When it comes to the office suites offered by Microsoft today, a large portion of the market would definitely say that Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office 2007 would be the premier products to have. This is because both of these suite applications offer so much in terms of tools, features, applications, and the lot that make office life so much easier for the common professional. But when you compare Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, that's a different story.



If you are one of the many people who have Microsoft Office 2003 installed on their personal computers and laptops, then you will surely be interested in what the 2007 version has to offer you. You may think that the 2003 application is satisfactory already, which is really true. The 2003 version has indeed been quite the milestone in processing Word files, Excel sheets, and the whole shebang. But if you keep insisting that the 2003 edition is the best, then you have yet to try out the 2007 version. Because if you have already tried the 2007 version, then you just might have to change your mind about the 2003 version holding the title of the best version Microsoft has ever produced.

One of the major changes that come with the 2007 version is its digital signature. The digital signature of the recent version makes use of XMLDSig for its formatting. This is actually quite different from that of the 2003 version. If you have been training with Microsoft Office 2003 and you're now with the 2007 edition, then this will be one of the first changes you just might notice. Also, the digital signature's location has been moved. It can now be found under the File tab, Finalize Document tab, then Signatures. The 2003 version had the signature under the Tools tab before. The change has been made to make the signature easier to locate for users.

Another new feature that makes a pretty interesting change is the Microsoft Office ribbon. This can actually be found at the upper left portion of the screen. The ribbon has replaced the usual File tab that you can see in Microsoft Office 2003. The ribbon still performs the main function of the File tab, which includes Open, Save, Save As, Send, Print, and more. It's a feature that a lot of 2007 users welcome with open arms.

There's also the latest tabbed menu feature that makes the application very convenient to use. Remember the many drop-down menus that came with Microsoft Office 2003? These are no longer present in the 2007 version, now that there are tabbed menus all over already. The tabbed menus are all over the screen, and once you click them, the sub-menus are displayed right below. With the tabbed menus comes the hovering effect feature as well.

Let us pretend you are using the Microsoft Word processor, and you wish to change the font color from black to red. All you need to do is highlight the word, and then hover over the tab that would make the change for you. Once you do hover your mouse over the appropriate tab, a preview of the feature is then given, so that you would have a clear explanation of what's going to happen once the changes are implemented. This is indeed a very convenient feature!

These are just some of the interesting features you will find when you compare Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007. You will surely find more engaging features for yourself as well.