

Oh, yes you do need to use Heidoc's downloader tool to be able to download an ISO that they give you a link to.

And once you've got the ISO, keep it [and make a backup copy] because it might not be available much longer.

All the best,
Denis

I just tried to use the HeiDoc.net Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool and got this error message:

Public downloads for Windows 7 and Office 2010 have been pulled by Microsoft and are therefore no longer available here. You can support our campaign to bring them back via a MS subscription

Dare I risk downloading the ISO from a sketchy looking site like Softlay?

Microsoft Office 2010 ISO Free Download Full Version - Softlay

Will,

I wouldn't. There's no telling what they've hidden in their unauthorised software.

So it's either Office 2003 or the likes of OpenOfice/LibreOoffice.


Denis

Hi Denis,

Yesterday I installed Word 2003 on my PC and was pleased with how quickly and smoothly the installation went.

My first project with Word 2003 was to print a 3 x 5 inch card in landscape mode. But the card didn't print out correctly. It came out misaligned exactly like last spring when I struggled for days with the same problem. Do you remember that ordeal?

How to Print 3 x 5 Card in Word 2010?

I'm hoping that tweaking the printer driver may be a solution. But have to confess that I feel like may have hit a dead end.

Maybe the Index Card template at Avery ?

Hi Berton! Thanks for that idea! It's nice to know that there's a backup option available if I can't get it working right.

I usually only need to print one card at a time. And I previously was able to print single cards correctly from this PC, so I'd like to try to get it working that way again.

I've had some problem with envelopes but they were from Wal*Mart, seems they are a bit too thin so using heavier ones from an office store work better.

I've decided to throw in the towel on MS Word, and am going to take WPS Office for a test drive.