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Microsoft® Office
ReviewerΓÇÖs Guide
                                                             for Windows® 95
May 1995

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Table of Contents

Introducing Microsoft Office for Windows 95          2
Design Goals of Office for Windows 95                7
Making the Transition to Office 95 Easy            26
System Requirements for Microsoft Office 95        27
Conclusion                                         29

Introducing Microsoft Office for Windows 95

This Reviewers Guide is designed to assist in your evaluation of Microsoft®
Office Professional for the Microsoft® Windows® 95 operating system
including the CD-ROM version, Microsoft Office Professional & Bookshelf® 95
CD-ROM reference library for Windows 95.  It will help you understand where
the product has been and where it is going.  Additional reviewers guides,
enhancement guides and self-guided product tours are available separately
for Office 95 and each of the individual Office 95 applications.
Specifically, this reviewers guide discusses the following:

ΓÇó The evolution of Microsoft Office
ΓÇó The major trends in the office suite category
ΓÇó The design goals for Office 95
ΓÇó How Office 95 delivers on those goals
ΓÇó How Office 95 makes the transition easy

Since its introduction in 1988, more than 11 million users have bought
Microsoft Office, making it the worldΓÇÖs most popular office suite of
business productivity applications.  Users have responded to OfficeΓÇÖs best-
of-breed applications, use of innovative technology to automate common
tasks, ability to share information among applications, and robust
environment for custom solutions.

Microsoft Office 95 provides full version upgrades of its entire suite of
the industryΓÇÖs proven best-of-breed applications:  Microsoft Word for
Windows 95, Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, the Microsoft PowerPoint®
presentation graphics program for Windows 95, Microsoft Access for Windows
95 and ΓÇö new to Microsoft Office ΓÇö Microsoft Schedule+ for Windows 95.

In addition, Microsoft Office Professional & Bookshelf 95 for Windows 95
provides the growing number of CD-ROM users with enhanced online reference
tools available in Bookshelf 95 and tighter integration with Office 95,
making it the most complete set of desktop application productivity tools
available.

The new Microsoft Office 95 builds on the following key areas:

ΓÇó Optimized for the 32-bit Windows operating system.  Office for Windows 95
  is designed to take full advantage of Windows 95, the newest 32-bit
  Windows operating system, and the Microsoft Windows NTΓäó Workstation
  operating system, version 3.51, the newest update to the Windows NT
  platform.

ΓÇó Microsoft Office 95 is designed to maximize the Windows 32-bit
  environment so that users can enjoy the full potential of their PCs.
  Windows 95 combines a more intuitive user interface, easier access to
  information, better resource management and multi-tasking capabilities to
  provide a superb environment for office suite users. Office 95 also
  supports Windows NT Workstation 3.51, which is designed for users who need
  to run higher-end mission-critical applications with added security
  capabilities.
ΓÇó Make It Easier So People Can Focus on Their Work.  Office 95, with second-
  generation IntelliSenseΓäó technology, now goes even further to anticipate
  user commands, assist during complex tasks and make product functionality
  more discoverable.  Users gain the freedom to focus on their work, not
  their software, with enhanced automation and discoverability.
ΓÇó Provide Office Users with a More Seamless Environment.  Office 95ΓÇÖs new
  OfficeLinks tools allow users to share information more seamlessly among
  applications.  In Office 95, OfficeLinks has been expanded to support
  second-generation OLE object technology and new integration scenarios, for
  example between Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access.  This enables users
  to focus on their projects and not on a specific set of tools.
ΓÇó Help Users Communicate Better in an Increasingly Connected World.  Office
  95 is designed to provide users with the tools and ability to exchange and
  access information regardless of where it resides, and to communicate with
  computer users everywhere.  Office 95 provides great networking and
  workgroup support ΓÇö but it goes beyond those niches to be the best office
  suite for a broad range of communications, work environments and Internet-
  based uses.
ΓÇó Provide The Building Blocks For Creating Robust Custom Solutions.  Office
  95 makes it even easier to create better, faster and more cost-effective
  custom solutions based on Office 95 applications.  With enhanced support
  for The Visual Basic® programming system, OLE, Data Access Objects (DAO)
  and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Office 95 provides a robust set of
  building blocks for custom business-solution development.


The Evolution of Microsoft Office

When Microsoft Office was first introduced in 1988, it was designed to
provide users with a cost-effective way to purchase a set of leading
desktop applications.  Initially Microsoft Office was based more on a
marketing strategy than a technical strategy; nonetheless, demand for
Office grew as users increasingly wanted to use multiple applications at
the same time.  Today, users expect to be able to use multiple applications
at the same time and they demand increased consistency and integration in
those applications.  In response to this customer demand, Microsoft focused
its desktop applications strategy on delivering an office suite product
that would go far beyond a packaged box of individual applications.

Microsoft delivered its first product based on this new technical strategy
with Microsoft Office 4.3.  Office 4.3 revolutionized the office suite
category by providing customers with a tightly integrated, best-of-breed
family of applications in a single box.  Microsoft Office 4.3 established
Office as a cohesive technical product, rather than simply a convenient
marketing package.

Microsoft Office 4.3 introduced new technology standards in the following
areas:

ΓÇó IntelliSense technology automates routine tasks and simplifies complex
  tasks.  Office 4.3 introduced a new level of automation to users through
  IntelliSense technology.  IntelliSense automated some of the most common
  tasks through such capabilities as AutoCorrect, AutoFormat, AutoFilter and
  AutoReport.  This advance in intelligent automation of everyday tasks
  enabled users to get more work done in less time.  IntelliSense technology
  also helped users to simplify complex tasks, resulting in greater
  competency and satisfaction.  Wizards gave users step-by-step guidance
  through potentially difficult tasks such as the creation of newsletters,
  presentations, PivotTable® dynamic views and database tables.  The result:
   non-expert users could accomplish more advanced tasks.
ΓÇó OfficeLinks and OLE 2.0 provide tight integration.  With the introduction
  of OfficeLinks, users were able to focus more on their projects and less
  on the specific tools they were using.  Office 4.3 introduced a new level
  of consistency across the Microsoft Office business productivity
  applications with common menus, toolbars and dialog boxes.  This
  consistency allowed users to use their learning in multiple applications.

ΓÇó Office 4.3 also took a dramatic step forward with tight application
  integration, which made it easier to share information.  OfficeLinks tools
  such as Report It, Present It and Merge It provided built-in functionality
  to exchange and access data or text between Office applications.  In
  addition, Office 4.3 pioneered the use of OLE 2.0 technology, providing
  users with a more seamless ability to share information among
  applications.  Robust OLE 2.0 support enabled users to drag and drop
  objects (for example, Microsoft Excel chart or Word paragraph) between
  applications and edit those objects in place.
ΓÇó Robust set of tools for custom solutions development.  Office 4.3
  introduced users to a powerful set of tools for a complete development
  environment, including Visual Basic programming system, Applications
  Edition ΓÇö a robust programming language based on the popular the Visual
  Basic programming language ΓÇö and support for OLE Automation, the enabling
  technology for accessing and controlling reusable components.  This
  combination of technologies and best-of-breed tools in each Office
  application allowed end users, developers and consultants to create
  powerful robust line of business applications that took advantage of the
  rich set of functionality available in Microsoft Office.


The Office Suite Category Today

Over the past couple of years, many trends have transformed the desktop
applications category in dramatic ways.  The following key trends continue
to shape the product development and contribute significantly to the design
of Microsoft Office 95:

ΓÇó Windows 95.  Windows 95, the next major upgrade to Microsoft Windows-
  based system software, will make current PC tasks easier and new tasks
  possible, based on the new Windows 32-bit architecture, enhanced user
  interface and range of new technologies.  Current 16-bit Windows-based
  applications will run on Windows 95; however, developers will need to
  redesign applications in order to take full advantage of the enhancements
  offered in Windows 95. Users have told Microsoft that they expect
  applications that not only support Windows 95, but also go the extra mile
  to take full advantage of the enhanced Windows 95 environment.
ΓÇó Continued need for easier-to-use applications.  Increasingly, software is
  used by a wider array of users for a broader range of projects on a much
  more frequent basis.  Desktop applications need to enable a wider spectrum
  of users to easily use the PC to complete tasks with a minimum of training
  and expertise.

ΓÇó While desktop software has become a more integral part of peopleΓÇÖs jobs,
  those people havenΓÇÖt increased their desire to become technical experts.
  Most people are not interested in learning the intricacies of the
  computer; rather, they just want to use it to get their jobs done. While
  applications in the early 1990s have made great strides in automation,
  integration and ease of use, desktop productivity applications still are
  not as easy to use as users would like.  More than 28 percent of the
  entire U.S. population says it is still intimidated by computers (source:
  IntelliQuestΓÇÖs National Computing Survey, March 1995).
ΓÇó Office users continue to rank ΓÇ£making the applications easier to useΓÇ¥ as
  one of the top requests for future versions of Office (source: Microsoft
  Office Registered Users Base Study, August 1994).  In many cases, people
  are not using the full potential of their current applications in the most
  efficient manner.  For example, while 70 percent of Word 6.0 users create
  documents with bullets, only 40 percent use WordΓÇÖs AutoBullet feature
  (source:  Microsoft Word Registered Users Base Study, March 1994).  An
  applicationΓÇÖs behavior needs to be more intuitive and ideally adapt its
  functionality to the way users work.
ΓÇó Users expect tighter integration among all applications. Today, more than
  60 percent of all word processors and spreadsheets are sold through office
  suite packages.  More specifically, in 1994, more than 75 percent of
  Microsoft Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0 and Word 6.0 sales were sold through
  Microsoft Office (source:  Microsoft Office Internal Sales Tracking,
  February 1995).  The ability to easily share text, data and graphics
  continues to be the top reason why users decide to purchase an office
  suite product (source: IntelliQuestΓÇÖs Software Purchase Process &
  Segmentation Study, March 1995).  While Office 4.3 pioneered consistency
  and tight integration in the suite category, users expect more integration
  within office applications, as well as with third-party products.
ΓÇó Users are working in a more connected environment.  As networking, client-
  server-based custom solutions and online access continue to penetrate the
  PC desktop, users are increasingly looking to locate and access the full
  array of information available to them ΓÇö whether that information is on a
  local server, wide area network or the World Wide Web.  According to the
  Office Usage Study, more than 51 percent of Office 4.0 users in the
  workplace are connected to other computers through local area networks
  (LANs) (source:  PC Watch, December 1994).  Not only are people connected
  within local groups, but increasingly across the far-reaching Internet.
  International Data Corp. (IDC) estimates that roughly 500,000 new Internet
  users are coming online every month.  IDC has also stated that it expects
  the Internet will experience a 93 percent annual growth rate, amounting to
  128 million users by 1997 (source:  International Data Corp.ΓÇÖs  Market
  Opportunities in the Era of Internet Commercialization, 1994).  In this
  increasingly connected world, desktop applications must provide tools and
  support a variety of industry standards that make it easy to locate,
  share, edit and manage information regardless of where the information
  resides.
ΓÇó Demand for great tools for application customization continues to
  increase.  As organizations of all sizes invest in information technology,
  there is increased demand to take advantage of the investment in desktop
  applications to create customized business solutions.  Starting with
  Office 4.3, Microsoft Office has provided the tools and technology that
  people need to create custom business solutions from the available
  building-blocks of Office applications.  As a result of providing these
  programming tools and enabling technologies, more than 500,000 developers
  worldwide currently use Microsoft Office to create custom solutions for
  their customers.  Increasingly, these developers demand greater tools and
  support to more easily create business solutions for their customers.  For
  example, one of the most requested areas of functionality in Microsoft
  Access and Microsoft Excel was enhanced programmability.
ΓÇó Users expect better performance. Application performance affects all
  areas of the product and dramatically affects customer satisfaction.
  Users want to experience better performance with a minimum of changes to
  their current hardware configurations.  They want PCs and applications
  that will allow them to run multiple applications, often simultaneously,
  without the concern of running out of system requirements.
ΓÇó Migration to new versions of applications is too difficult.  As users and
  organizations look to take advantage of software upgrades, they must also
  consider the migration costs of those upgrades.  Desktop applications must
  make it easier for people and organizations to easily migrate to new
  versions of the product by providing them with technology information,
  support and tools.


