Tag Archives: Microsoft Office

October 23, 2012, 8:00 am

Microsoft Introduces Office 365 for Higher Ed

Here at ProfHacker, we’ve written several posts over the years about cloud computing and collaboration. Most of our focus has been on GoogleDocs and collaborative authorship (see my “GoogleDocs and Collaboration in the Classroom,” for example).

Not to be outdone by the cloud services offered by Google and others, Microsoft has been working on offerings like Office Live (which I wrote about in 2010) and Office 365 (which the New York Times covered in 2011). These services are designed to let users access and edit cloud-based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from any device with a connection to the Internet and to collaborate on these files simultaneously with other users. And as Microsoft attempts to stay competitive with its mobile devices, introduces a new operating system (or two), and starts selling a new tablet device, cloud-based tools are going to be more and more…

April 12, 2011, 8:00 am

How to Create Accessible Microsoft Office Files

By Cory Bohon

Whenever you are creating content for mass consumption (be it students, co-workers, or the Web), you should consider the accessibility of what you are creating. For example, if your content has audio, have you created a transcript or captions so that deaf people can access it? If your content has important visual information, have you formatted this information in a way that is compatible with the assistive technology used by people who are blind or have low vision?

Microsoft Office files are the predominant document types handled by individuals in both academia and the corporate world. Files with .doc/docx, .ppt/pptx, and .xls/xlsx are a proprietary format, so how can you guarantee the accessibility of these files when sharing with others? As it turns out, the newest versions of Office are accessibility-friendly, allowing you to create accessible content. Furthermore, these versions …

March 24, 2011, 3:00 pm

Google’s Cloud Connect Links Microsoft Office and GoogleDocs Together

By Cory Bohon

Many of us at ProfHacker use GoogleDocs to collaborate with others on shared documents in our web browsers or to create and edit documents from our mobile devices.

After using GoogleDocs, however, working in Microsoft Office feels awkward and not very social, especially when you need to collaborate with others in real time. That’s where a new piece of software from Google comes into play. Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office allows you to get all of the benefits of Google Docs from within Microsoft Office. It appears to be quite similar to the OffiSync plugin that Mark wrote about back in December, but it’s completely free.

This plugin (currently Windows-only) allows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 users to edit GoogleDocs documents in the cloud from within Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. The plugin allows you to share, backup, and edit simultaneously with others who are also us…

December 6, 2010, 11:00 am

Using OffiSync to Sync Microsoft Word with Google Docs

By Mark Sample

Last week I explained how you could edit Google Docs on a mobile device, and now I want to share another find related to Google’s cloud-based alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s a Microsoft Word plugin called OffiSync, which lets PC users (sorry, Mac folks!) seamlessly sync documents between Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

You’ll need Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, along with Office 2003, 2007, or 2010 for OffiSync to work. Once the plugin is installed, you’ll find the controls for OffiSync under a new menu item by the same name. The general idea is this: you’re working on a Word document at home, and when you save the file through the OffiSync menu, a copy will appear on your Google Docs account, which you can edit from any computer with a browser (and now, from many mobile devices). And any changes you make on Google Docs will show up when you reopen that document in Microsoft…