As many students know, the University of Connecticut has transitioned our accounts from the Google Workspace to the Microsoft Office suite. Like it or hate it, the switch is here to stay. In today’s edition of “Under the Rock,” we’ll be giving some tips to help make the most of your Microsoft Office usage and maybe make it more hospitable for some of the Google diehards among us.
Microsoft Office is a suite of applications including Word (word processing), OneNote (notetaking), PowerPoint (slideshows), Excel (spreadsheets) and a lot more — it’s free for UConn students and is the world’s leader in productivity software.
TIP 1: Use the desktop versions
The full-fat desktop Office applications are where it’s at. If Google is Duplo, then desktop Office would be Lego.
Microsoft offers an in-browser version, called “Office 365 Lite” that you may have already fallen prey to; don’t use it. Lite doesn’t have many features and is even worse than Google. There, I said it. But remember, that’s the in-browser version, not the real version; this column exclusively refers to the desktop applications.
If you remember Google, you need to be connected to the internet to even view a document. Office doesn’t have this limitation; you can work offline and save files wherever you’d like. If you are connected to the web, then you can enjoy your free OneDrive cloud storage, document sharing and collaboration and all the great features you’ve come to enjoy — including auto-save.
It’s important you use these download steps and don’t just use the “app” versions from the store:
First, you’ll want to sign in to office.com with your UConn credentials, and on the homepage, in the right-hand corner, click on “Install and more.” Choose “Install Microsoft 365 Apps” in the drop-down menu. If you are brought to another page, choose “Install Office.” That will let you download the setup installer (exe file). Run that OfficeSetup installer. The last step is to open Word, go to File > Options > Advanced > scroll to File Open Preference, and choose “Desktop.”
TIP 2: Install this familiar interface plugin
Some students say they don’t like Office because the user interface is harder to master than Google’s. Microsoft’s default experience, called the Ribbon, splits up the functions into tabbed menus with large icons, while Google uses drop-down menus and small icons. Actually, before 2007, Microsoft also believed in a similar menu.
UBit, a Swiss technology company, has developed a free, lightweight plugin that aims to replicate that simpler menu interface.
You’ll want to make sure all open Office applications are closed. Just visit tinyurl.com/fixmyribbon – that will download the UBit plugin. Run the installer and that’s it.
If you really want to get rid of the other Ribbon tabs after installing this plugin, right click the File tab and choose “Customize the Ribbon” — then uncheck all the ones you don’t want.
For alternative non-English language versions of the plugin, visit the UBit webpage at ubit.ch.
TIP 3: Explore the features Office has to offer
Microsoft Office has a lot more features and useful tools than Google does. It’s a professional work-driven suite of products with a ton of helpful tricks up its sleeve, but it’s up to the user to take advantage of them.
Students may be most interested in OneNote, Office’s note-taking program. Users can type and draw any way they’d like, import and annotate lecture slideshows, live-edit with other students and more. It’s sort of set up like a paper notebook, where you can label tabs and color-code pages for different classes or purposes.
There are many great things Office has that are new, even to me. You can record and transcribe audio in Word, use thousands of snazzy templates in Publisher and convert handwriting into text in PowerPoint — and that’s just a few options. No more paying for those online services!
TIP 4: Actually be open to trying it
Not everyone likes change. Sometimes I don’t either, but I think UConn’s move to Microsoft Office will allow students to set themselves up for success.
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides may be good in a pinch — but they’re basic web apps. Sometimes I will hear students say Google’s products are “easier” to use … because they have less tools? Businesses and corporations don’t typically use Google software, so at least dipping your toes into Office will help if you ever need to use it during professional life.
Hopefully, this article helps with making that transition a little more comfortable for you, or perhaps you learned something new about Microsoft Office. See you again next week — until then, I’m going back “Under the Rock.”