Research-Driven Design to Meet User Needs

Responding to key market trends is but one component contributing to new
product directions at Microsoft.  The other is a comprehensive, systematic
research effort that includes analysis of product support data, user
surveys, controlled usability laboratory studies and field research.

Desktop application usage continues to expand.  Microsoft must find better
ways to closely track current usage and discover the unarticulated needs of
its current and potential users.  Microsoft continually examines the design
process and looks for better ways to understand users and their evolving
computing needs.  Ongoing research is conducted to understand what users
want to accomplish with their software and how they want to accomplish it.
This research is the basis for the companyΓÇÖs user-driven design process,
which enables Microsoft to understand how people use the products and
ultimately build better products to meet customer needs. The research
includes the following types of information gathering and analysis:


ΓÇó Product support call data.  Each day, more than 20,000 calls are logged
  into the Microsoft database of Product Support Services issues.  Each call
  is documented and cataloged so trends and feature-related issues can be
  identified and quickly addressed.  Prior to each product release,
  developers identify the product features and aspects that generate the
  most support calls and then work to create enhancements that eliminate the
  top 10 causes of support calls.  For example, one of the top reasons for
  Microsoft Excel 5.0 calls to PSS was userΓÇÖs inability to understand the
  number formatting options.  In Microsoft Excel 95, Microsoft revamped the
  number formatting options to make them more intuitive.
ΓÇó Usage studies.  Each year, Microsoft polls thousands of Office users
  about their use, satisfaction and current product preferences.  This
  research is also conducted for each of the individual Office applications
  and even includes research on non-Microsoft application users.  In total,
  the Microsoft Desktop Applications organization conducted a dozen usage
  studies in 1994 alone.
ΓÇó Instrumented version data.  Each year, Microsoft sends selected users
  special ΓÇ£instrumented versionsΓÇ¥ of Microsoft Office.  The ΓÇ£instrumented
  versionΓÇ¥ of the product includes a database that tracks every user action,
  including mouse clicks, keystrokes and dialog box selections ΓÇö in the
  background ΓÇö as users work.  This detailed quantifiable data is tracked in
  a database and gives Microsoft insight into what features users access,
  how they access them, and how frequently a feature gets used.  In
  preparation for Office 95, more than 3 million user actions, more than
  double that of Office 4.3, were recorded in instrumented version
  databases.   This enabled Microsoft developers to focus on enhancing the
  features most important to users and to provide easy access to the most-
  frequently used features.  For example, instrumented version data from
  Microsoft Excel 5.0 shows that users had difficulty opening the Cell Notes
  annotations left by other users.  So, Microsoft re-engineered Cell Notes
  for Microsoft Excel 95.  Now, Cell Notes automatically pop up when users
  pause the mouse over an annotated cell.
ΓÇó Contextual Inquiry (CI).  Contextual Inquiry (CI) research is a new
  technique for Microsoft designers, who have been specially trained in the
  research technique by consultant experts; Office 95 is the first version
  of Microsoft Office to incorporate this type of research.  During the past
  18 months, the developers of Office have used CI ΓÇö a technique based on
  social anthropology ΓÇö to help them better understand in a broad sense how
  computers play an integral role in the work day of users.  This approach
  enables development and design teams to learn about the entire process of
  creating a document or spreadsheet ΓÇö not just about a specific featureΓÇÖs
  use.

ΓÇó This time-intensive research included visiting more than 300 customer
  sites and, with minimal interruption, watching how users worked.  First a
  team of designers spends a day observing a user throughout his work day.
  The Microsoft observer is taught to track how the user completes a task
  and how he gets information, and even documents the physical layout of the
  userΓÇÖs workspace.  After each of these visits, a team of Microsoft
  designers meets in Redmond to discuss the findings from the visits.  The
  Microsoft observer provides a rich description of the userΓÇÖs work
  environment, flow of information and work process.  During each of these
  debriefings, keys observations are documented.  These observations are
  collected and grouped together by common trends after a series of visits.
  These trends and common learnings are then used as the foundation for
  product design enhancements and development.
ΓÇó For example, the new Office Binders feature (see below) was a direct
  result of this process.  It was based on CI identification of usersΓÇÖ needs
  to electronically organize the process of collecting, analyzing,
  preparing, and distributing documents which include multiple file types.
ΓÇó Activities-Based Planning (ABP).  While CI Research helps to identify new
  concepts for further investigation, it also helps to identify key product
  activity areas, for example, mail merge in Word or list management in
  Microsoft Excel, for more focused probing with ABP.  ABP includes more
  traditional on-site visits by Microsoft teams, who talk with users at
  their workplaces about how they use specific areas within their
  applications.  For example, after ABP visits Microsoft discovered that one
  demanding task for users of PowerPoint was the follow-up after a
  presentation.  Consequently, Microsoft added innovative tools to
  PowerPoint 95 to help users more easily track action items during and
  after meetings.  Now, presenters can be more efficient, thorough,
  productive and prepared for subsequent presentations in follow-up
  meetings.  For Office 95, Microsoft developers conducted ABP visits at
  more than 300 sites.
ΓÇó Usability Testing.  To ensure that Office 95 works the way users work,
  Microsoft spent more than 14,000 hours testing new features and designs
  for all the Office applications ΓÇö nearly twice as many hours than were
  spent in usability testing for Office 4.3.  Software users of varying
  proficiency levels were brought into the usability labs and asked to
  create a document, spreadsheet or database or to accomplish a particular
  task.  Developers watched and listened as the users worked with new or
  proposed features and interface elements.  Wherever the user had
  difficulties, the developer refined the design and re-tested it until it
  met usability requirements.  For instance, usability testing helped to
  refine Office 95ΓÇÖs IntelliSense enhancements, including Answer Wizard,
  animation of WordΓÇÖs new background AutoFormat and Microsoft AccessΓÇÖs
  Filter by Selection.
ΓÇó Benchmarking lab.  One feature area across all desktop applications
  affects everything else ΓÇö performance.  In developing Office 95, Microsoft
  improved the performance benchmarking process, which previously was done
  near the end of the development cycle.  Today, throughout the development
  process, Office 95 is run through performance benchmarks in the Microsoft
  Desktop Applications Division Labs (DADLab).  This enables developers to
  track how specific code changes affect performance and to make necessary
  adjustments earlier in the development process.  The result is that Office
  95 users will see performance as good as ΓÇö and frequently better than ΓÇö
  that which they experienced with Office 4.3, without an increase in memory
  requirements.
ΓÇó Quality assurance.  To meet rising customer expectations, Microsoft must
  offer software with unprecedented product quality.  In developing Office
  95, Microsoft reorganized its testing and development teams, pairing
  developers with testers from the beginning of the design process to
  identify and correct potential problems earlier in the development process
  rather than waiting for final code to test. Testers review feature designs
  and identify potential problems before code is even written.  In addition,
  testers develop automated tests that developers must pass before they can
  submit code for testing review.  This process enables the development team
  to more efficiently design, develop and release high-quality software in a
  timely manner.


Design Goals of Office for Windows 95

To develop the design goals for Office 95, Microsoft developers considered
previous product development, current industry trends and the results of
the user driven development in-depth research.  Taken together, this
information shaped the design goals for Microsoft Office 95.  Those goals
included the following:

ΓÇó Take Full Advantage of Windows 95.  Beyond offering standard support for
  Windows 95 or releasing a simple port of MicrosoftΓÇÖs  current 16-bit
  applications, Office 95 is designed to take full advantage of the new
  interface, architecture and technology enhancements that make Windows 95
  an easy-to-use and productivity-enhancing operating system for every PC
  user.  MicrosoftΓÇÖs goal is to make Office 95 the best office suite for
  Windows 95.
ΓÇó Make It Easier So People Can Focus on Their Work.  This includes making
  Office features more ΓÇ£discoverable,ΓÇ¥ so that users can be more self-
  sufficient in using them and focus on their work rather than on their
  software.  Office 95 is designed to reduce the steps required to complete
  a task and dramatically reduce the taskΓÇÖs complexity.  Office 95 offers
  enhanced and expanded IntelliSense technology to adapt and respond in
  customized ways as users work with Office 95.
ΓÇó Provide Office Users with a More Seamless Environment.  Office 95 takes
  even greater advantage of shared code, shared components and integration
  among Office applications for a more consistent and seamless environment.
  In Office 95, integration goes beyond the Office family of applications
  and includes third-party Office Compatible software products.
ΓÇó Help Users Communicate Better in an Increasingly Connected World.  Office
  95 not only helps users create, analyze and present information, but also
  facilitates the processes of accessing, distributing, collaborating and
  viewing of information in an increasingly connected world.
ΓÇó Provide The Building Blocks For Creating Robust Custom Solutions.  Office
  95 continues to provide users with expanded support for Visual Basic for
  Applications and greater support for the object model, to facilitate the
  creation of powerful and effective custom development.


Design Goal One:  Take Full Advantage of Windows 95

Windows 95 is a great advance for PC users of virtually all skill levels.
It makes current tasks easier, new tasks possible and PC computing more
fun.  Office 95 is designed to take maximum advantage of the new
performance, architecture, features and user interface of Windows 95, and
is designed to be the best possible Windows 95 office suite.

