Microsoft Office shared tools

Microsoft Office shared tools are software components that are (or were) included in all Microsoft Office products.

Delve

Office Delve allows Office 365 users to search and manage their emails, meetings, contacts, social networks and documents stored on OneDrive or Sites in Office 365. Delve uses machine learning and artificial intelligence[1][2][3] to try to show the most relevant people and content. In April 2015 Microsoft launched a mobile version of Office Delve in the App Store and Google Play for users with an Office 365 subscription.[4]

Equation Editor

Equation Editor is a formula editor developed by Design Science that allows users to construct math and science equations in a WYSIWYG environment, and is included in Microsoft Office and several other commercial applications. It is a simplified version of Design Science's MathType, evidenced with a dialog box enticing the user to upgrade to the full, paid version of the software.[5] It can be used as a standalone program or it can also be used as an embedded object from within applications that support OLE. Its feature set has not changed significantly since its introduction in Word for Windows version 2.0.

Beginning with Office 2007, Equation Editor is no longer the default method of creating equations, and is kept for compatibility with old documents only.[6] Instead, a reengineered equation editor is included, which is built into the document-editing part of the Fluent User Interface on core Office 2007 programs and all Office 2010 and 2013 programs, rather than accessed through a separate dialog and being treated as an OLE object in the document.[7]

Microsoft Graph

Microsoft Graph (originally known as Microsoft Chart) is an OLE application deployed by Microsoft Office programs such as Excel and Access to create charts and graphs. The program is available as an OLE application object in Visual Basic. Microsoft Graph supports many different types of charts, but its output is dated. Office 2003 was the last version to use Microsoft Graph for hosting charts inside Office applications as OLE objects. Office 2007, specifically, Excel 2007 includes a new integrated charting engine and the charts are native to the applications. The new engine supports advanced formatting, including 3D rendering, transparencies, and shadows. Chart layouts can also be customized to highlight various trends in the data. Microsoft Graph still exists for compatibility reasons, but the entry points are removed. This product can be used within other products, and is available in the Object menu in the Insert tab in Office Programs. Sold separately in Mac releases.

The first software sold under the name Microsoft Chart was an attempt from Microsoft to compete with the successful Lotus 1-2-3 by adding a companion to Microsoft Multiplan, the company's spreadsheet in the early 1980s. Microsoft Chart shared its box design and two-line menu with Multiplan, and could import Multiplan data. The simple graphs (pies, bars, lines) were drawn on the screen in graphics mode (which was not available on entry level computer models), and could not be printed on some dot matrix devices. The main drawback of Microsoft's solution at the time was the need to exit Multiplan and then load Chart to compose and draw a graph, because MS-DOS was not a multitasking operating system. In the early 1990s, Microsoft Chart was renamed Microsoft Graph.

WordArt

An example image created with WordArt.

WordArt is a text-styling utility. It allows users to create stylized text with various "special effects" such as textures, outlines, and many other manipulations that are not available through the standard font formatting. For example, one can create shadows, rotate, "bend", and "stretch" the shape of the text. WordArt is available in 30 different preset styles in Microsoft Word, however, it is customizable using the tools available on the WordArt toolbar and Drawing toolbar, or on the WordArt tools tab on Office 2007 and 2010. It is also available in Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Publisher. In Office 2010 and 2016 i.e., Office 365, users can apply formatting effects such as shadow, bevel, glow, gradient glow, and reflection to their text.

In Office 2007, WordArt was given a complete overhaul in Excel and PowerPoint, with new styles, new effects, and the ability to apply WordArt to regular text boxes. The new styles were included in Word 2010, but mostly removed in Word 2013.

WordArt created in PowerPoint for Mac 2011

SmartArt

SmartArt, found under the Insert tab in the ribbon in PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Outlook, is a new group of editable and formatted diagrams. There are 115 preset SmartArt graphics layout templates in categories such as list, process, cycle, and hierarchy. When an instance of a SmartArt is inserted, a Text Pane appears next to it to guide the user through entering text in the hierarchical levels. Each SmartArt graphic, based on its design, maps the text outline, automatically resized for best fit, onto the graphic. There are a number of "quick styles" for each graphic that apply largely different 3D effects to the graphic, and the graphic's shapes and text can be formatted through shape styles and WordArt styles. In addition, SmartArt graphics change their colors, fonts, and effects to match the document's theme. It was included in Office since 2006 to now.

