A: With the introduction of Office 2010, Microsoft has removed the Basic Edition that was available for Office 2007 (it had Word, Excel and Outlook) and now has the starter edition instead. Office 2010 Starter edition contains ad-supported versions of Word 2010 and Excel 2010, and will be bundled with new PC’s only; this version is not going to be available for retail purchase, You can read more about the versions of Office 2010 and about licensing for it on this post.

Versions
As with every iteration of Office, there are multiple versions available; I’ve listed the most common ones below (and I’ve omitted the academic versions in this list).

1. Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition – this version of Office will be included only on new PC’s (e.g. the ones you buy from Dell, Best Buy or other large retailers).  It is a scaled-down version of Office that is designed to replace Microsoft Works. In addition the Starter edition will be ad supported.  The idea here is that this version of Office will be adequate for users who need only to work with basic office tasks.  If you want more functionality or to remove the ads, you will need to upgrade to a higher version.

2. Microsoft Office 2010 Home and  Student Edition – this version includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.  It is for non-commercial use and the family pack allows for installation in up to three  home PCs.

3. Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business Edition – licensed for commercial use, this version includes all of the products listed above but adds Outlook.  Note that OneNote 2007 was only available in Office 2007 Ultimate Edition or as a individual purchase.

Licensing

Office 2010 products will be available as boxed retail products with a DVD, or downloadable with a product key card.  At this point the basic understanding is that the retail boxed DVD version will allow users to install the software on two computers (one desktop and one laptop owned/used by the same person).  The product key card is less expensive than the boxed DVD version, but some confusion about licensing has emerged. It appears that this version is slated for use on a single machine — but questions have arisen over installation issues — such as will you be able to install this version if you purchase a new computer and want to install it on the new computer (and of course erase it from the old one)?  And will you be able to reinstall windows and then reinstall this version on your reinstalled machine? (As a basis of comparison, I recall that with Adobe CS3 products, you were allowed to activate the software on two computers — a laptop and a desktop — but that you had the ability to deactivate the software prior to reinstalls or moving machines).  So before your purchase either version of Office, I would make sure you clearly understand the licensing and wait until Microsoft makes it clear how licensing will work.

Getting Office 2010

The two most common ways that people will get Office 2010 is either through the purchase of a new computer that has Office preinstalled, or via retail box purchase.   Note that there will be no upgrade versions available for Office 2010. This new pricing scheme presents a problem for many users who are using older versions of Office (even 2007) who don’t fee like plunking down $150 or $280 for the two major versions of the product.  Microsoft is currently offering a special whereby if you purchase Office 2007 in the near future (check the dates) then they will give you a free upgrade to Office 2010.  Otherwise there seems to be no way to upgrade and you will need to purchase a full version if you don’t wind up getting Office 2010 with the purchase of a new machine.

1. First, head to the Tools Menu and select Options.

2. In the menu that opens, select the General tab at the top, and locate the Recently used file list and make sure the box is checked. Then simply enter the number of files you want the program to “remember”.

3. Click OK to close the box and save your settings.

Note that you will not immediately see the recently used file list expand because Excel will only keep track of the files you’ve used since you made the above change – so files you used prior to the change will not show up in the list until you use them again, as Excel does not “remember” the previous files you were working on.

Here in Part 4, I will take you on a tour of the Insert menu.

Here in Part 3, I will take you on a tour of the View menu.

Here in Part 2, I will take you on a tour of the Edit menu.

Here in Part I, I will go over why we use excel, the basics of a workbook, and the File menu.

If you have specific questions, or would like a tutorial or video tutorial created to answer your question, head to the contact page and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

1. First position the cursor at the beginning of the paragraph where you wish to add the drop cap. In this example I’m putting the cursor right before the “A” character.

2. Then select Format and Drop Cap. If for some reason you don’t see Drop Cap as an option, you may need to expand the menu. To expand the menu, look at the bottom of the menu and you will see a symbol that looks like a double down-arrow (highlighted in yellow in the image below).  Click this double-arrow to expand the format menu to show all of the options, including Drop Cap.

3. The Drop Cap dialog box will appear.  Select the position you’d like (I prefer the Dropped one) and change any of the other listed option to get the look you want.  I like to have the Distance from text be: 0.1″.  Then press OK.

4. Your drop cap will now be inserted (note that it will be selected, so you may have to click anywhere in the white text of the page to “clear” the selection).

1. Highlight the text you want to double-space. Go to the Format menu and then select Paragraph.

2.  In the dialog box that appears, head to the bottom right portion where it says Line spacing and select Double (or any other spacing you’d like to set). Click OK.

3. View the results.