Discussion on:

10 cool add-ins for Office 2007 and 2010

I can recommend "Risksolver" from solver.com, the most advanced version of the well known excel solver... This tool does montecarlo simulations for analysis, good for finance, good for design for six sigma... Optimization tool is faster than ever as well. And the best part is you can simulate and optimize to figure the best solution overall possible expectations...

Altan Atabarut

As an educationalist I would recommend "Ribbon Hero" it help new users to Office 2007/10 get used to the new ribbons' features and functionality. It does this in a fun and friendly way via challenges to the user to recreate/use different designs, techniques and tools.
This is a free add on from Microsoft. 'Mouse Mischief' is also another Microsoft add on but that a different story!

Compared to much of what I have run across these days, leaving out an "s", isn't exactly a huge crime. His structure is fine, of course structure is very subjective. The guy was trying to be helpful, and you cut him off at the knees.
These forums are international, not everyone speaks English as well, or badly as a native speaker. Give them credit for being involved and making an effort.

THANKS! While not an educator, it was interesting to see what this was. Your comment is one of the reason I read the comments section, to gain others insights.
Cheers

If you have an AWS account and you would like to use it for your online storage purpose, CloudBuddy Personal MS-office plug-in in the only option. It comes with lot of great features. Supports MS-excel, Powerpoint, word & outlook. Check out http://cssinnovations.blogspot.com/2010/08/cloudbuddy-personal-office.html for more details.

I can recommend add-in Office Routing Plus (office-routing.com) for Excel/Word that replaces the old "Routing slip" functionality, which is gone since Office 2007. It is not free, but still very handy for large companies that relies on that routing functionality.

Does FreeFileViewer also work in the Windows 7 Explorer preview pane ?
[why I ask...]
In a default setup (with Word installed) the Windows Explorer Preview pane uses a (fullblown) WinWord proces, which gets in the way of certain COM automation scenarios. When I connect to a running WinWord process [as I don't want to run mutiple winwords], I cannot determine if that one is running in the preview pane... So maybe using a different previewer would be an acceptable workaround... Any suggestions?

Resource Central is an add-in for Outlook and Exchange which allows users to book rooms, desks and all other extra services like catering for meetings, room setup and IT equipment. There is an order workflow which will then notify all catering, facilities and IT staff. This allows users to book an entire meeting with room, catering and extra services in under 2 minutes. See more here: www.add-on.com

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca620c50-1a56-49d2-90bd-b2e505b3bf09

This official free plugin by Microsoft is simply amazing. This is for Word and OneNote 2007 & 2010. Those who use OneNote already know that if u enter a simple arithmetic equation it calculates automatically. such as "2+3=5". This plugin goes beyond this. you can enter any equation with any number of variables and it can either solve for all the variables, plot 2D or 3D graphs. you can enter a table of data and plot simple graphs. Calculates complex arithmetic, integration, differentiation, complex integrals, etc.

Very simple to use, enter the equation in Equation editor and right click the equation and select the calculation to perform. for multiple equations, select multiple equations. It recognises subscripts as variables and superscripts as powers. I have found this plugin very useful for my university work. Really this is for anyone who works with a lot of math.

Hope you find this plugin very useful.

Thanks,
Atharva
website: http://atharvai.wordpress.com

Your link to ASAP Utilities is directing to a site whose parent server (softlate.com) that has a reputation for distributing malware. When I Googled ASAP Utilities I found the real product site top of the list, the softlate.com site was on page three and red flagged by Web of Trust. Very disappointing. Thought this was a trustworthy site,,,

There is also CodeTwo Public Folders for synchronizing Outlook between two or more machines. It's an Outlook add-in and it works like Exchange server but does not require any server software or hardware or admin maintanence:

http://www.codetwo.com/public-folders?sts=1044

Forgotten Attachments Detector. How many times have you sent an e-mail or meeting invitation and forgot to include the attachment you mentioned? This utility scans messages for key phrases that would indicate an attachment should be included and then pops a reminder up if one is not. It also detects messages being sent without a subject line. http://www.officelabs.com/projects/forgottenattachmentdetector/Pages/default.aspx

Office Tab available at RegNow.com adds document tabs for Word, Workbook Tabs for Excel and Presentation Tabs for PowerPoint. It is much better that having multiple copies of Word or Excel open.

Been using this plugin for a few years and it keeps my inbox clean as well as giving a GREAT template for business emails and agendas. Highly recommend. http://www.mcgheeproductivity.com/Products/29-tbyl-4outlook-add-in.aspx

For lawyers and other document reviewers who have to check defined terms and their uses in Word, Lexicon is a great tool. Also has built in concordancing and makes it possible to navigate multiple documents quickly. http://www.lexicontools.com

I found out recently that there is a free edition of the OfficeTabs program. It has a three-tab limitation in Powerpoint but, otherwise it works normally.

Googling the name brings up a lot of sites where it is available.