ΓÇó 32-bit environment support.  Office 95 applications are full 32-bit
  applications that take advantage of the greater system resources,
  robustness and multitasking capabilities of Windows 95 for improved
  performance.  Pre-emptive multi-tasking enables users to conduct file
  searches, online communications or other tasks, all while smoothly editing
  a document or a spreadsheet.
ΓÇó Multi-threading.  Microsoft has also implemented multi-threading ΓÇö for
  operations such as faster printing in Microsoft PowerPoint and Word or
  database queries in Microsoft Access ΓÇö which enables a user to do multiple
  actions within the same application simultaneously.
ΓÇó Application speed.  Having gained valuable experience from the previous
  release of 32-bit Windows-based applications ΓÇöMicrosoft Excel and Word for
  Windows NT ΓÇö Office 95 developers have enhanced the Office code for the
  richer 32-bit environment for enhanced performance benefits.  As a result,
  users will experience increased performance in several of the most common
  functions throughout Office.  For example, opening or paging through
  documents is quicker.  Microsoft Excel 95ΓÇÖs recalculation engine, in
  particular, has been redesigned for the 32-bit environment to handle
  calculations 30 to 50 percent  faster on average, making it the fastest
  spreadsheet to date.
ΓÇó Consistent user interface.  Users of Office 4.3 will feel right at home
  with Windows 95, because many of the interface enhancements pioneered in
  Office 4.3 ΓÇö such as tabbed dialog boxes, tool tips and shortcut menus ΓÇö
  have now been implemented in Windows 95.  All toolbars and dialog boxes
  have been updated for the new design of Windows 95.  In addition, the
  increased animation of Windows 95 can be found in the form of smooth
  animated scrolling in Office 95.  Support of the Windows 95 shell lets
  users double-click a template in the Windows shell to create a new Office
  file of any type (document, spreadsheet, presentation, etc.).  File
  properties and first-page thumbnail scans can also be browsed in the
  Windows shell, letting users preview files without having to launch
  applications or open the files.
ΓÇó Long file names.  Office 95 is designed to take advantage of the support
  in Windows 95 for 250-character long file names.  Now users can create
  long file names for any of their Office files.
ΓÇó Shortcut technology.  Users of Office 95 can take advantage of Shortcut
  technology that makes it easy to access documents or sections of documents
  using a shortcut (similar to a file pointer than can be placed anywhere on
  the desktop).  Office 95 not only allows users to create shortcuts to any
  document type, but with its enhanced support, users can also create
  shortcuts to a specific page of a Word document, or to a worksheet with a
  Microsoft Excel file or a form within a Microsoft Access database.  The
  result is that users can quickly and easily navigate their way to a
  specific location within a file.
ΓÇó Scrap technology.  Just as workers might copy a note or memo and leave it
  on their desks for later reference and use, Office 95 users now can drag
  and drop a sentence or paragraph, spreadsheet cell range, presentation
  elements or database entries to the Windows desktop for easy use and
  reuse.
ΓÇó Briefcase support.  Office 95 provides full support for the Windows 95
  Briefcase, making it an ideal office suite for users who move files
  between a desktop/network PC and notebook PC and who need to keep the most
  up-to-date files on the computer theyΓÇÖre using at the moment.  Today,
  users commonly compare the date-stamps on files and manually copy them
  from one machine to another.  But thatΓÇÖs a tedious and error-prone
  process.  The Briefcase minimizes headaches such as these by synchronizing
  the different versions of a file whether they are on the same hard drive
  or on the network.  The user specifies which files and directories he or
  she wants to synchronize by moving the files into the Briefcase.  When the
  user reconnects the portable to the network or desktop PC, the Briefcase
  can be used to automatically update the new file with the master version.
  For example, Microsoft Access 95 enables users to make changes to a
  database on the road and then synchronize the changes with the master
  database when theyΓÇÖre back in the office.  Microsoft Access 95 even takes
  it a step further and manages the replication and conflict resolution of
  the record on the different versions of the database.  For example,
  multiple users can update the master database, thus updating each of the
  record by record changes checked in several users for easier database
  management across multiple users.
ΓÇó Explorer view.  One of the many interface innovations of Windows 95 is
  the Explorer, which provides a faster, fuller, more intuitive way to view
  and manage file organization.  Office 95 fully supports this innovation.
  Views in the File Open dialog are the same as in Explorer, including Large
  Icons, Small Icons, List, and Details.  Users can select a file to be
  opened, preview a thumbnail representation of it, and open it while
  automatically running its application for editing or data manipulation.
ΓÇó Microsoft Network Support. Users of Office 95 can automatically connect
  to The Microsoft Network (providing they have subscribed to the service)
  and get additional product help if they need it.  All Office applications
  have a Microsoft Network menu item on the Help menu.  Once the user visits
  a Microsoft forum on MSN, that forum appears in the MSN shortcut menu.
  Users also have the option of creating shortcuts in Windows 95 that go
  directly to specific areas on MSN, and adding those shortcuts to any
  Office 95 Help menu.
ΓÇó Plug and Play support.  The Plug and Play architecture that makes PCs
  easier to set up and use is supported in Office 95.  Office 95 supports
  screen resolution changes from Plug and Play along with any system changes
  that result from a user accessing Plug and Play (such as adding memory,
  sound cards or hard disks, etc.).


Design Goal Two:  Make It Easier So People Can Focus on Their Work

As a broader array of people use Microsoft Office as an integral part of
their work day, Microsoft must continue to focus on making it easier for
them to quickly and easily use the full power of their applications in the
most effective manner.  In Office 4.3, Microsoft took a dramatic step
forward in addressing this functionality with IntelliSense technology and
features such as AutoCorrect, AutoFill and Wizards.  The second-generation
of IntelliSense technology makes Office 95 even easier to use and enables
people to more readily discover untapped functionality within Office.  As a
result, users can focus on getting their work done with less frustration
and not focus on the tools they need.


Making Everyday Tasks Automatic

Office 95 focuses relentlessly on finding better ways to automate and
simplify everyday tasks, such as spelling, formatting, filtering and data
entry.  The goal is to provide the broad base of users with intelligent
tools that dramatically improve their ability to complete tasks and get
their work done faster.

ΓÇó Spell-It.  Spell-checking is one of the most common tasks done within a
  word processor, with more than 94 percent of users spell-checking their
  documents (Source: Microsoft Word Instrumented Version Study, June 1994).
  Word 95 redefines this task by automatically spell-checking documents as a
  user types.  This eliminates the time-consuming spell-checking of a
  document after itΓÇÖs completed.  Word 95 takes advantage of the idle time
  available during document creation to automate the task and provides
  instant right click access to suggestions for the correct spellings as a
  user types.  No longer is spell-checking restricted to an action most
  commonly done at a documentΓÇÖs completion.  Even if a user chooses to view
  the spell-check only after the document is drafted, Spell-It already will
  have checked the document for misspellings.  So, when the user does run
  the spell-checker, Word has already identified which words are misspelled
  and can quickly suggest corrections, making the process dramatically
  faster.
ΓÇó AutoFormat as users type.  Microsoft research into formatting revealed
  that users like visual feedback on the formatting of their documents as
  they type, and that many users donΓÇÖt know where or how to access
  formatting functionality (such as the numbering feature and borders
  features in Word) and thus they resort to standard typewriter defaults.
  Word 95 automatically formats documents with lists, borders, symbols,
  fractions and headings as users type, creating formatted documents without
  requiring users to take their hands from the keyboard.

  ΓÇó Numbered lists are automatically created when the user types a number
    followed by a blank space and text.
  ΓÇó Bulleted lists are automatically created when a user types in a symbol
    such as *, o or > followed by a blank space and text.
  ΓÇó Horizontal borders are automatically created when more than three of the
    common character substitutes are used on a single line (===, ---, ___ )
  ΓÇó Proper ordinals (1st) and fractions (┬╜) are automatically generated when
    the user types ΓÇ£1stΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£1/2.ΓÇ¥
  ΓÇó Headings are created when the users types a short line without
    punctuation followed by two carriage returns.
  ΓÇó Smart or ΓÇ£typographicΓÇ¥ quotes are automatically created, and Word 95 is
    smart enough to properly handle quote marks, such as the mark used in
    the ΓÇÖ95. (HINT: ΓÇÿ95 is incorrect).

ΓÇó Enhanced AutoCorrect ΓÇö The AutoCorrect feature formerly found only in
  Word 6.0 is now available throughout  Office 95.  AutoCorrect will fix the
  userΓÇÖs common typos or common misspellings on the fly, as a user types.
  Common typographical errors are automatically corrected, for example,
  forgetting to capitalize the first letter of a sentence.  AutoCorrect will
  also expand user- list), it is possible to type MS and MSΓÇÖs to achieve
  Microsoft and Microsoft’s. Likewise, typing MS(r) will yield Microsoft®.

  ΓÇó The TWo INitial CAps rule is much smarter in Word 95. It no longer
    mistakenly corrects CDs, PCs, MHz, or any other TWo initial capitals
    pattern which does not contain vowels. This dramatically reduces the
    number of false ΓÇÿcorrections.ΓÇÖ
  ΓÇó Accidental usage of the CAPS lock key is automatically corrected.  For
    example, when typing ΓÇ£tHISΓÇ¥ with the CAPS LOCK key depressed,
    AutoCorrect will automatically change the typing to ΓÇ£ThisΓÇ¥ and turn off
    the CAPS LOCK key.
  ΓÇó Word 95 is much more flexible with regard to AutoCorrect expansion. In
    addition to the spacebar (which is all that Word 6.0 recognized),
    punctuation, apostrophes and other delimiter characters now
    automatically trigger AutoCorrect expansion.  This allows the symbol
    expansion described above as well as possessive expansions.  For example
    (with ΓÇ£MS(MicrosoftΓÇ¥ in your list), it is possible to type ΓÇ£MSΓÇ¥ and
    ΓÇ£MSΓÇÖsΓÇ¥ to achieve ΓÇ£MicrosoftΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£MicrosoftΓÇÖs.ΓÇ¥  Likewise, typing
    “MS(r)” will yield “Microsoft®.”

ΓÇó Exceptions List ΓÇö Word 95 now tracks and automatically adds exceptions to
  an AutoCorrect Exceptions list on the fly, as the user works.  AutoCorrect
  Exceptions are designed to learn from the user and modify its behavior
  automatically to adjust to the userΓÇÖs needs. Just backspace over an
  AutoCorrect correction and Word 95 automatically puts it on the exceptions
  list.  The next time you type that same entry, Word 95ΓÇÖs AutoCorrect will
  recognize the entry and override the AutoCorrect rule.
ΓÇó AutoComplete.  In Microsoft Excel 5.0, Microsoft allowed customers to
  create their own pre-defined lists to speed up data entry.  Customers
  asked for an even easier way to enter their own custom data, without
  having to set pre-defined lists.  In response, Microsoft provides
  AutoComplete in Office 95.  With AutoComplete, users simply type the first
  few letters of an entry into a cell, and Microsoft Excel for Windows 95
  automatically completes the entry based on an intelligent evaluation of
  other entries already made in that column.  This provides a more intuitive
  way for users to enter repetitive data.  ThereΓÇÖs no longer a need for ΓÇ£set
  upΓÇ¥ or the limitation of staying within pre-defined boundaries.

