MS Office version for Win 8 tablet?

[Quattro Pete]

Wife is getting Surface Pro 3 for xmas.

I have a copy of MS Office 2007 that I could install on it, but I wanted to know if there is anything she'd be missing out on as far as interaction with Win 8.1 or the whole touch screen experience by using Office 2007 as opposed to Office 2013?

Looks like OneNote comes with Office 2013. Although I thought that OneNote was free anyway... is it not?

 

[redhat]

Office 2013 does have slightly different interface. Still uses the Office button/ribbon.

It may be marginally optimized for a touch interface versus 2007 or 2010, but IMO, the differences are negligible.

OneNote does come with Office 2013 Standard.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks.

Does OneNote interact with the other MS Office apps in any meaningful way or does it primarily operate on its own? Sorry, I'm new to this one.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Office 2013 has a might tighter integration with Microsoft's cloud serice. I think it's called Onedrive now. The "Save As" dialog is frustrating, as it seems to want to default to a cloud service. I do miss the old familiar stuff from Office 2007.

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Office 2013 has a might tighter integration with Microsoft's cloud serice. I think it's called Onedrive now. The "Save As" dialog is frustrating, as it seems to want to default to a cloud service. I do miss the old familiar stuff from Office 2007.


Yep that too. I find myself always thinking "can I just please have the Save explorer window?!"

OneNote operates independently, it is a separate application. Not sure how familiar you are with it (so not trying to talk to you as if your dumb), but OneNote has been around since 2003 I believe. It usually came with Office Professional and/or possibly with Student/Education versions. It's a digital notebook of sorts. It isn't as strict as Word in the fact that it requires you to strictly space your text. Just as a notebook, you can type/write anywhere. You can add images, clip art, etc. There is also a "Send to OneNote" feature in the other Office applications that'll allow you to pump whatever document you're working on into a OneNote notebook of your choice. Also, there's a virtual "Send to OneNote" printer which, like the XPS Writer or CutePDF Writer, it'll spit your printout into OneNote.

It's a handy application that I liked on a netbook when I was in college, but I don't find much use now. It has it's place.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks.

One last question. Microsoft has some marketing materials where it shows you can make handwritten notes (with their stylus) directly on Excel spreadsheets. Is this something that only Office 2013 supports or can that be done in Office 2007 as well?

 

[redhat]

If the Windows 8.1 follows suite, handwriting recognition is handled primarily by the OS. OneNote 2013 may take advantage of more "gestures", but I would assume the Office apps would take whatever Windows gives to the application.

 

[rjundi]

The main screen will not integrate well with the tiles.