Microsoft

Office
Updated as of SEP 2020

COMPUTER

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Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Office or MS Office can be seen as a form of a collection of an array of
office-related applications. Each of these Office-related applications has been
created by the team of developers at Microsoft to cater to different uses. Microsoft in
2019 launched the latest version of its cloud-based computing platform of MS Office
called Microsoft 365.

• The first suite of MS Office containing various applications was launched in the year
1988, and since then different versions and a total of 16 suites have been released
by Microsoft the latest being the MS Office 19 which is for offline use unlike
Microsoft 365 which is for online use.

Overview
• Microsoft Office is a closed-source software office suite containing different
applications.
• It was first launched by Bill Gates on 19th November 1990 soon after the launch of
Microsoft Windows.
• The first version of MS Office Contained MS Word, MS Excel & MS PowerPoint.
While these are called as the Applications, Microsoft Office is called as a Software.
• Following table provides the list of Applications launched by MS Office:

Application First Launch Main Function

MS Word 1983 Creating text files
MS Excel 1985 Creating Spreadsheets
MS 1990 Creating Presentations
Power Point
MS Access 1992 Database Management
MS Outlook — Emailing & Work Calendar
MS OneNote 2003 Keeping Notes
MS Publisher 1991 Desktop Publishing
Skype 2007 Video Conferencing

• Out of these applications, MS Word, MS Excel & MS PowerPoint are used the most
across the world.

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MS Word
• Microsoft Word is the most convenient software used for creating text files.
These text files can be edited and transferred from the author to others and edited
by them too. This is how word window looks like (version 2007):

• As a word processing application, there are the following functions available in it:
1. To process any commands on the existing text in Word, first, user need to
select the text. To select any text, user need to place the cursor before the
word and press Shift + Right arrow. Alternatively, user can place the cursor
after the word ends and press Shift + Left Arrow.
2. From Home Menu, user can copy/cut the existing text & paste it to some
other place in the same document or in the other document. The other
processes that can be performed from ‘Home’ menu are changing fonts, size,
color, Case, alignment, spacing etc. Bullets & Numbers, Paragraphs can also
be introduced from the same menu. User can look for a particular word in the
document by clicking on Find from Home menu or simply Pressing Ctrl + F.
There is an option of replacing that word too.

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3. From ‘Insert’ menu, files apart from text can be inserted in the document. E.g.
images, screenshots, tables, links & hyperlinks, charts, shapes, equations,
special symbols, headers, footers & page numbers.
4. From Design menu, user can obtain pre-decided templates of fonts & font
sizes for heading, subheading & other text of the document. That helps
improve readability of the file quickly.
5. Page layout option provides user with a chance to change spacing before the
paragraphs, indents and general margin spacing of the page.
6. From References option, user can insert Bibliography & Citation of the texts
in different formats like MLA, APA but for that, user need to insert list of books
user have referred.
7. Review option helps user check spelling & grammar errors in the document &
protect the document from being edited by non-trusted users.

MS Excel
• MS Excel is used for processing the data that is in tabular form and then perform
mathematical functions on it in order to analyze it.
• This is what Excel window looks like (version 2007):
• MS Excel performs following basic functions:
1. In MS Excel, there are rows and columns. Intersection of rows and columns
forms a cell. So each of the cells is an individual unit of data. Each cell has a
cell address which is the number of row and alphabet of the column it
appears in. No two cells have the same address ever.
2. Home & Insert menu of MS Excel is similar to MS Word. User can change the
formatting of the content from home & include pie charts, tables and other
files related to data from insert menu.
3. The unique functions that MS Excel has are Formulas & Data. User can
perform the formula on data in order to analyze it quickly. User have to select
the cells for that and one cell becomes one unit of data. So if user select 10
cells and apply an average formula to them, user will get an average of data
put in those 10 cells.
4. To apply a formula to any data, user need to select it without any space. Then
in the function bar, user need to type ‘=’ and the abbreviation of the formula
user wish to apply.

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1. From Data menu, user can perform functions without changing the original
data. User can filter & sort data without changing it. For example, User can
sort the data in alphabetical order.

2. Right from basic functions like addition & subtraction, user can perform
complex statistical functions like correlation & t-test. Moreover, user can
convert them into Pie charts or graphs within moments. This makes data
analysis easy.

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MS Power Point
• MS PowerPoint is an application which provides user slides and run a slideshow.
• Firstly, in PowerPoint, there are slides. User need to add content to them to make
presentation. From Home menu, user can add new slides, decide their sequence,
layout, design & other word processing functions like font change, size change etc.
• From Insert menu, user can add media to the slides to enhance user’s presentation.
• Design menu offers user with ready-made templates & background designs for
slides that make the presentation look very attractive.
• Transition & Animation are the unique functions of PowerPoint. These menus offer
different options in which the text appears on the slides & transition from one slide to
other.
• Finally, from Slideshow menu, user can view the final form of the slideshow. User
can start the slideshow from the first slide or the slide that user are editing. Also,
user can also set display time for each slide from ‘Slideshow’ menu.

Other Microsoft Functions

MS Office - Microsoft Outlook
• The MS Outlook application is a Personal Information Manager or in simple words, it
is a form of a personal organizer like managing dates, tasks and others.
• Its primary work though is to send and receive emails. Outlook came into existence
in the year 1997 and was launched as a part of Microsoft Office Suite of 1997.

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• MS Outlook is an application one needs to pay for to use, while creating an email on
outlook is free of cost.

MS Office - Microsoft Publisher

• Microsoft Publisher is a Desktop Publishing Application and works as an entry-level
Graphic Design application.
• Though on the onset it may seem similar to MS Word it has a greater emphasis on
Page layout and Design. It can be used to create basic templates, cover pages and
logo designs.
• The first version of Microsoft Publisher 1.0 was released in 1991. The file extension
of files created by using Microsoft Publisher is .pub

MS Office - Microsoft Access

• Microsoft Access functions as a Database Management System (DBMS). It helps
users to be able to analyze humongous amounts of information and manage data in
a more efficient way.
• The application works through storing information which is related together and
creates connections between different things to make a holistic and more easy-to-
use database.
• It is an important application used for Data-entry by organizations. The first version
of Access was released by Microsoft Corporation on 13th November 1992.
• There are a number of file extensions depending on the file formats, the most
common being the .adn extension.

MS Office - Skype
• Skype is one of the most commonly used applications for the purpose of electronic
telecommunication through Video Chats and Voice Calls between Computers,
Tablets, Mobiles, and even through devices like Xbox One.
• The application also supports the exchange of messages between the respondents
and also can be used for the purposes of Video conferencing.
• Originally founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom from Sweden and Janus Friis from
Denmark.
• It was on the 29th of August, 2003 when the first Beta version of Skype went public.
Microsoft Corporation would go on to acquire Skype Communications for a sum of
$8.5 Billion in 2011.

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MS Office Notes FAQs

Q. How many applications or software included in MS Office?
A. A total of 8 applications or software are included in MS Office.

Q. In which year the first Microsoft Office suite was released?

A. It was in 1988 when the first version of Microsoft Office Suite was released.

Q. Microsoft Access functions as which form of system?

A. Microsoft Access or MS Access functions as a Database Management System
(DBMS).

Q. When did Microsoft acquire the Skype Corporation?

A. Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Corporation in 2011.

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