Discontinued

Microsoft Binder

Microsoft Binder was an application originally included with Microsoft Office 95, 97, and 2000 that allowed users to include different types of OLE 2.0 objects (e.g., documents, spreadsheets, and presentations) in one file. Originally a test host for OLE 2.0, it was not widely used, and was discontinued after Office 2000.

The filename extension for Microsoft Binder files was .OBD; the Office Binder template format was .OBT. A Microsoft Office Binder Wizard used the extension .OBZ.

Binder files could be opened in Office versions until 2003, with the Unbind add-in installable through the Add or Remove Programs menu. Office 97 Unbind is available for download from the Microsoft website.[8]

Microsoft Data Analyzer

Microsoft Data Analyzer 2002 was part of Microsoft Office XP. Microsoft originally purchased the software as part of the intellectual property of Maximal Innovative Intelligence - Maximal's "Max" product was rebranded as Microsoft Data Analyzer. Even though it was a stand alone application and was not available in any Office XP bundle, it was a part of the Office XP suite. It was not updated beyond version 3.5.[9]

Microsoft Data Analyzer allows analyzing and visualizing data and data trends, and is integrated with SQL Server Analysis Services. Reports and graphs generated could be saved as HTML, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft PowerPoint files.

Microsoft Office Document Scanning

Microsoft Office Document Scanning (MODS) is a scanning and optical character recognition (OCR) application introduced first in Office XP. The OCR engine is based upon Nuance's OmniPage. MODS is suited for creating archival copies of documents. It can embed OCR data into both MDI and TIFF files. This enables text search on the files, which is integrated into the Windows Search.

MODS is no longer available in Office 2010.

Microsoft Office Document Imaging

Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI) enables editing and annotating documents scanned by Microsoft Office Document Scanning. It was first introduced in Office XP, and was included in Office 2003 and Office 2007. Although it is not available in Office 2010, it is possible to install it from a previous version of Microsoft Office and use it with Office 2010.[10] (The Internet Fax feature in Office 2010 uses the Windows Fax printer driver to generate a TIFF file instead.[11]) Microsoft offers MDI to TIFF File Converter, a command line tool, which allows users to convert one or more MDI files to TIFF.[12]

MODI supports Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) as well as its own proprietary format called MDI. It can save text generated from the OCR process into the original TIFF file. However, MODI produces TIFF files that violate the TIFF standard specifications[13] and are only usable by itself.[14]

In its default mode, the OCR engine will de-skew and re-orient the page where required.

Since Office 2003 Service Pack 3, MODI no longer takes over the file association with Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files as part of the Service Pack's security changes. Also, it no longer supports JPEG compression in TIFF files.[15]

Programmability

MODI exposes a document and an image object through Component Object Model (COM). It can convert scanned images to text under program control, using its built-in OCR engine.

The MODI object model is accessible from development tools that support the Component Object Model (COM) by using a reference to the Microsoft Office Document Imaging 11.0 Type Library. The MODI Viewer control is accessible from any development tool that supports ActiveX controls by adding Microsoft Office Document Imaging Viewer Control 11.0 or 12.0 (MDIVWCTL.DLL) to the application project. These folders are usually located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MODI.

The MODI control became accessible in the Office 2003 release; while the associated programs were included in earlier Office XP, the object model was not exposed to programmatic control.

