Office 2007 has lots of cool things included, but I still prefer 2003 because you can customize it so much more. The more you use something though, the more you grow to like it. Good luck!

I’ve used the free office 2007 demo on 2 separate machines for almost 6 months and now since X-mass. My decision to “upgrade” to 2007 was voluntary, I wanted to learn the new UI, and at Xmass I was able to get the “Home Office & Student” version for $50. Since my decision was voluntary and I had a full dirt cheap 2007 version I went with the dual 2003/2007 install approach

Here are a few more tips about the new version you might want to consider.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/msoffice/?p=139 – describes & defines the new Ribbon UI elements, so people are using common terminology instead of calling UI elements “stuff” or “thingie”

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/msoffice/?p=146 – 2.7 10 ways you can tweak Word 2007 to fit your working style

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en – M$ Office 2007 addin print as PDF or XPS

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/msoffice/?p=149 – 10 reasons to consider upgrading to Office 2007

There are a bunch of tools for providing a link between Office 2003 Menu and 2007 Ribbon UIs.

http://www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages/ – UBitMenu adds classic menu to Microsoft Office 2007. This is the best Free one I’ve seen so far.

http://www.indelibleink.com/WordMenu.html – Free version of 2003 menu addin. There are several different install options, quite cool. Installed cleanly on my admin ID, but not in my user ID.

http://www.officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx – SEARCH Commands, Office 2007 addin. Type a command into it, it displays the appropriate Ribbon UI Location. This one is really cool

http://software.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=847883&promo=100511 – Ribbon Customizer for Office 2007 ($40)

http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeRibbon.htm Customizing the Office 2007 user interface. Info about 2 purchased addins, Ribbon Customizer™ and ToolbarToggle™ add-ins for Office 2007. They also have limited functionality trial versions

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9044790B-4E24-4277-B714-66D7B18D0AA1&displaylang=en – downloaded word 2003 to word 2007 flash applet

http://office.microsoft.com/download/afile.aspx?AssetID=AM101938681033 a (big) spreadsheet containing a mapping of all 2003 to 2007 commands

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102146851033.aspx?pid=CL100788241033
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F587370C-FDAE-4EDE-B528-AC58031A5DFF&displaylang=en
This download adds a Get Started tab to the end of the Word 2007 Ribbon. Commands on this tab give you easy access to free content on Office Online, such as training courses, video demos, and other Office Online content designed to help you learn Word 2007 quickly

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb266217.aspx – adding resource links to the Office 2007 Ribbon using COM addins. Includes links to other pages for making TABS using XML or DOTM files
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338199.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa722523.aspx An excellent resource to gain some technical background and information about Ribbon customization is available in a series of Microsoft articles titled “Customizing the Office2007 Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Parts 1, 2, and 3):”
http://www.wnyric.org/1055103161159273/lib/1055103161159273/Microsoft%202007.doc – this link is a document with about a dozen links to useful getting started type pages

I also have a few QAT customizations to recommend:
- I added the paragraph “Style” drop down list so that I can now ALWAYS see the style applied to the current paragraph

- I added the “backward P” show/hide paragraph marks button (note it shows a different Icon!)

- I added the “Document Map” button

I also bumped up the MRU to the new max, 50, and have already “pinned” several files to the MRU. One in particular is really handy, “NORMAL.DOT”. Now when I want to change my default template I don’t have to hunt for it.

Note: when you add the printer button to the QAT there are 2 different buttons/commands that look alike in the customization list. But there is a difference. One shows the name of current printer selected when you hover over it, the other doesn’t.

I also installed the compatibiilty pack to Office 2003 so I can use the new file formats in the old apps. I was pleasantly surprised at how much compression the DOCX format can give. IE I created a single char file immediately after installing 2007. The DOC format file size was 25,112 and the DOCX format file size was 9,857. Pretty significant, which is why I started using it in Office 2003 too. But space saving is not always that significant.

As I started using Office 2007 I made notes on changes/features that caught my attention. Right now it is 6 pages long (including most of the comments above). If you’d like a copy of it give me an email address I can send it to.