ΓÇó For users who feel more comfortable with the mouse, Microsoft Excel 95
  also offers alternative quick data entry access from the Pick from List
  option on the shortcut menu.  Pick from List enables users to simply click
  Pick from List on the shortcut menu and select from the list of entry
  options based on what has been entered already.
ΓÇó AutoCalculate.  Microsoft Excel 95 eliminates the need for temporary
  formulas and calculator work with AutoCalculate.  AutoCalculate calculates
  the sum of the cells that are selected.  The ΓÇ£selectionΓÇ¥ can be a single
  cell, a whole column or even multiple, non-contiguous ranges.
  AutoCalculate can be switched to show the sum, average, minimum, maximum,
  count of selection, or count of numeric selection.  The AutoCalculate
  result is conveniently displayed on the status bar.
ΓÇó AutoFilter Top 10 (AutoFilter, first introduced in Excel 5, provide easy
  and automatic tools for the over 70% of people who use Excel for managing
  lists. AutoFilter allows the user to view only those rows of a list that
  contain a specific value, for example all customers whole live in Asia.
  In studying how people use Excel 5 AutoFilter, we noticed that many times
  they wished to filter on fields that contain numerical data that isnΓÇÖt
  easy to ΓÇ£matchΓÇ¥. Excel 95ΓÇÖs AutoFilter therefore lets you pick a ΓÇ£Top 10ΓÇ¥
  filter. So instead of trying to figure out how to filter for population
  greater than 200,000,000, Top 10 Filter lets users specify a filter based
  on top (or bottom) values or relative percentages and does it
  automatically.
ΓÇó Filter by Selection.  Microsoft Access 95 makes it dramatically easier
  for users to locate database information quickly.  For simple filtering of
  information, users no longer need to build a query to locate information.
  Instead, with Filter by Selection, they need only highlight a selection in
  a datasheet or on a form and click Filter to locate the underlying data
  based on that selection.  For example, if a user wanted to see all
  customers in North Carolina, he or she would simply highlight North
  Carolina from any entry and click Filter.  Microsoft Access automatically
  locates the records that match that filter.  Users can also filter simply
  on ΓÇ£CarolinaΓÇ¥ or on states that begin with the letter ΓÇ£N.ΓÇ¥  Filter by
  Selection provides a flexible and intuitive interface to make it easy for
  users to create ad hoc filters of their data.
ΓÇó AutoFormat.  Similar to functionality available in Microsoft Excel and
  Word, Microsoft Access 95 can AutoFormat forms and reports to quickly
  deliver great-looking results.  AutoFormat will pull from the list of
  available styles and automatically change the form or report accordingly.
ΓÇó AutoPick.  AutoPick in Schedule+ 95 automates the planning of a meeting
  by automatically locating an available time slot for all selected
  attendees.  Instead of users having to spend time analyzing multiple
  schedules and determining the best time to hold meetings, AutoPick
  completes this task for the user.
ΓÇó Meeting Minder.  PowerPointΓÇÖs new Meeting Minder helps users automate the
  once-tedious task of tracking notes and action items during the course of
  a meeting. Presenters can capture discussion notes or action items simply
  by clicking the right mouse button during a presentation.  PowerPoint
  automatically creates an Action Item Slide for review at the end of your
  presentation.  In addition, presenters can export the meeting minutes and
  action items to a Word document later for better communication and follow-
  through after the meeting.
ΓÇó Style Checker.  PowerPointΓÇÖs new Style Checker will scan presentations
  and check for common presentation design problems, such as inconsistent or
  improper use of capitalization, spelling errors, font size problems and
  other stylistic issues.  The Style Checker makes it easy for a broad range
  of users to create great-looking, professional presentations without a lot
  of expertise.  The Style Checker can be customized to reflect a specific
  organizationΓÇÖs style rules.
ΓÇó Slide Navigator.  PowerPoint 95ΓÇÖs new Slide Navigator enables presenters
  to view a list of slides, complete with slide number and title, during
  their presentation.  The Slide Navigator allows presenters to quickly jump
  to a different slide to address an unexpected question.  The Slide
  Navigator also remembers which slide the presenter was on so that
  presenters can easily jump right back again.
ΓÇó Slide Miniatures.  PowerPointΓÇÖs black-and-white Slide Miniature lets
  users preview both the color and black-and-white versions of the same
  presentation at the same time.  The slide miniature provides a quick,
  unobtrusive (itΓÇÖs a miniature) way to view both displays simultaneously.
  When users zoom in to work on enlarged detail, the slide miniature shows
  the whole slide for a birdΓÇÖs eye view.
ΓÇó Animation Effects Toolbar ( PowerPoint for Windows 95 makes it easier
  than ever to apply preset extended animated builds to transform your plain
  text and graphics into dynamic builds with sound attached.  Users can
  easily apply flying effects and reverse builds to text and objects with
  one click of a button.
ΓÇó AutoClipArt.  Forty-four percent of presentations include only text, and
  miss out on the added impact that images can provide (Source: Microsoft
  PowerPoint Awareness and Usage Study, September, 1994).  For the creators
  of such presentations, the new AutoClipArt feature makes it easier than
  ever to add visual impact to a presentation.  AutoClipArt automatically
  selects appropriate clip art to complement and enhance the presentationΓÇÖs
  message by scanning the presentation for relevant key words.


Making Applications More Discoverable, So Users Can Learn As They Go

While applications include hundreds of features, most users use only a
fraction of the functionality available to them.  Most often, it is simply
because a user does not know that the functionality exists in the product.
MicrosoftΓÇÖs Wish Line database shows that more than 25 percent of the
feature requests that users make for future versions of the product are for
functionality that already exist in the current product. Clearly, one of
the best areas Microsoft can improve its products is to help users take
better advantage of their available tools.

ΓÇó Answer Wizard.  Until now, when users sought assistance, they had to pull
  down a menu, search through alphabetized entries or navigate their way
  through thousands of pages of reference material, hoping that they were
  thinking of the question in the same terms that the developers thought
  about the answer.  The Answer Wizard dramatically improves the process of
  providing assistance as users work.  Accessible from every Office 95
  application, it represents a dramatic step forward in allowing users to
  use common vocabulary to get assistance within their applications.  The
  Answer Wizard accepts questions phrased in standard English, interprets
  those questions with natural language processing and decision theory
  techniques, and takes the user to the appropriate help topics to answer
  them.  For example, if the user asks, ΓÇ£Show me how can I send out my
  Christmas cards?ΓÇ¥ the Answer Wizard displays the Help topic for Mail
  Merge.

ΓÇó The Answer Wizard makes it easier for users to get the assistance they
  need, when they need it, right from within the product, just as they would
  from a colleague down the hall. The Answer Wizard enables users to ask
  questions using their own vocabulary to quickly locate help from more than
  13,000 Help topics available within Office 95.
ΓÇó Expanded online assistance.  While the Answer Wizard enables a broad
  range of users to discover how to access the full potential of their
  software by making it easier to locate the help they need, Office 95 also
  provides dramatically expanded Help to assist people in completing tasks.
  Office 95 includes a dramatically more automated Help system that helps
  people complete a task much faster.  More than 20 percent of Office 95
  Help topics are automated ΓÇ£interactiveΓÇ¥ answers that guide a user through
  the steps of completing a given task. For tasks that require multiple
  steps, Office 95 provides a concise step-by-step answer that can remain on
  the screen while the user completes the task. Usability testing of Office
  95 revealed that, on average, users completed tasks 25 percent faster with
  the Answer Wizard and the new expanded Office 95 Help system than with the
  previous Office 4.3 Help system (Source: Office 95 User Assistance
  Usability Study, February 1995).
ΓÇó Task-based documentation.  In an effort to provide documentation designed
  to complement the way people work with their software, the printed
  documentation for Microsoft Office, Getting Results with Microsoft Office,
  has been rewritten to incorporate a solutions-based focus that guides
  users through common projects, such as how to write a business plan,
  create a budget or set up an inventory system. Instead of navigating a
  reference list of product features, users can learn about features in the
  context of a specific user-defined task. Now the documentation, like the
  applications, are fully integrated across all Office applications.
ΓÇó Animation.  Office 95 is designed to provide users with a greater level
  of user feedback in the form of increased animation.  Microsoft Usability
  Lab research showed that many users did not understand many operations,
  for example, inserting and deleting rows or columns in Microsoft Excel or
  Microsoft Access.  In many cases, the operation was done too fast: The
  screen would blink and a new row or column would suddenly disappear and a
  user did not know what had happened. Office 95 makes dozens of operations
  more understandable by adding animated visual feedback.  For example, when
  inserting a column in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access, the user can
  now see columns sliding to the right, and a new column appearing.  By the
  same token, Word will also animate repagination as a result of inserting
  or deleting text.
ΓÇó Intelligent Navigation.  Microsoft user research shows that up to 25
  percent of all user actions involve moving from one place to another
  within documents and worksheets.  This involves scrolling as you browse,
  searching for ranges of data or specific paragraphs of text, and so on.
  Office 95 helps the user by controlling navigation and providing handy
  assistants.

  ΓÇó Proportional Scrollbars.  In previous versions of Office applications,
    users clicked in the scrollbars repeatedly to navigate down or across.
    In Office 95, the thumbs or elevators in the vertical and horizontal
    scrollbars resize in proportion to the area of a document, sheet,
    database or presentation that contains data or text.  The thumbs
    intelligently constrain the user to avoid accidentally hyper-scrolling
    past his or her work.
  ΓÇó Expanded ScreenTips.  Office 95 provides help on almost any element of
    the screen, from toolbar buttons to menu commands, with expanded
    ToolTips, ScrollTips and QuickTips, all of which help users learn and
    navigate through applications as they use them.  ScrollTips provides
    feedback on the userΓÇÖs location within the file.  It indicates the cell
    within a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or the page within a Word document.
     ScreenTips provides the users with direct feedback when they need it
    most.  For example, to learn what an option does within a dialog box,
    the user merely clicks the Help button available in every dialog box to
    choose the selected option for a tip.
• TipWizard — TipWizard® assistant, which helps users learn and get the
  most out of their application as they work, was a popular feature of
  Microsoft Excel 5.0.  Now, itΓÇÖs been added to Word 95, too.  TipWizard
  allows Word 95 and Microsoft Excel 95 to provide users with assistance as
  they work, using animation and clear instructions to help people get up
  and running more quickly than ever before.  For example, WordΓÇÖs TipWizard
  works interactively with the AutoFormat as the user types feature to
  provide feedback and present choices to users.  Users have the option of
  changing the AutoFormat action or clicking the Show Me button for a
  demonstration of the formatting action.


Simplify Complex Tasks With Wizards

In some cases, more steps or user choices are required to complete tasks.
Office 95 is designed to make these more complex steps easier with Wizards.
 Wizards present the user with a series of choices, written in plain
English, that guide the user through a task. Below are some samples of the
new Wizards available in Office 95:

ΓÇó Template Wizard with data tracking.  Microsoft Excel 95ΓÇÖs new data
  tracking through the Template Wizard will now automate the entire process
  of creating a template and automatically tracking fields of the template
  in a database.  For example, a small business or a specific department now
  can easily create a template from an existing document, such as an expense
  report or inventory tracking spreadsheet, and link that data to other
  spreadsheets or a database.  This essentially allows customers to create
  their own simple, custom solutions without writing a single line of code.
ΓÇó Database Wizard.  The Database Wizard in Microsoft Access 95 includes
  more than 20 customizable templates to create full-featured applications
  from scratch.  Users can choose what information they want the application
  to track, and the wizard will build a custom application based on those
  needs.
ΓÇó Simple Query Wizard.  Microsoft Access 95 introduces a new query wizard
  that will allow users to locate desired information quickly using a
  wizard, regardless of the underlying data structure.  Users simply choose
  the data they want to look for from a drop-down box, and the wizard
  handles the inclusion of related tables if needed.
ΓÇó Improved Form/Report Wizards.  Microsoft Access 95ΓÇÖs second-generation
  Form and Report Wizards have been improved to allow users greater
  flexibility in creating the exact view required, regardless of underlying
  tables or queries.  After selecting the desired data for the from or
  report, users are presented with different layout choices based on the
  data selected.  If the user chooses data on both sides of a one-to-many
  relationship, for example, the Form Wizard offers to build a Main/Subform.



ΓÇó Access Import/Export Wizard.  Users no longer need to figure out how data
  is structured to bring it into Microsoft Access 95.  The new wizard
  analyzes the target data and allows the user to decide what and how data
  should be imported into the database. Depending on the type of file being
  imported, users can define data types and indices at the time of import.
ΓÇó Meeting Wizard.  Schedule+ 95 offers a Meeting Wizard that walks users
  through the entire process of scheduling a meeting, including identifying
  participants, agenda, location, available time and required resources.
  With the Meeting Wizard, the user gains the benefits of Schedule+ 95ΓÇÖs
  added power, without having to learn any complex functions or procedures.
ΓÇó Pack and Go Wizard.  PowerPoint 95 users can compress and save their
  presentations across multiple diskettes, including all linked files and
  multimedia files, to easily take their presentations on the road with
  them.
ΓÇó AutoContent Wizard.  PowerPoint 95ΓÇÖs improved AutoContent Wizard provides
  suggested content and organization for presentations, helps to tailor a
  talk for length and audience, and help tailor it for format based on
  output selected.