A simple example in Visual Basic .NET follows:

Dim inputFile As String = "C:\test\multipage.tif"
Dim strRecText As String = ""
Dim Doc1 As MODI.Document

Doc1 = New MODI.Document
Doc1.Create(inputFile)
Doc1.OCR()  ' this will ocr all pages of a multi-page tiff file
Doc1.Save() ' this will save the deskewed reoriented images, and the OCR text, back to the inputFile

For imageCounter As Integer = 0 To (Doc1.Images.Count - 1) ' work your way through each page of results
    strRecText &= Doc1.Images(imageCounter).Layout.Text    ' this puts the ocr results into a string
Next

File.AppendAllText("C:\test\testmodi.txt", strRecText)     ' write the OCR file out to disk

Doc1.Close() ' clean up
Doc1 = Nothing

MDI file format

Microsoft Document Imaging (MDI)
Filename extension .mdi
Internet media type image/vnd.ms-modi
Magic number 0x5045
Type of format Image file formats
Extended from TIFF

MODI uses a proprietary format with .mdi Filename extension for storing scanned documents together with optional annotations or metadata which can include the text generated by OCR process. It is known that MDI is a variant of TIFF.[16][17] Key differences from TIFF include:

Office Assistant

Microsoft PhotoDraw

Microsoft Photo Editor

Office Web Components

Office Web Components (OWC) are a group of Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) components available in Office 2000, XP, and 2003. These ActiveX Controls can be plugged into web pages, Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) forms, and Windows Forms, or programmed in-memory. The OWC can be used by any COM-compliant Component Object Model programming language. Applications such as Excel, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft FrontPage allowed creating interactive web pages using Office Web Components.

The following components are included:

The Office Web Components were discontinued in Office 2007 except as a part of Office Project Server 2007.[18] However, they were available for download from Microsoft's website. Microsoft has not yet offered a complete OWC replacement. However, programmers can use a combination of third-party products, Excel Services, or Visual Studio Tools for Office to provide similar functionality.

The Pivot Table web component may have problems on Windows 7.[19] In many cases the problems are related to the new security settings in IE and can be solved by relaxing the restrictions in the relevant Internet Zone, allowing ActiveX controls and possibly cross-domain access. If the page is hosted locally in the computer, the settings for the zone are not accessible through the IE interface, and can be changed by editing the registry (under key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0]).

Four books in print cover OWC programming:

Clip Organizer

Microsoft Clip Organizer is Microsoft's clip art organizing software allowing users to find drawings, photographs, sounds, videos, and other media clips to include in presentations, publications, and other Office documents. It comes with a variety of stock media clips and offers more selection on the Microsoft Office Online website.

Picture Manager

References

  1. ↑ "Microsoft Finally Rolls Out 'Delve,' One Of Its Most Important Products You've Never Heard Of".
  2. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo. "Microsoft starts rolling out Delve, its 'Flipboard for Office 365' - ZDNet".
  3. ↑ "Microsoft CEO Is Betting On A New Product You've Probably Never Heard Of: Delve".
  4. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo (14 April 2015). "Microsoft delivers iOS, Android versions of Delve.". ZDNet.
  5. ↑ "Equation Editor Tips". MathType. Design Science. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "Where is Equation Editor? - Word - Office.com". Office.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
  7. ↑ "High-Quality Editing and Display of Mathematical Text in Office 2007".
  8. ↑ "Office 97 Unbind".
  9. ↑ "Data Analyzer 3.5 - Downloads - Office.com". Office.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
  10. ↑ Install MODI for use with Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Support
  11. ↑ "Changes in Word 2010 (for ITPros)". TechNet. Microsoft. 9 December 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  12. ↑ "MDI to TIFF File Converter". Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  13. ↑ "TIFF Revision 6.0 Final — June 3, 1992" (PDF). Adobe Systems. 15 September 1995. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  14. ↑ Head, Michael R. (13 March 2008). "Handling Microsoft Office Document Scanning TNEF and TIFFs in Linux". Suppressingfire.org. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "You may experience issues when you run the Microsoft Office Document Imaging program after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (Revision 3.0)". Microsoft Support. Microsoft. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "LibTiff Mailing List Archive, "Notes on Microsoft Office Document Imaging file format", by Brad Hards". www.asmail.be.
  17. ↑ "LibTiff Mailing List Archive, "Microsoft Document Imaging status / snapshot", by Brad Hards". www.asmail.be.
  18. ↑ David Gainer (July 17, 2006). "Office Web Components "Roadmap"". Microsoft Excel 2007 (nee Excel 12). MSDN Blogs. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
  19. ↑ Webpage on Windows 7 does not render the OWC Pivot Table

Further reading

Equation Editor
WordArt
Binder
Microsoft Data Analyzer
Office Web Components
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