If you are upgrading from Word 2003

In addition to the features listed in the previous sections, if you’re upgrading from Word 2003, you’ll want to take note of the new features that were introduced in Word 2007. The Word 2007 upgrade provided a more efficient working environment and included a long list of new and improved features, including the following:

• The ribbon No more hunting through menus, submenus, and dialog boxes. This interface organizes all the commands most people use most often, making them quickly accessible from tabs at the top of the program window.
• Live Preview Review the effect of a style, theme, or other formatting option before you apply it.
• Building blocks Think AutoText on steroids! Predefined building blocks include sets of matching cover pages, quote boxes, sidebars, and headers and footers.
• Style sets and document themes Quickly change the look of a document by applying a different style set or theme, previewing its effect before making a selection.
• SmartArt Graphics tool Use this awesome diagramming tool to create sophisticated diagrams with three-dimensional shapes, transparency, drop shadows, and other effects.
• Improved charting Enter data in a linked Excel worksheet and watch as the data is instantly plotted in the chart type of your choosing.
• Document cleanup Have Word check for and remove comments, hidden text, and personal information stored as properties before you declare a document final.
• New file format The Microsoft Office Open XML Formats reduce file size and help avoid loss of data.