Additional Related Functionality Previously Available in Office

|Ease of Use Functionality                             |
|                                                      |
|AutoFormat creates great  |Chart Wizard guide Excel   |
|looking Word documents or |users through the creation |
|Excel sheets with a single|of great looking charts in |
|click.                    |plain English              |
|AutoSelect allows users to|Word Document Wizards      |
|simply place a cursor in a|provide steps by step      |
|word to select it within  |assistance to create       |
|Microsoft Word            |newsletters, letters, faxes|
|                          |or brochures               |
|AutoFill automates the    |PivotTable Wizard makes it |
|entry of a Excel range    |easy create dynamic,       |
|based on patterns like Q1,|flexible views of Excel    |
|Q2, Q3, Q4.               |data for better analysis.  |
|AutoSum provides one click|Formula Wizard steps users |
|access to sums in         |through the setup of any of|
|Microsoft Excel.          |Microsoft ExcelΓÇÖs hundreds |
|                          |of formulas.               |
|Format Painter copies     |Database Table Wizard steps|
|format characteristics for|                           |
|easy formatting           |users through the creation |
|                          |of a database.             |
|AutoReport creates        |AutoContent Wizard helps   |
|database reports with a   |users structure the content|
|single click in Access    |of a presentation          |
|AutoForm creates custom   |Tip Wizard in Excel        |
|forms based on database   |provides users with        |
|with a single click       |assistance based on their  |
|                          |usage.                     |


Design Goal Three: Provide Office Users With a More Seamless Environment

Office 95 builds on the consistency work done in Office 4.3 with added
consistency including Access and Schedule+.  In Office 95, Microsoft has
expanded this focus on consistency and integration to include Office
applications, Office Compatible applications and the rest of the PC
desktop.  Office 95 not only provides a more consistent work environment,
but also a more tightly integrated way to work with desktop applications.
The goal is to enable users to easily leverage experience and information
across applications.



Consistent Tools

Office 4.3 applications set an industry precedent for consistent look and
shared functionality in an office suite. It represented a major step
forward in providing users with a consistent interface across all the
Office applications.  Office 95 builds on the 150 person years of
consistency work that has already been done to expand the consistency to
the new Office applications as well as Office Compatible applications.  In
Office 95, Schedule+ and Microsoft Access have been revamped to provide
even tighter consistency with the Office family of products.  The Office
Compatible 95 Program enables third party and corporate developers to
license the consistent toolbars and menu structures at no cost.  The result
is a more consistent work environment for users of Office.

ΓÇó Increased shared code.  In addition to having applications that look
  alike, users expect them also to work alike.  Office 95 takes a dramatic
  step forward in better integration with a significant amount of shared
  resources and actual code.  Microsoft now has a centralized Office
  development team who writes code that is shared across Office
  applications. Shared code, such as File Open and File Starter (formerly
  File New), is written once and used across the Office. Now, users can use
  one dialog box, File Starter, to create a new document or launch one of
  the dozens of  available pre-designed templates. Users can keep all file
  templates, even those of different applications, in one File Starter. The
  result is a more consistent set of applications and better integration for
  more seamless use.
ΓÇó Shared code also means that features can easily be shared across office
  applications. For example, full content-indexing and searching, most
  requested by users of word processors, is very useful in other
  applications as well.  Users can now conduct full content index searching
  across all file types at once. Since this functionality is provided via
  shared code, all the Office applications have it and it operates the same
  way in each applications.  Add a word to your SpellChecker or AutoCorrect
  dictionary when youΓÇÖre working in Word, for example, and SpellChecker or
  AutoCorrect will correct that same typo or misspelling when you make the
  error in a presentation in PowerPoint.  This is made possible by the
  shared office DLLΓÇÖs, for example, MSOFC95.dll, within Office 95, that
  house code for shared dialog boxes and functionality throughout Office 95.
ΓÇó Over 20% of Office 95 represents code which is shared across the
  applications.  For example, Office 95 shared code includes, the Answer
  Wizard, File Starter, File Open, Print, Save, Fast Find full content
  indexing technology, AutoCorrect dictionary, SpellChecker dictionary and
  more. These common tasks access the same code within Office and behave in
  the same manner, regardless of application.
ΓÇó Shared Office components.  The shared components in Office 95 are OLE-
  based servers that go beyond the shared code described above.  They are
  complete applications available from all parts of Office and are available
  as well in third-party Office Compatible applications.  The shared
  components make it faster and easier for users and independent developers
  to create highly functional Office Compatible applications that are easier
  to use, because users can draw upon the same components with which theyΓÇÖre
  already familiar.  The Office 95 shared components include:

  ΓÇó Data Map ΓÇö A robust tool that allows users the flexibility to analyze
    data geographically.  Users can now easily spot relationships and trends
    among different types of data.
  ΓÇó Microsoft Imager ( Allows users to import, edit and manipulate images in
    each of the Office applications.  Provides TWAIN image support for
    scanned images.
  ΓÇó Microsoft Query ( Office 95 users can access information from a variety
    a sources though Microsoft Query.  For example, users can import
    external address databases for a Mail Merge in Word via Microsoft Query.
  ΓÇó Microsoft Graph ΓÇöThe creation, editing and manipulation of graphs is
    consistent across the Office applications with the shared component,
    Microsoft Graph.
  ΓÇó ClipArt Gallery ΓÇöProvides a single location for the viewing of all
    available Office 95 clip art, which includes more than 1,000 images of
    animals, people, buildings and scenic backgrounds.  Users can quickly
    preview thumbnail sketches and add their own images.
  ΓÇó WordArt ΓÇö Lets users create interesting text effects, such as 3-D and
    unusual alignments, to enhance documents.
  ΓÇó Equation Editor ΓÇö Lets users add fractions, exponents, integrals and
    other mathematical elements, from all Office 95 applications.

ΓÇó Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar (MOSB).  MOSB is the successor to the
  Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) of Office 4.3.  The changes in the MOSB
  reflect the evolution of the Windows operating system. MOSB moves away
  from a role as just an application launcher and toward a role as an
  application management tool.  The MOSB continues to provide a single
  toolbar from which to run all Office applications, but it adds new
  features that augment Windows 95 and provide added power for users of
  Office 95.  MOSB includes instant access to cross-application Office
  technology (File Starter, File New), a launching point for Office
  components such as the Answer Wizard, and multiple toolbar functionality
  for desktop wide support, third-party tools and applications.  Most
  importantly, the MOSB has been expanded to enable users to fully customize
  the available toolbars with shortcuts to frequently used documents or
  folders.  Users can simply drag and drop documents or folders to the
  Shortcut Bar for easy access.


Integrated Office Environment

Office 4.3 pioneered application integration with OfficeLinks tools and OLE
2.0 technology.  Office 95 provides second generation support for both of
these integration tools.  The result is a more integrated environment where
users can focus more on their work and less on the specific tools their are
using.  Below are some examples of how Office 95 achieves that:

ΓÇó Office Binders.  The Office Binder, an entirely new Office functionality,
  introduces the next generation of integration among Office applications.
  ItΓÇÖs based on the learnings from CI research that found that users often
  work with many different types of files ΓÇö text documents, spreadsheets,
  presentations and so on ΓÇö for any given project.  Using the metaphor of a
  traditional three-ring binder for compiling and distributing documents,
  Office Binders allow users to easily collect, print and distribute
  collections of varied document types in a coordinated and comprehensive
  way.  The collection of documents can be stored in a single file called an
  Office Binder. Each section of the Binder can contain a different file
  type that may each have different page orientations.  Because the Binder
  is a single file, a Binder can easily be posted on a network location so
  colleagues can contribute and edit different sections of the Binder at the
  same time.  A single Binder file also makes it easier to include
  consecutive page numbering throughout the disparate document types for a
  more professional look and easier printing.

ΓÇó The Office Binder is based on extensions to OLE 2.0 technology and was
  developed by the Office development team.  These OLE extensions have been
  made available to independent developers of Office Compatible applications
  (ISVs, Solution Providers and corporate developers) so that they can
  create files that work with the Office Binder.  For example, this might
  allow users to add a TriSpective 3D model from a Office Compatible vendor
  named 3D/EYE or a custom database report developed in house to an Office
  Binder.
ΓÇó Tighter Integration with OLE 2.0.  OLE 2.0 capabilities provide an
  enhanced interface, Drag and Drop text editing among applications and in-
  place editing.  Using in-place editing, a user can click on an OLE object
  in Word ΓÇö a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for example ΓÇö and Microsoft
  ExcelΓÇÖs toolbars and menus appear within Word.  Office 95 adds
  enhancements to OLE 2.0 server support in Microsoft PowerPoint, allowing
  users to drag PowerPoint graphs directly into Microsoft Excel or Word.
ΓÇó Drag and Drop across applications.  Sharing information between
  applications has never been easier than it is in Office 95.  Office 95
  takes advantage of the Taskbar, a new Windows 95-based interface element,
  which displays all the open applications and folders at the bottom of a
  users screen, even if they are working in full screen view.  Taking
  advantage of OLE 2.0 Drag and Drop technology, users can copy or move any
  piece of information, for example, charts, tables, or paragraphs, from one
  application to another simply by dragging and dropping the selection on
  the Taskbar icon for the destination application.  For example, to move a
  Microsoft Excel chart to Word, a user would select the Microsoft Excel
  chart, drag it to the desired Word document icon on the Taskbar, Word will
  automatically maximize to fit the window and drop the chart anywhere
  within the Word document.
ΓÇó Convert to Access Wizard.  Office 95 makes it easier than ever to use
  Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel together.  Over 65 percent of
  Microsoft Excel users also use a database and have asked specifically for
  database integration enhancements.  In fact most Office users create their
  first database in Microsoft Excel and then as their business grows look to
  migrate that list or ΓÇ£databaseΓÇ¥ to Microsoft Access. In Office 95, users
  can easily migrate a Microsoft Excel list to a relational database without
  knowing anything about relational databases.  Simply drag and drop the
  Microsoft Excel list into Microsoft Access.  Microsoft Access 95 will then
  launch the Microsoft Access Import Wizard and then Table Analyzer Wizard
  to intelligently decipher the spreadsheet list or any flat file data and
  create a relational design that mimics the original data, but avoids all
  the problems of non-relational data.  In a few steps, the user has moved
  the Microsoft Excel list to Microsoft Access and created a full relational
  database for better data tracking and management.
ΓÇó Microsoft Access Forms/Reports on Microsoft Excel Data.  Microsoft Excel
  95 users can use Microsoft AccessΓÇÖ robust forms and reports to enter
  information into a database they are keeping in Microsoft Excel.  Using
  Microsoft Access Reports in Microsoft Excel lets users effortlessly create
  complex group reports, or even mailing labels from their Microsoft Excel
  lists or databases.
ΓÇó PivotTable Wizard.  Microsoft Access 95 includes a PivotTable Wizard that
  walks users through the creation of Microsoft Excel PivotTables based on a
  Microsoft Access table or query.  Therefore, Microsoft Access databases
  can take advantage of Microsoft ExcelΓÇÖs robust PivotTable capabilities
  right from within Microsoft Access 95.
ΓÇó Powerful reference information access with Microsoft Bookshelf 95.  At no
  additional charge, the CD-ROM version of Office 95 also includes Microsoft
  Bookshelf 95.  Microsoft Bookshelf 95ΓÇÖs complete reference library
  includes:

  ΓÇó The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition.
  ΓÇó The Original RogetΓÇÖs Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
  ΓÇó The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations.
  ΓÇó The PeopleΓÇÖs Chronology.
  ΓÇó The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia.
  ΓÇó The Hammond Intermediate World Atlas.
  • The World Almanac and Book of Facts®.