UBit Menu is from a Swiss site and has versions for all languages that allow the addition of an extra tab called "Menu" which brings back the Office 2003 bars. It is the simplest way to solve any of those "where the hell is that command that I used to be able to use so easily!" situations.

Please indicate somewhere in your short review if these programs are 32-bit or 64-bit. It's annoying to go to the trouble to download something only to find it won't work on your computer after all.

If you are going to use these 10 this or that columns, at least write ones where is does not lead to some corporate site so they can make money. How about ideas on the internet for free for office 07 and 10?? Unique huh?? not everybody has a bunch of money to shell out during hard times like now.

10 things you should know about Microsoft Office Live Workspace
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-things-you-should-know-about-microsoft-office-live-workspace/942
10 things you can do with Office 2010 Web Apps
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-things-you-can-do-with-office-2010-web-apps/1687
6 ways to get free information about Word
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/msoffice/6-ways-to-get-free-information-about-word/4147
10+ ways to train your users on Office 2007 for free
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/msoffice/10-ways-to-train-your-users-on-office-2007-for-free/144
10 free security tools that actually work
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-free-security-tools-that-actually-work/624
10 free anti-malware tools worth checking out
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-free-anti-malware-tools-worth-checking-out/2045
10 open source Windows apps worth checking out
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-open-source-windows-apps-worth-checking-out/1350
DIY: Free tools for removing malicious software
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/doityourself-it-guy/diy-free-tools-for-removing-malicious-software/115
Video: Four free defragmentation tools for power users
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/video-four-free-defragmentation-tools-for-power-users/1485
10 free Microsoft programs worth checking out
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-free-microsoft-programs-worth-checking-out/1099
Six free development utilities in my toolbox
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/programming-and-development/six-free-development-utilities-in-my-toolbox/3873
Four free online remote meeting tools that deliver
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/four-free-online-remote-meeting-tools-that-deliver/3344
Free browser tool scans for security problems, eases end user support
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/networking/free-browser-tool-scans-for-security-problems-eases-end-user-support/3343
Five tips for using Sysinternals Autoruns
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-tips/five-tips-for-using-sysinternals-autoruns/796
Windows Storage Viewer tool shows iSCSI paths
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/windows-storage-viewer-tool-shows-iscsi-paths/4019
10 Sysinternals tools you shouldn't be without
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-sysinternals-tools-you-shouldnt-be-without/2033
10 more Sysinternals utilities to keep handy
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-more-sysinternals-utilities-to-keep-handy/2379
SCCM Right Click Tools eases sys admin tasks
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/sccm-right-click-tools-eases-sys-admin-tasks/3954
Use VKernel's Capacity View in your VM right-sizing efforts
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/use-vkernels-capacity-view-in-your-vm-right-sizing-efforts/2482
DIY: Image your drives for free with Clonezilla
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/doityourself-it-guy/diy-image-your-drives-for-free-with-clonezilla/179

CrossEyes is the reveal codes for Word. Great help when trying to troubleshoot a lengthy document. It shows each type of code in a different color in a separate window at the bottom of the page.

I love Microsoft Office Labs and my favorite is the forgotten attachment detector for Outlook.

Well early signs are good.

I had to disable the Vista search function on all my PC's for all drives as I reached a tipping point of having too many large files ... result explorer.exe goes beserk and spawns a thread that consumes 100% of CPU and chews through all memory as it undertakes millions (no exageration) of registry open/check/close operations in it's attempt to index large directories and the content of archive files. This slows work down to a crawl and forces a reboot several times a day, which if not undertaken eventually results in the infamous " is not responding" message when explorer has grabbed all memory (ram and disk page) and claimed all CPU cycles ... which it won't even release to allow a graceful reboot.

The "everything" add on has just indexed 311GB's of data on an external 1TB USB Seagate GoFlex drive in real quick time ... don't know exactly how long as it took to complete because when I went to check on it a couple of minutes after pointing the app to the seagate drive it was finished.

However, it doesn't deep dive into the archive content ... simply indexing the archive file itself, not it's content. I think this is a small price to pay if the CPU and memory are not hogged and one should always keep a register of archive names, descriprion and content anyway. My lowest spec PC (an ACER 5720, with only 1GB of ram and an old 1.5GHz Centrino processor), is currently sitting at 96% idle for CPU overall, 20% free memory and explorer only consuming 13.5MB if memory and 1% of CPU. "everyhting" has consumed 58.8MB of memory having indexed both the 100GB C: drive and the 1TB Seagate drive.

If you have hit the explorer.exe cpu/memory problem, which also affects XP, then switch off the windows index facility and download the "everything" add-on - also this old laptop spec is not that different to the entry level notebooks, so the "everything" add on should be ok for you too.

Add-ins for Excel that allow realtive novices to employ sophisticated functions not present in Excel. For example one app. extracts every Nth row of a table into another table for summarizing data.

