Using Office Documents in a Web World

Working with Content on an Intranet

Microsoft Office 2000 applications include many new features for creating and working with Web content.

Creating Web pages for an intranet

Every Office application has a Save as Web Page command on the File menu. This command saves the active document in HTML format. Also on the File menu is the Web Page Preview command, which opens the Web browser and shows a preview of what the document will look like when saved in HTML format and displayed in the Web browser.

Individual Office applications have new tools for creating and publishing documents to the Web or an intranet. For example, Microsoft Word 2000 can be used as a powerful HTML authoring tool. The Web Layout command (View menu) gives users a WYSIWYG view of Word documents created for the Web.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 makes it easy for users to share presentations over the Web. When a presentation is published in HTML format, the presentation appears in Web browsers with slide navigation controls, a Full Screen Slide Show tool, and optional speaker notes.

In Microsoft Excel 2000 and Microsoft Access 2000, Microsoft Office Web Components allow data to be displayed dynamically in HTML. Users can manipulate, modify, and format this data on the Web.

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Collaborating on documents and sharing information

One of the most powerful uses of an intranet is collaboration. Typical examples of collaboration include the following:

• Collaborative authoring

  Often several authors work together to create a document — for example, a budget or extensive specifications for one product. Shared documents are typically stored on an intranet.

• Content review

  Peers or managers frequently review a document before the author publishes the final version. Office provides a set of tools for collaboration, making it as easy as opening a published document and going to work. Both Word and Excel support comments and change tracking. Microsoft Office Server Extensions (OSE) allow users to participate in threaded discussions in documents stored on a Web server.

• Shared workbooks

  Excel allows two or more users to edit the same workbook simultaneously by using the Share Workbook command (Tools menu).

Office also provides tools for tracking and reviewing changes in a document or for rolling them back to earlier versions. These tools can be used with documents published on an intranet to enhance workgroup functionality.

• Change tracking

  Word and Excel users can track all changes to a file with revision marks that are color­coded for each user. In Excel, a color border appears around the cell. In Word, the modified text appears in a different color or has special formatting such as underlining or strikethrough.

• Conflict resolution

  Office applications can track multiple changes to the same data, allowing the original author to roll back changes. The Reviewing toolbar lets users explore all revisions and comments and decide which changes to accept and which to reject.

• Merged files

  Many people distribute documents for review through e­mail. Because Office has the ability to merge files, users can consolidate multiple versions of a document into one master file.

• Offline caching

  Office 2000 includes a new feature that allows users to work offline on documents published on an intranet. While users are working online, documents are cached locally. When users reconnect, any changes made offline are synchronized with the online version. If there are conflicts, users are prompted to resolve them during synchronization.

Note   Offline caching is available only to users of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.

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Publishing in multiple media

Although many documents are created for print, other documents are published directly on CD­ROM, on an intranet, or on the Web. Presentations are distributed in an increasing variety of formats, including 35mm slides, electronic presentations, or HTML documents. Office applications allow users to publish in multiple formats.

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Finding Office documents on an intranet

After documents are published, users might spend a lot of time trying to locate key information or find related documents created by other groups. This challenge effectively limits the size of the audience for the publication — making publication on an intranet a useful alternative because hyperlinks and searching capabilities help users find what they need.

When OSE is installed on a Web server, users can go to the OSE Start Page, a Web page with several tools that assist in using OSE features. One of these tools can search the server for documents based on user-specified criteria, such as words and phrases, and Office document properties, such as title, author, and summary.

Note   The Web Find Fast feature in Office 97 has been replaced in Office 2000 with the OSE Search feature.

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See also

By having OSE installed on a Web server, users are offered many additional collaboration features. For more information about these OSE features, see Using Office Server Extensions.

Another way to share Web data among your users is by using Excel Web queries. You can create a query (IQY file) to run against data published to the Web. For more information, see the Microsoft Office 2000/Visual Basic Programmer’s Guide.