ΓÇó Users can easily access these reference works from the QuickShelfΓäó
  information retrieval tool from within Office 95, and can drag and drop
  text and data from them to Office 95.  For example, users of Word 95 can
  create a letter and use Bookshelf 95ΓÇÖs new Address Builder to locate and
  calculate the correct zip code information for any address in the United
  States.
ΓÇó Office 95 integration with Bookshelf 95 provides users with a powerful
  set of leading productivity tools and a rich set of an award-winning
  reference library of over 9 million words with 650,000 entries or
  articles; thus, making Office 95 & Bookshelf 95 the most complete set of
  tools for end users of all types.
ΓÇó Export Meeting Minder notes.  PowerPoint 95ΓÇÖs new Meeting Minder tool
  enables presenters to track discussion notes during the course of a
  meeting. PowerPoint allows users to export those notes to automate the
  creation of a summary memo following the meeting.
ΓÇó Address Book integration with Exchange and Schedule+.  More than 50
  percent of Word documents are correspondence that contain address or
  contact information. Word 95 supports integration with both the MAPI
  Personal Address Book and the Schedule + Contact List so that users can
  access their contact information when addressing a correspondence.  Users
  gain one-click access to address information that they can drop into a
  Word document. For bulk mailings users can also use WordΓÇÖs robust mail
  merge functionality and access information from Schedule+ or MAPI Personal
  Address Book.
ΓÇó Presentation Write-Up tool.  As presentation graphics are increasingly
  used for less formal, interactive meetings, users are increasingly
  required to provide various distribution means for presentations.
  PowerPoint 95 integrates with Word 95 to automate the once laborious task
  of creating summary notes for slide presentations.  Using OfficeLinks
  technology and OLE automation, PowerPointΓÇÖs Write-Up feature lets users
  automatically create an impactful handout of slides and speakerΓÇÖs notes
  within Word.
ΓÇó Schedule+ integration with Microsoft Project.  Schedule+ is a powerful
  workgroup scheduler.  That power comes in part from its ability to
  integrate seamlessly with products such as Microsoft Project and Microsoft
  Exchange Server.  Microsoft Project integration allows users to manage
  group scheduling functions and use Meeting Wizards as part of their
  overall Microsoft Project-based project management activities.  Users can
  integrate their to-do list of tasks with master project schedules for
  better tracking.  There are specific fields, such as, % Complete, in the
  Schedule+ΓÇÖs to do task manager, which facilitates the tracking of project
  tasks.  Microsoft Project also automates the once tedious chore of
  tracking progress on specific project tasks by extracting information from
  task information within Schedule+.


Office Compatible Program and Support

ΓÇó Office Compatible Program and Support.  Since the Office Compatible
  Program was introduced in April 1994, 125 ISVs worldwide have
  participated, representing a wide spectrum of applications ranging from
  multimedia presentation software to applications that help users analyze
  their investment portfolios. The Office Compatible Program is designed to
  help provide Office customers with applications that look and work like
  Microsoft Office.

ΓÇó For Office 95, Microsoft is working with hundreds of independent Solution
  Providers (ISVs, consultants, systems integrators, etc.) and corporate
  developers by giving them information and access to Office design
  specifications and code in order to integrate their applications more
  tightly with Office 95.  The Office Compatible 95 program makes it easier
  for third-party developers to create products that look and work like
  Microsoft Office 95, because it makes the technical specifications for
  Office Compatible applications widely available to independent developers
  at no charge.  The Office Compatible Program includes the following:
  ΓÇó Office Compatible Basic Toolkit, a free kit that provides all the
    necessary information to create an Office Compatible product.
  ΓÇó Licensing access to the Office Compatible logo for easy identification
    of applications who integrate well with Office 95.
  ΓÇó Access to Office Compatible on-line communications.
  ΓÇó Quarterly Office Compatible newsletter providing technical information
    and announcements of marketing opportunities.
  ΓÇó Additional development-kit offerings, which enable ISVs to develop even
    more tightly integrated Office Compatible products that integrate with
    specific Office features.  The Advanced Developer Kit, for example,
    offers access to the code and opportunity to include third-party
    applications as part of the Office Binders.


Additional Related Functionality Previously Available in Office

|Consistency & Integration Functionality               |
|                                                      |
|Dialog Boxes are consistent|Support for OLE 2.0 is    |
|in Office for similar      |available in all Office   |
|commands.                  |applications, making it   |
|                           |easy to drag and drop     |
|                           |tables, charts or text    |
|                           |between applications.     |
|Menu Bars are identical for|In-Place Editing allows   |
|eight out of nine top      |editing of objects in     |
|options in Office          |different applications.   |
|applications.              |For example, users can    |
|Toolbars provide same      |edit Microsoft Excel data |
|buttons for similar        |in Word and get the       |
|commands throughout Office.|benefit of all the        |
|                           |Microsoft Excel menus and |
|                           |tools within Word.        |
|Consistent behavior is     |Insert Microsoft Excel    |
|provided for similar       |Worksheet button in Word  |
|operations like charts,    |makes it as easy to insert|
|tables and queries.        |a worksheet as it is a    |
|                           |table.                    |
|Context-sensitive Shortcut |Analyze It makes it easy  |
|Menus are available in all |to export Microsoft Access|
|Office applications.       |data to Microsoft         |
|                           |Excel for analysis.       |
|Keystroke shortcuts are    |Present It/Report It can  |
|consistent for similar     |turn a Word document into |
|commands in Office.        |a presentation in a single|
|                           |click and vice versa.     |
|Drag and Drop is available |Office Integrated Setup   |
|in each Office application.|makes it easy to install  |
|                           |the product at once.      |


Design Goal Four:  Help Users Communicate Better in an Increasingly
Connected World

Users of Office have told Microsoft that they want their everyday
productivity applications to facilitate the increasing needs of online
editing, communicating via electronic mail, authoring documents to the
Internet, and posting information to advanced workgroup information
databases.  MicrosoftΓÇÖs development philosophy is to provide users with the
tools and support they need to collaborate and communicate within the
connected world without their having to learn and understand a host of new
tools.  The tools should be as easy to use as the Office applications that
people use everyday. Features that implement this philosophy include:


Facilitating Collaboration in the Connected World

As computers and users increasingly are inter-connected, new opportunities
and new challenges arise.  For example, users increasingly create documents
that are never actually printed and formally presented, but rather
distributed, edited and viewed electronically. Office 95 redesigns
application functionality to provide tools which seize those opportunities
and overcome the challenges for increased online collaboration.

ΓÇó Shared lists.  Microsoft Excel 5.0 provided a host of functionality that
  enabled better collaborative efforts with Scenario Manager, Auditing
  tools, and Routing to allow users to work together.  However, Microsoft
  Excel users also need the ability to simultaneously add data to the same
  file.  In fact, more than 65 percent of  Microsoft ExcelΓÇÖs ABP visit
  subjects requested the ability to have multiple users add data to a file
  at the same time. By re-engineering Excel 95 worksheets to allow for
  Shared Lists, groups of individuals collaborating on a single list can add
  data at the same time, eliminating the ΓÇ£file in useΓÇ¥ message typically
  received when opening a file already in use by another user.

ΓÇó Conflict resolution occurs when the users save the file. In order to keep
  it very simple, Microsoft Excel 95 uses a ΓÇ£last one winsΓÇ¥ strategy for
  resolving conflicts. The second user to save is presented the details of
  the conflict and gets to decide which value to keep.  All conflicts get
  logged onto a ΓÇ£Conflict HistoryΓÇ¥ worksheet that is automatically created
  in the shared workbook by Microsoft Excel.  This allows the user who is
  resolving conflicts to go back at a later time to review and reverse prior
  decisions.
ΓÇó Briefcase Support.  Office 95, as mentioned earlier, provides support for
  the Windows 95 Briefcase, making it an ideal office suite for users who
  move files between a desktop or network PC and notebook PC.  The Briefcase
  is also a great tool for workgroup computing.  Users can take files on the
  road and then automate the updating of those files with the master file.
  Microsoft Access 95 has provided some additional tools to handle record
  replication and reconciliation for its databases.  For example, a group of
  users can take a database on the road, add data and update records, and
  when they return to the office they can check in their changes to a master
  copy on the network.  Microsoft Access 95 will also manage the
  synchronization replication of the different versions of the database.
  Therefore, multi-users can make changes and all of them will be updated in
  the master database without the need of manually updating individual
  changes. Additionally, when the changes are replicated up to the master
  version of the database, the changes made to the master database,
  including new forms and buttons are also deployed down to individual
  userΓÇÖs desktops automatically.
ΓÇó Highlighter.  The Highlighter is a great example of making software work
  the way users are accustomed to working in the real world;  it lets users
  mark or highlight a document or e-mail message just the way they would by
  marking a highlighting felt-tip pen on a printed document.  Users are
  constantly looking for more effective ways to communicate documents
  electronically and to take advantage of the benefits of electronic
  editing.  The Highlighter lets users both call-out parts of documents for
  easier collaboration and also track work-in-progress in documents.  Like
  the revision marking feature introduced in Word 6.0, the Highlighter lets
  users choose their highlighter color.
ΓÇó Microsoft Excel 95, Word 95, and PowerPoint 95 viewers.  These small, no
  charge and easily distributable applications allow users to view, copy
  information and print files created in Microsoft Excel 95, Word 95, and
  PowerPoint 95 even if they donΓÇÖt have those applications installed on
  their machine.  The Viewers make it easier for PC users to share
  information and work together.  If you send a memo over the LAN, WAN or
  Internet with the Word 95 Viewer, the recipient can view the memo even
  without having access to the entire Word application. The Word and
  PowerPoint viewers will both be available at the same time as Office 95 is
  first available.  The Microsoft Excel viewer will be available shortly
  thereafter.


Facilitating Communications in the Connected World

A host of additional enhancements in Office 95 recognize that users want to
use their familiar Office applications to help communicate to others
whether they are connected to the LAN, information servers, or the
Internet.  Office 95 is a great communicator in any of these environments.

ΓÇó WordMail.  Word pioneered IntelliSense technology and with it a greater
  level of  ease of use for many of the most common word processing tasks
  such as typing, formatting and spelling.  However, until now, users have
  not been able to use these advancements in their e-mail editor.  Instead,
  they were limited to plain text and weak editing tools. With Word 95,
  users can now use the worldΓÇÖs most popular text editor as their e-mail
  editor.  Word 95 works seamlessly with the Windows 95 Inbox (a standard
  component of Windows 95) to become the userΓÇÖs standard electronic mail
  editor.  WordMail takes advantage of sophisticated support for OLE 2.0 and
  DocObjects (which handle entire documents as ΓÇ£objectsΓÇ¥ that can be
  incorporated into other applications) to create a robust e-mail
  environment.  Users can take advantage of all of WordΓÇÖs capabilities from
  within WordMail including: AutoCorrect, Spell It, AutoFormat on the fly,
  AutoText, 100 level Undo, rich text formatting, tables and Revision
  Marking. Other enhancements include:

  ΓÇó Special mail toolbar within WordMail that includes standard Send, Reply,
    Reply All and Move functionality.
  ΓÇó WordMail automatically uses Revision Marking when users edit the body of
    a previously sent e-mail message.  This enables easy message/edit
    tracking.
  ΓÇó Headers containing address information are automatically stylized when
    users hit Reply.  This helps users keep track of messages and long e-
    mail threads.
  ΓÇó AutoSignature automatically enters a stylized sign-off; saving users an
    extra step.

