Office 2013 WINS and FAILS

[Rudi]

Hi,

I dunno how many of you guys have started using Excel 2013 yet, but out of interest what are your Likes and Dislikes based on the changes to the interface and features?

Though I have many likes that I'll certainly add to this thread, what prompted this post is a simple but frustrating change to the sheet tab navigator arrows....
Why remove the two outer arrows that scroll to the first and last sheet and replace with the need to hold CTRL and click? Some changes are really strangely "degrading". I know this is a negative point, but i'm sure it will be balanced with some positive ones soon :) (It is a great appl!!!)

[HansV]

Renamed and moved from the Excel forum to the General Office forum at the request of Rudi.

[Rudi]

TX Hans.

[Rudi]

Since I started with a FAIL in Excel, let me balance it out with a WIN!!
The feature called Flash Fill is awesome. No more need for concatenate or LEFT/RIGHT functions, etc... Simply type the pattern and flash fill takes care of the rest. Beautiful!!!

[syswizard]

The move to a Single Document Interface (SDI) is a huge FAIL. The workarounds to fixing form issues are incredible.
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/keepuserformontop01.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
MSFT is like our government...they just do things and make changes without anyone's review or feedback.
Their recent changes to their MSDN forum look and feel just confirm that.

[HansV]

Don't start me about the MSDN/Technet forum changes!

[Rudi]

The move to a Single Document Interface (SDI) is a huge FAIL. The workarounds to fixing form issues are incredible.
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/keepuserformontop01.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I actually like this feature since each workbook is processed separately. Its really handy if you have large files that take minutes to open/calculate and you can continue to work in other workbooks.

Another FAIL (though not as radical) is the To Do Bar in Outlook. It is now three seperate windows that can be switched on and off individually. The downside is that you cannot control the display options as neatly as in 2010. I really relied on the upcoming meetings/appointments which now is squashed in below a large calendar (that cannot be hidden!) and it only shows the current days meetings...not upcoming for the next few days... :(

[Rudi]

Two quick WIN's for Word tables:
1. Inserting rows and columns is just a click away with the new popup clicker. Just a pity that you cannot hold CTRL to change the + sign to a - mign to delete a row or column?

2013-06-22_16h13_12.png

2. There is a new Border Sampler that is similar to Format Painter for Table Borders

[Rudi]

WIN:
Outlook now natively checks if you forgot to attach that file you referred to in your email.
No need for manual macros or third party add-ins :)

2013-06-23_13h21_09.png

[Rudi]

Outlook FAIL

I just discovered that the entire list of upcoming appointments/meetings (incl. the calendar) in the ToDo bar is a dead area. IOW, you cannot right click and obtain a context menu of commands to control any of it!!??

I created a new appointment and after closing it realised I did not assign a category colour to it. So I clicked on it in the ToDo bar and clicked the category button on the ribbon. I was surprized to note that it did not colour my appt, but the last email I had selected in my mailbox. After some quick experimentation I discovered that although you can double click the appt. to open it, it does not really select. One cannot assign categories to it, edit it, delete it, etc fro the ToDo bar; you have to open the appt. to do anything with it.

2013-06-24_12h09_10.jpg

[Rudi]

MASSIVE WIN - Excel

After selecting a range of data, Excel provides a dynamic smart tag called Quick Analysis which provides a very clever way to apply various types of analysis type formatting with the click of a button. It works like magic to create charts, pivot tables, sparklines and various formatting applications... Wonderful Feature...this one I certainly am going to enjoy! I think it makes up for some of the fails...definitely!

2013-06-25_15h52_49.jpg

[Rudi]

Access 2013 Pivot Tables removed...
I can't decide if this is a WIN or FAIL. Personally, I never really used (or liked) the pivot feature in Access and tended to link an Excel pivot to the DB. So in my mind this is more of a WIN

Access PivotCharts and PivotTables

Access 2013 no longer supports PivotCharts and PivotTables — the feature’s gone. Microsoft believes Excel’s charting component is superior to anything Access has to offer (it’s true) and recommends that you use Excel’s PivotChart and PivotTable capabilities. If you want those features in Access 2013, you’ll have no choice. Access 2013 still supports legacy charts using MSGraph and charts created by the Chart Wizard.

Quote above taken from: here

[rory]

EPIC FAIL: the colour scheme (or lack of colour rather).

[Rudi]

EPIC FAIL: the colour scheme (or lack of colour rather).

It does look ridiculously bland, eh!

image.jpg

[rory]

It's beyond bland. I work with Excel for at least 12 hours a day and 2013 gives me a headache so I just don't use it any more.

[Rudi]

I change the scheme to light grey. It looks very flat, but is 100x better than the white.!

[rory]

I used "dark" gray - not sure what definition of "dark" it is though. ;)