Multiple Documents (MDI) in Office 2007

[CMM]

I was very disheartened that Excel and PowerPoint still sport the
frustrating Multiple Document Interface.
(http://www.sturmnet.org/blog/archiv...-can-we-decide-on-a-ui-document-model-please/)

Not only is it extremely unintuitive and inconsistent (Word for instance
sports a True Single Document Interface (SDI)) but its also a HUGE
productivity killer. You can't open up new documents while a dialog is open
or the app is otherwise "busy." For instance, we have several macros that
comb through a spreadsheet and lookup things in a database and can take up
to 20 minutes. My users complain that they can't access other Excel
documents they have open while the macro is running (there are *unintuitive*
"tricks" such as starting a new instance of Excel-- possible only while the
macro is running--. but they don't help if the document was already open
before the macro started... and most users don't "get it" anyway).

I would love to see a Tabbed Document Interface (like Access 2007 has and
FrontPage has today) in ALL Office apps. But I'd settle for the true Single
Document Interface (SDI) that Word contains. Excel and PowerPoint's (and
possibly others-- Visio's? Project's?) interface for 2007 is totally
unacceptable at this point in time.

 

[Patrick Schmid]

There isn't much difference between the SDI/MDI of Word, Excel and PPT.
They behave the same way. I think you might be noticing the effect of a
setting. I am not sure, but the default for that setting could be
different in Word than it is for PPT and Excel.
For Excel, the setting is in Excel Options, Personalize and is called
"Show all windows in the Taskbar".
For Word, the setting is in Word Options, Advanced, Display section and
called the same.
For PPT, the setting is in PPT Options, Advanced, Display section and
called the same.

As nice as a tabbed interface would be, such a huge change won't happen
anymore in Office 2007 (it's too late for that). Unfortunately, you'll
have to live with the interface you see right now for 2007. Maybe
Microsoft will consider introducing a tabbed interface for the successor
of Office 2007.

Patrick Schmid

 

[CMM]

I think the link I provided explains it quite nicely. "Windows in Taskbar"
behaves vastly different between those three apps.... as do the side-effects
I explained.

--
-C. Moya
www.cmoya.com

There isn't much difference between the SDI/MDI of Word, Excel and PPT.
They behave the same way. I think you might be noticing the effect of a
setting. I am not sure, but the default for that setting could be
different in Word than it is for PPT and Excel.
For Excel, the setting is in Excel Options, Personalize and is called
"Show all windows in the Taskbar".
For Word, the setting is in Word Options, Advanced, Display section and
called the same.
For PPT, the setting is in PPT Options, Advanced, Display section and
called the same.

As nice as a tabbed interface would be, such a huge change won't happen
anymore in Office 2007 (it's too late for that). Unfortunately, you'll
have to live with the interface you see right now for 2007. Maybe
Microsoft will consider introducing a tabbed interface for the successor
of Office 2007.

Patrick Schmid