ΓÇó Custom document properties.  In addition to its standard summary and
  statistics properties, Office 95 allows users to create custom document
  properties.  Custom OLE properties allow users to create robust summary
  information about a file that can be previewed and sorted without opening
  the file.
ΓÇó Users can easily create custom OLE properties for specific information
  about the document from the Properties option on the File menu of each
  Office application.  For example, users can create a custom OLE property
  for an expense report form, so that the expense total or payment status
  shows up as a field in the spreadsheetΓÇÖs Summary Information.  Then, a
  manager could sort through her teamΓÇÖs expense reports based on these
  custom OLE properties without having to open and view the reports
  themselves.
  ΓÇó Custom properties support several data types including Text, Date,
    Number and Boolean (Yes or No).
  ΓÇó Document properties are stored as part of the file and travel with it in
    the file system, enabling more robust document management solutions. For
    example, currently third party document management systems maintain a
    separate database of profile information for each document, but if the
    document leaves the repository this profile does not travel with it.
    Using custom document properties these vendors can now store this
    profile information with the actual document, thereby maintaining the
    profile information wherever the document travels.
  ΓÇó All properties are stored in a standard, defined way using OLE
    structured storage. This allows third party applications to easily
    access and change the property streams without requiring to open the
    file.
  ΓÇó Properties can be linked to text which has been tagged with the Bookmark
    feature in Word, Named Cell in Microsoft Excel or database field in
    Microsoft Access. These properties can be updated
    bi-directionally. For example, as bookmarked text changes within a
    document, the property changes dynamically. Likewise, if another
    application changes a linked property then Word updates the bookmarked
    content when opening the file. The [pic] next to a property in the
    dialog above symbolizes that it is linked to a Bookmark, Named Cell or
    database field.

ΓÇó Support for Exchange.  Office 95 family programs are tightly integrated
  with Microsoft Exchange, the new, information server component of the
  Microsoft BackOffice family for Windows NT Server. Any Office files can be
  posted to Exchange public folders from within Office 95 or routed to
  multiple users, allowing users throughout the enterprise to easily share
  working files as though they were working together in the same room.  To
  post a file to Microsoft Exchange, a user only needs to select Post to
  Microsoft Exchange from the File menu in any Office 95 application.
ΓÇó As mentioned above, Office 95 can exchange document properties with any
  application through the use of OLE to store the property streams. When a
  file is dragged and dropped to a Microsoft Exchange folder, it
  automatically extracts all of the document properties, including custom
  properties. Any of these properties can then be exposed and used to build
  folder views as shown above. Exchange supports three level of grouping as
  well as the creation of column headings for any property.
ΓÇó Support for Notes.  Just like its predecessor, Office 4.3c for Windows,
  Office 95 can exchange document properties with Lotus Notes® via Notes/FX.
   Office 95 now supports version 1.1 of Notes/FX. Coupled with support for
  custom document properties, mentioned above, Office 95 based applications
  actually make it easier to integrate with Lotus Notes than the current
  generation of Lotus SmartSuite applications.
ΓÇó Presentation conferencing.  PowerPointΓÇÖs new presentation conferencing
  allows users to run a meeting across the network for an entire team. A
  Wizard steps you through the setup and connection process to get you going
  painlessly and easily.  A set of  Stage Manager tools provide extra
  control and confidence during formal, podium based presentations.  For
  example, Slide Meter lets you know at a glance whether youΓÇÖre running
  ahead or behind your rehearsed times.  The Navigator gives you a list of
  slide titles and preview pictures.  And you have access to your speakerΓÇÖs
  notes on your system.  All your audience sees is your professional
  presentation.
ΓÇó Internet Assistant.  This no charge add-on to Word 95 lets users of
  Office create documents for and browse the World Wide Web, using the
  familiar interface of Microsoft Word.  Users can create documents in the
  World Wide WebΓÇÖs standardized Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format
  simply by saving the document.  Internet AssistantΓÇÖs built-in browsing
  functionality makes it easy to see what documents will look like online as
  well as create hyperlinks, simply by ΓÇ£surfingΓÇ¥ to the appropriate place on
  the Web and copying a hyperlink (using the familiar copy and paste
  metaphor already used in Word).  Creating hyperlinks between documents on
  internal ΓÇ£WebsΓÇ¥, like the corporate network, is equally easy.
ΓÇó Windows 95 Dialer Support ( Schedule+ 95ΓÇÖs new contact management
  capabilities provide users with the ability to store address information
  as well as phone numbers for key contacts.  Schedule+ 95 also provide
  connections to Windows 95 Dialer through support for the telephony API
  (TAPI).  With a connection to a modem, Schedule+ users will be able dial
  contacts with a click of a button directly from within the Contacts tab in
  Schedule+.
ΓÇó Schedule+ integration with Microsoft Exchange Server.  Microsoft Exchange
  Server is the new, server-based workgroup product, part of the Microsoft
  BackOffice family for Windows NT Server, that integrates e-mail,
  scheduling, electronic forms, document sharing and custom applications.
  From Microsoft Exchange, users can access and organize information
  wherever they happen to be:  in the office, at home or on the road.  And
  the same Schedule+ available in Office 95 is also available in Microsoft
  Exchange.  If the Schedule+ in Office 95 detects an Microsoft Exchange
  Server on the network, the user has the option of configuring Schedule+ to
  work seamlessly with that server.
ΓÇó Support for The Microsoft Network.  If you have a modem, Office 95 makes
  it easy to register electronically using The Microsoft Network.  Likewise,
  the Office application forums on MSN are just a mouse click away ΓÇö just
  select The Microsoft Network on any Office help menu to see a list of
  shortcuts to MSN.
ΓÇó Integration with Microsoft BackOffice.  The integration of Schedule+ with
  Microsoft Exchange is only one example of the integration between Office
  95 and Microsoft BackOffice, the integrated set of server applications for
  Microsoft Windows NT that also includes SNA Server, SQL ServerΓäó client-
  server database management system and Systems Management Server.  Office
  and SQL Server are tightly integrated, for example, providing easy access
  to SQL data through the Open Database Connectivity standard and OLE 2.0
  support in SQL Server 6.0.  Users gain programmatic control over a broad
  range of database features.  With SNA Server integration, itΓÇÖs easy to
  access IBM mainframe data for use by Office 95 applications.  Systems
  Management Server integration makes it easy for MIS managers to upgrade
  users to Office 95, to manage desktops and distribute files and
  applications ΓÇö all from a central MIS location.


Additional Related Functionality Previously Available in Office

|Workgroup Functionality                               |
|                                                      |
|Send Mail command on the   |Routing enables groups to |
|File menu makes it easy to |distribute files for      |
|send a any Office document |review and track the      |
|as a mail attachment.      |process.                  |
|Master Documents enable    |Multi-user Revision       |
|multiple users to manage   |Marking facilitates       |
|and create a unified       |multiple users reviewing  |
|document with different    |and editing of Word       |
|document parts from various|documents online.         |
|authors.                   |                          |
|Support for Notes/FX makes |Scenario Manager allows   |
|it easy to integrate Office|Microsoft Excel users to  |
|documents and information  |easily edit and revise    |
|into Notes databases.      |spreadsheets and track    |
|                           |changes.                  |
|Annotations are a great    |Cell Notes enable         |
|tool for on-line reviewing |Microsoft Excel users to  |
|and comments of Word       |append review notes to    |
|documents.                 |individual cells of a     |
|                           |worksheet.                |


Design Goal Five: Provide The Building Blocks For Creating Robust Custom
Solutions

As users and organizations make the investment in desktop applications,
they are also looking for applications that will enable them to maximize
their investment for the specific business needs. In addition to providing
the best set of tools for desktop users, Office is also designed to expose
their tools or ΓÇ£objectsΓÇ¥ so that organizations can use them as the building
blocks for custom solutions. With more then 500,000 developers building
solutions based on Office, it is important that Microsoft provide the tools
technology and support for enterprisewide solutions.

For example, Systeme Corp. uses Microsoft Office and Visual Basic for
Applications to write custom solutions that it says are easy to code and
manage.  Because it uses functionality that already exists in Office
applications, the company has reduced its development time by at least 50
percent.  Systeme can now focus on customizing solutions to meet specific
customer needs and significantly reduce end-user training.

Similarly, Chart House has implemented a customer-service system based on
Office and Microsoft BackOffice products. The result was a ΓÇ£frequent dinerΓÇ¥
program that reduced the time to resolve customer issues from a full day to
just seconds, resulting in improved service, reduced costs, and happier
customers.

These solutions and thousands like them are built on Office applications
that are already on the desktops of over 11 million Office users. Office 95
builds on the development strategy foundation first introduced in Office
4.3 by delivering development tools enhancements in three areas:

ΓÇó Expanded implementation of Visual Basic for Applications development
  environment
ΓÇó Expanded and enhanced OLE automation support in Office 95
ΓÇó Enhanced Enterprise data support


Expanded and Enhanced Object Models

Building  solutions with Microsoft Office leverages the existing
functionality of the Office applications, adding only the code necessary to
customize their appearance, behavior or functionality to meet specific
needs.  Thus solutions built with Office 95 can take advantage of, for
example, the document creation and management features in Microsoft Word;
data analysis and charting features in Microsoft Excel; or database
management and reporting features in Microsoft Access. All of this
functionality is exposed to the developer as a set of powerful objects,
accessed through OLE Automation.  Office 95 expands and enhances the object
models to each of the Office applications:


ΓÇó Expanded OLE Automation Support ΓÇö OLE Automation enables developers to
  access and control objects from within other Office applications to create
  integrated solutions. For example, a slide library solution could be built
  in which slides are stored in Microsoft Access, users can select desired
  slides and then automatically build the customized presentation within
  PowerPoint.

ΓÇó Office 95 introduces OLE Automation server support to Microsoft
  PowerPoint, Access, Schedule+, and Office Binders.  This support, which is
  already found in Microsoft Excel, Word and Project, means that Microsoft
  Office 95 is the only suite with programmatic interfaces to each of its
  applications.  In total, Office 95 provides over 500 objects, representing
  millions of lines of code written and tested by Microsoft developers which
  can be used in the development of custom solutions.
ΓÇó Data Access Objects (DAO) ΓÇö Microsoft Access 2.0 introduced Data Access
  Objects, or DAO, which provided developers with an object interface to
  ΓÇ£JetΓÇ¥, the Access database engine, and external data sources via ODBC.  In
  Office 95, Microsoft Excel will also support DAO, which is both easier to
  use and more robust than the previous XLODBC functions.  Developers using
  DAO will be able to share their data access code across Visual Basic 4.0,
  Access 95 and Excel 95.
ΓÇó Enhancements To OLE Object Model ( To provide developer access to all
  features in Microsoft Office 95, the object sets have been enhanced to
  support new features. For example, Office 95ΓÇÖs new OLE document properties
  (explained on page 22) provide end users and developers alike with a rich
  means of managing and finding documents. Visual Basic for Applications
  (discussed below) supports the ability to read/write document properties
  from within Office applications.


Expanded Implementation of Visual Basic for Applications

While pre-defined objects allow developers to create custom solutions with
less code, some code must still be written for many custom solutions. To
address this need, Office 95 provides a consistent development environment
with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).  With VBA successfully
implemented in Microsoft Excel, Project and Access, Office 95 supports a
rich programming environment in multiple applications.  VBA may be thought
of as the "glue that ties Office objects together" in a custom solution.

