TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Hi! - The Mac BU is kicking off a series of captivating previews of upcoming features available in the highly anticipated Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac productivity suite. Starting today, visit the Office 2008 Sneak Peek site at www.macoffice2008.com to see Office 2008 in action and learn additional details about features announced at Macworld and something new for Excel:

• Elements Gallery – The new Elements Gallery user interface gives users quick access to tools and formatting options within applications in a simple and visually appealing way.

• Document Elements – Document Elements in Word 2008 demonstrates the power of Elements Gallery by simplifying and automating some of the most common but often difficult and tedious document tasks, such as adding a table of contents, bibliographies and headers and footers, so users can easily build professional reports and papers.

• Publishing Layout View – This new specialized workspace in Word empowers users to create graphics-rich document layouts such as newsletters and brochures with ease.

• OfficeArt – The OfficeArt graphics engine provides users the ability to apply stunning graphic effects like 3D, reflections and shadows with a simple click of a button.

• SmartArt Graphics – SmartArt graphics are a set of professional-quality graphics that lets users quickly transform bulleted lists into charts, diagrams, graphs and tables to visually communicate ideas.

• Building Charts (Excel) – Utilizing the new OfficeArt graphics engine, new chart templates help users easily create modern charts and modify their look and feel with the click of a button. Excel charts can easily be integrated with Word and PowerPoint.

• My Day – My Day is a standalone application that provides an at-a-glance view of daily schedule and tasks to help users stay on top of priorities.

Stay tuned for biweekly updates about new additions and improvements to Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac as we move closer to RTM in December.