I have been using these addins for years, especially Envelopes and Labels for Outlook. It Makes printing envelopes and labels from any combination of Outlook Contacts a breeze. I also keep all my Outlook Categories organised with Aladdins Categoriez.

http://www.software-solutions.co.nz/

Proposal Pack Wizard Software
Details
Provided by:Cyber Sea, Inc. Product:Word Listing type:Download Cost:Paid
Rating: 1.9 out of 5
I would expect a higher rating from a pying add-in...
Did you actualy try any of these before posting?

for this article? I would be nice to keep it all in one place so we can all benefit.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-cool-add-ins-for-office-2007-and-2010/2455?tag=nl.e042
http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-344128-3447627?tag=content;forum-table

I like the Save as PDF or XPS addin for Office 2007. Very handy for sending out documents that anyone can get a Reader to use.

Programs or Add-ins like iSpring Pro (regularly $249) may be great, but I would like the person who suggests an add-in to indicate what the price is. This will save us going to the web site and then hunting around to find the web page which actually shows a price. Had I known the price I would not have bothered to go to the web site as it is too expensive for my taste.

For years we've used a product called "Aladdins Envelopes and Labels" - some time back, we switched from Outlook to Thunderbird, but after two years, we purchased 7 copies of Office 2007 (a pretty big investment for a small operation like ours), and one of the main reasons was that Aladdins doesn't support Thunderbird.

Aladdins Envelopes and Labels will create and address envelopes, allow the user to maintain templates with logos, etc. I've looked at a lot of 'envelope' and 'label' programs but haven't found anything that does what this product does - and it's not expensive at all. I use it for everything from sending single postcards for past-due accounts, to sending a hundred or so Christmas cards. You simply highlight the contacts you want to make an envelope/label for, and select the template. Very easy. And even though the company is based all the way in New Zealand, the support for the product has been a refreshingly pleasant experience. www.software-solutions.co.nz

I too would have really liked to see the list price of the recommendations (since I'm on a $0.00 computing budget right now).

I'm pleased to see (free) Everything at the top of the list, even if it isn't really an office "add-in". I've been recommending it to people for years. Since it does not index the content of the files (which is why the MS search tool is such a CPU PIG), I have gotten into the habit of adding prefix and suffix tags to file names to help group them by subject.

My top recommendation for Office addin is the (free) Search command addin, from MS
Search Command Addon - 2007 & 2010 www.officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx . It adds a "search tab" to the apps so you can type a command name and pick from a list of potential matches. As well, you have the option of displaying the path to the commands in the popup so you can use it as a learning tool too.

Office Watch Word Command Finder - http://news.office-watch.com/commandlist/Word_2010.aspx - This is a free web based command search tool for Word 2010 only (at this time). Obviously It presents the results in a different format than the MS tool.

The next 2 are free applets from MS that displays a 2003 menu. You click on your "missing" command, and the applet morphs to display it's location in a 2007/2010 ribbon.

Map 2003 menu to 2007 Ribbon Flash Applets, spreadsheets - https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/guides-to-the-ribbon-use-office-2003-menus-to-learn-the-office-2007-user-interface-HA010229584.aspx

Map 2003 menu to 2010 Ribbon Siliverlight applets and spreadsheets- https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/learn-where-menu-and-toolbar-commands-are-in-office-2010-and-related-products-HA101794130.aspx?CTT=3

This is a free booklet. Stop Clicking and Exploring Excel 2007 like a Newbie - http://www.scribd.com/doc/29093109/Stop-Clicking-Exploring-Excel-Ribbon-Like-Newbie - Although it is written for Excel, the general principals starting around page 10 apply to any Ribbonized app. It puts you in a better frame of mind about the ribbon gooey, especially if you hate it (like I still do...)

This is a free web page that has hundreds of links to blogs describing the development of the ribbon. The Office UI Bible - http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/10/09/58 - This page has 100???s of links to the blog of the MS Manager in-charge of Designing the Ribbon Gooey. It is literally, more than you ever wanted to know about the ???Why???s??? of the Ribbon (whether you agree with them or not ).

Can anyone say if the FreeFileViewer places a lock on files it is reading? That is currently an issue with the Windows Explorer Preview Pane. If you are previewing a file, it can only be opened "read only"

Susan, thanks for a good list. I always enjoy seeing the extra goodies that show up in the comments.

... I was aware of, but the comprehensiveness of this list was most appreciated by me and I couldn't help but take the time to kindly and warmly offer my most sincere thanks, darling! Outdoor Lights | Landscape Lighting Ideas | Install Outdoor Motion Detector Light Switch

I can think of a couple of other ones which I find useful for Excel by AppsPro that are free to boot. These are:
1) XY Charts Labels (http://www.appspro.com/Utilities/ChartLabeler.htm) which allows you to specify custom labels for points in bulk. Instead of being stuck with just using the X and/or y values you can use any data-range in a worksheet.
2) Excel Utilities (http://www.appspro.com/Utilities/ExcelUtilities.htm) which gives you a number of tools missing from Excel 2007 and 2010.