Carleton has been migrating to the latest versions of Microsoft Office for the past year or so.

Faculty and staff who would like to start using Office 2007/2008 soon and who are not scheduled for a new machine or a setup, can ask to be upgraded the new version. Please call us at x5999 to arrange a time for the installation.  (It only takes about 30 minutes or so.)

Why are we transitioning?

MS Office 2007 for Windows has been available for about 18 months and MS Office 2008 for Macintosh has been available since January 2008. Many faculty, staff, and students who have upgraded their personal machines have gotten the new versions. Since the old versions and the new versions do not use the same file format, this has caused compatibility issues.

This upgrade also provides new, useful features, such as better data import, automated generation of citations and bibliographies, contextual spell checking, and new tools for collaboration, to name a few. A more complete list can be found here.

What is the plan?

All new computers are now being delivered on campus with the new version of Office.  Tammy Wellentin is scheduling the updating of computers which are not being replaced this year.  We hope to have the migration to the new versions of Office completed by the end of 2009.  

Classroom training for both the new version of Office has been offered numerous times on campus during the past year. We have been distributing “quick-start” guides to all attendees. Additional documentation and online training is available here. 

If requested, ITS is happy to schedule more classes to help people get started with the new version of Office. We will make every effort to advertise them in advance in Currently @ Carleton, as well as on the ITS calendar.  Please call x5999 if you have any questions, would like to request training, or would like to have the new version of Office installed on your computer.