I have been doing some self study recently to prepare to take the Microsoft Office 2010 certification exams. As part of that, I am exploring new features that are offered in this version and I have found some AWESOME things to share with you!

1) Recover Unsaved Documents - I can't imagine there is anyone out there who hasn't done this at least once. You spend a long time typing up a nice brand new document, only to accidentally click NO when you are prompted to save it at the end. In prior versions, you were completely out of luck and had no recourse for any kind of recovery. Enter Office 2010! When you reopen the program, on the File tab under Recent, look in the bottom right corner. You will see a folder icon that says Recover unsaved document/worksheet/etc (different in different Office programs). Click that and it will show you the unsaved files you had for the last four days. Waaa hoo! Microsoft claims in its help file that this can work on previously saved files too. Basically you have to make sure that AutoSave is turned on with the option to Save Last Autosaved Version If I Don't Save Changes checked (find these options in File-Options-Save). In order for that to work, you need to have had the file open long enough for an Autosave to kick in and even then, you'll only get your changes back to the last time it AutoSaved. Still it's worth a shot, so take a moment to select that option right now.

2) Photo Album - PowerPoint 2010 has added a very nifty new feature called Photo Album. You can find it on the Insert tab. It allows you to enter multiple pictures and it will arrange them on the slides for you. Decide you want 2 pictures per page, no problem, PowerPoint reformats them all for you. Change your mind - want 4 pictures per page? Zip, it's done by changing the drop down on the photo album window. Want to have a text box next to each image? You can add them easily from the photo album page. While you are in the photo album window, note that you can - on the fly - rotate images, crop them, change the order, etc. You can also access the photo album (for editing after you have inserted it) by right mouse clicking your slides on the left hand navigation pane. Really cool new feature!

3) Remove Backgrounds in Photographs - Office 2010 has added the ability to remove background images in pictures. You just click the part of the picture you want removed, and voila! Instant white space.

4) Insert Screen Shots - Previously if you wanted to add a screen shot, you would press Alt-Prt Scrn and then paste the screen shot where you wanted it. Office 2010 has automated that step. Click on Insert - Screen Shot and you will get a drop down pane with thumbnails of all the windows you have open. Click the one you want and a screen capture picture is pasted into your document. Bam!

5) Customize the Ribbon - One of the biggest frustrations I had with Office 2007 was the inability to customize the ribbons. Office 2010 has fixed that little problem, thank goodness. Just right mouse click on your ribbon (note it can be context sensitive, so it won't show if you right mouse click on top of your styles for instance), choose Customize The Ribbon and get to customizing (including creating your own tabs on the ribbon)! Easy peasy!

Lot of NICE things have been added in Microsoft Office 2010. If anyone is thinking of upgrading from 2003, do yourself a favor and go straight to 2010!!!