25-May-2009 Excel 2007 vs Excel 2003

Nick's picture


Excel 2007 vs Excel 2003 ?

I have now been using 2007 for a while, so here are my observations on 2007 vs 2003.

 

For 2007:

  • 1M Rows
    • This was my request from a meeting with Microsoft in 2003, so I am happy with the inclusion of 1M rows.
    • It was an Austin Powers moment when I asked for 1 MiLLLLion rows. Everyone around the table laughed as if there were no way it could be done. They did it, and it turned out to be the main selling point for 2007.
  • Nicer Range Name handling
  • Increased sorting options
  • A good effort to handle duplicates better.

Against 2007:

  • Loss of some keyboard shortcuts
  • Ribbon - WHY, WHY, WHY ???
    • Menu and keyboard are so much better... Am I using this ribbon incorrectly ?
  • Right click on Pivot table... no data source ?
  • Buggy - I have found a couple of annoying bugs with 2007:
    • With sheet protected, and turn off ability to select protected cells, CTRL + Page Down does not go to the next sheet... instead, it scrolls down a page.
    • I found a lot of crashes whilst using worksheet events.
  • Lots of useful things just hidden away requiring a bit of googling to find out where they've been put.
  • Help ? - I find the help files less useful than in 2003.

Summary:

Unless you need 1M rows, don't upgrade.

 

Please add the things you like and dislike about Excel 2007.

Nick

 

Documentation of differences between Excel 2003 and 2007

check the below article
http://funwithexcel.blogspot.com/search/label/Screenshots
might be of some help to you to get a clear view of both excel 2003 and excel 2007.

Excel 2007 : pie charts

One of the differences I noticed was the formatting of a pie chart. The chart was very carefully formatted just right so surrounding text was not stepped on as the percentages changed. The formatting displays differently in Excel 2007.

Excel 2007 Formula Bar does not block Column Headers anymore

The new resizable formula bar allows you to pick arguments normally.

What happens in previous versions?

1. Long formulas flood the bar and block the column headers and the cells below.

2. You need to quit the formula bar, select another cell, memorize or write down the location of your arguments and then type them direclty into the formula.

Ribbon is the way to go

I am going to be shot by experienced excel users here :). For a new user, excel 2007 and its ribbon are the way to go. Take Pivot tables for example, all the various components are logically arranged in various tabs within the ribbon. Same for Pivot charts and charts.

This is a bold step forward, to change the full front end. A change of this magnitude will face resistance, let us hope Office '10 is a bigger step in the same direction.

Pros:
- Love the new graphing choices and new auto formatting like data bars.
- The various options, design or format or layout, are clear and well laid out.
- If you are like Nick and insist on Alt+n+d+3 left clicks+F, the keyboard sequences are retained too, right?

Nick's picture

Excel 2007 vs Excel 2003

I guess that explains a why they did it then... to appeal to the mouse-using mass market.

I think the way to go should be towards mouseless operations as that's the most efficient usage, not away from it.

Not all the shortcuts combos were retained.

e.g. ALT i n p, ALT + L   (to paste a list of range names)