ΓÇó Extended Support for Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)ΓÇö Based on the
  Visual Basic programming system used by millions of developers worldwide,
  Visual Basic for Applications provides an integrated development
  environment with advanced editor and debugging tools, built right into the
  host application.  Office 95 introduces new Access support for VBA, which
  already exists in Microsoft Excel and Project. In Office 95, VBA will be
  included in Access, joining Microsoft Excel and Project.  The benefit to
  developers is that they can now focus on learning one syntax, one tool set
  and one programming style for all of their solutions development.

ΓÇó In the next release of Office, Word and PowerPoint will also incorporate
  the Visual Basic for Applications programming environment.
ΓÇó Switching Access Basic code to VBA (A key issue for Access developers
  will be to migrate existing solutions to VBA.  Since Access Basic is a
  subset of the VBA syntax, developers will be able to easily convert their
  solutions and take advantage of some of the robust tools provided in VBA,
  including enhanced editing environment, integrated VBA help and new
  debugging tools.


Enhanced Enterprise Data Support

Office 95 provides a rich set of tools and support to enable users to
communicate in an increasingly connected environment. This functionality,
including Exchange integration, support for MAPI, group scheduling
functionality in Schedule+, OLE, and support for ODBC are fully
programmable in VBA from within Office 95.  Therefore, custom integrated
solutions can easily be created that share and route information from
multiple users and utilize data from any number of databases within an
enterprise.



Making the Transition to Office 95 Easy

In the last three to five years, much has changed in terms of how the MIS
department treats desktop productivity applications. First, the use of LANs
and WANs are much more widespread in organizations of all sizes. These
networks are now used to manage entire organizations centrally rather than
departmentally. Second, Microsoft Office 4.3ΓÇÖs success has also lead to a
dramatic increase in the number of organizations who have standardized on
Microsoft Office. While a standardization gives an organization a great
deal of control over their computers, there is also the responsibility for
properly supporting that standardization.

To facilitate the transition to Office 95, Microsoft has included a range
of tools to facilitate that migration process, including: product
functionality, compatibility, and product transition information.


Built-in Transition Tools

There are specific things Microsoft can literally build into the design of
the product that will facilitate the transition path for previous Office
users.

ΓÇó Managing File Formats.  In designing Office 95, Microsoft has gone to
  great lengths to keep the file format the same wherever possible.
  Microsoft Excel 95 and Word 95 share the same file format with their most
  recent predecessors, Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Word 6.0.  Users can
  seamlessly share files with a mixed environment of users as they convert
  to Office 95.  Since both Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Word 6.0 were core code
  products, offering the same file format for Windows 3.x, Windows NT,
  Macintosh®, and PowerMac™ platforms, users can share files across a broad
  range of platforms.

ΓÇó While PowerPoint 95 will require a change in the file format from
  PowerPoint 4.0, users can read PowerPoint 4.0 files with the installed
  converter.  PowerPoint 95 also will ship with a converter that can be
  distributed both Windows and Macintosh to PowerPoint 4.0 users so that
  they can automatically view and edit PowerPoint 95 presentations. Finally,
  PowerPoint 95 users will have the ability to save their files as
  PowerPoint 4.0 files.
ΓÇó Typically, when a database engine is changed, itΓÇÖs common that file
  formats will change as well.  In Microsoft Access 95, users will be able
  to open and use Access 1.x and Microsoft Access 2.0 files, and even make
  changes to the Microsoft Access 2.0 application as long as they arenΓÇÖt
  using new Microsoft Access 95 functionality.  There will also be the
  option of converting the files to the new Microsoft Access 95 format so
  the user can move forward with new Microsoft Access 95 functionality.
  Users of Microsoft Access 95 will also have the choice to create databases
  in the Microsoft Access 2.0 format to make it easier to work with a group
  of people while transitioning to Microsoft Access 95.
ΓÇó Finally, Schedule+ has also been designed with compatibility in mind.
  There are really two basic scenarios for Schedule+.  Users can either use
  it as a personal time management tool, or, if they are using the Microsoft
  Exchange client and a valid MAPI provider such as Microsoft Mail 3.2 or
  Microsoft Exchange Server, they can use it as a group scheduling tool. In
  terms of compatibility with Schedule+ 1.0, if a Schedule+ 95 and a
  Schedule+ 1.0 user are on Microsoft Mail 3.2 servers, they can schedule
  appointments, read free/busy times, and the Schedule+ 95 user can read the
  Schedule+ 1.0 userΓÇÖs file. Schedule+ 95 will also include a client for the
  Macintosh, so all versions of Schedule+ 95 on an Microsoft Exchange Server
  will have complete compatibility with each other. And, Schedule+ 95 users
  on an Exchange Server can still schedule meetings and read free/busy times
  with Schedule+ 1.0 users on Microsoft Mail servers. Schedule+ also has a
  great deal of compatibility with other mail and scheduling systems by
  being able to import various schedules from other products, and by sending
  textized meeting requests to users who donΓÇÖt have Schedule+.
ΓÇó Consistency.  In Office 4.3, making the applications consistent was one
  of its major design goals. Microsoft Access 95 and Schedule+ 95 have been
  redesigned to make them more consistent members of the Office Family.
ΓÇó Network Administrator Wizard. Customers have requested that it be much
  easier to do custom network installations of Office so they can control
  how Office is rolled out throughout their organization, making it easier
  to support.  Administrators can now customize, using the Network
  Administrator Wizard, which feature set should make up the ΓÇ£TypicalΓÇ¥
  installation for their organization, and even whether that particular
  feature set should run from the userΓÇÖs local hard drive, or from an
  applications server. This tool will give the administrator unprecedented
  control over how Office 95 is installed in their organization, helping to
  avoid the need to  visit each individual desktop to do the rollout Office
  95 upgrade.
ΓÇó Microsoft Systems Management Server.  MIS organizations are increasingly
  being called upon to support their organizations more thoroughly, with
  fewer resources. One of the tools they are using to assist in that area is
  Microsoft Systems Management Server. Among the many tasks this software
  assists with is software distribution. Microsoft Office 95 will ship with
  a PDF file and will fully support being distributed via Microsoft Systems
  Management Server.


Transition Support Beyond the Box

ΓÇó Office Resource Kit.  Similar to the various resource kits for Windows,
  there is a Microsoft Office for Windows 95 Resource Kit that is published
  by Microsoft Press.  It serves as the complete guide for the administrator
  or support professional and covers the architecture of the applications,
  setup and installation, upgrading from previous versions of Office
  applications, switching from non-Microsoft products, and how to coexist in
  an environment where users are running various versions of the software
  together. It also includes various tools such as the Network Administrator
  Wizard, the Migration Planning Wizard, and file converters.
ΓÇó Office Preview Program.  The intent of this program is to deliver a
  relatively stable beta of Office 95 to several thousand customers, well in
  advance of the product shipping, to give these organizations the time to
  plan for a successful migration to Office 95. Included in this program is
  a kit with the Office software, a beta of the Office Resource Kit, and
  several other tools that will provide the recipient with the information
  they need to evaluate and plan for deploying Office 95 in a timely
  fashion.
ΓÇó The Microsoft Office MSTV Traincast Series.  This is a series of three
  television shows that will run from May through July.  These shows will
  cover the features and functionality of Office 95, migrating to Office 95,
  and new solutions capabilities with Office 95.  Each of these shows can be
  ordered from Microsoft and will serve as training materials.


System Requirements for Microsoft Office 95

Office 95 is designed to run in the same hardware and memory configuration
as Office 4.  If a user is happy in their current Office 4 configuration,
he or she will be as happy if not happier in the same configuration with
Office 95. The most frequently selected installation option, Typical
Install, will require approximately the same amount of hard disk space.
Both Compact and Custom installation hard disk space requirements have
increased as additional components like Schedule+ and Office Binders have
been added to the product.



Microsoft Office Standard and Professional System Requirements

ΓÇó Personal computer with a 386DX or higher processor (486 recommended)
ΓÇó Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
  operating system version 3.51 or later (will not run on earlier versions
  of Windows)
ΓÇó 8 MB of memory to run two programs on Windows 95; 12 MB of memory to run
  two programs on Windows NT Workstation; more memory recommended to run
  three or more programs simultaneously.
ΓÇó Estimated hard disk space required:

  ΓÇó Office Standard (Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Schedule+): 28 MB
    Compact; 55 MB Typical; 89 MB Custom (to add additional features)
  ΓÇó Office Professional (Office Standard + Access): Specific hard disk
    requirements unavailable at the time of the printing of this document.

ΓÇó One 3.5ΓÇ¥ high-density disk drive or one CD-ROM drive, VGA or higher-
  resolution video adapter (SVGA 256-color recommended), Microsoft Mouse or
  compatible pointing device


Options

ΓÇó Windows-compatible network
ΓÇó Windows-compatible printer
ΓÇó 2400 or higher baud or faster modem (9600 baud modem recommended)
ΓÇó Audio board with headphones or speakers


Microsoft Office Professional & Bookshelf System Requirements

ΓÇó Multimedia PC (includes 386DX or higher processor [486 recommended]) or
  an equivalent PC with multimedia PC upgrade kit (includes CD-ROM drive and
  audio board)
ΓÇó Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
  operating system version 3.51 or later (will not run on earlier versions
  of Windows)
• Microsoft MS-DOS® CD-ROM Extensions (MSCDEX) version 2.2 or later
  (provided with CD-ROM drive)
ΓÇó 8 MB of memory to run two programs on Windows 95; 12 MB of memory to run
  two programs on Windows NT Workstation; more memory recommended to run
  three or more programs simultaneously.
ΓÇó Estimated hard disk space required:

  ΓÇó Office Standard (Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Schedule+): 28 MB
    Compact; 55 MB Typical; 89 MB Custom (to add additional features)
  ΓÇó Office Professional (Office Standard + Access): Specific hard disk
    requirements unavailable at the time of the printing of this document.

ΓÇó One CD-ROM drive
ΓÇó Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
ΓÇó VGA or higher-resolution video adapter (SVGA 256-color recommended)
ΓÇó Audio board with headphones or speakers
ΓÇó Microphone for voice annotation feature
ΓÇó Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device


Options

ΓÇó Windows-compatible network
ΓÇó Windows-compatible printer
ΓÇó 2400 band or faster or higher baud modem (9600 baud modem recommended)


To access text and graphics only, the following are not needed:

ΓÇó Multimedia PC, audio board, Multimedia PC upgrade kit, headphones,
  speakers, and microphone


Conclusion

Office 95 is based on in-depth and continuous user-driven Microsoft
research programs, which determine how customers use software, and how
theyΓÇÖd like to use software to become even more productive.  Office 95 is
designed to take advantage of technology to tackle these customer issues
and make Office 95 a more productive tool for customers.  Office 95 remains
true to its traditional strengths and takes dramatic steps forward in
developing an integrated suite of the leading applications which are easier
than ever to use for a broader range of users. In summary Office 95
addresses these major areas:

ΓÇó Take Full Advantage of Windows 95
ΓÇó Make It Easier So People Can Focus on Their Work
ΓÇó Provide Office Users with a More Seamless Environment
ΓÇó Help Users Communicate Better in an Increasingly Connected World
ΓÇó Provide The Building Blocks For Creating Robust Custom Solutions

As a result, Office 95 is the easiest to use, most integrated, most
powerful, suite of business productivity applications.  It includes a range
of technology breakthroughs that provides users with a complete set of
productivity tools that allow them to access the full potential of the PC.

                                  #########
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