Saturday, 6 December 2014

The Ergonomics of Version Numbers - What Version of Excel am I Running?


The Perennial Navigational Challenge to Operate Microsoft Office

Finding out what version of Excel you are using is not always straightforward as the user interface changes rapidly with each release. Once upon a time, Ferdinand Magellan had to circumnavigate the world, now people must collectively circumnavigate new versions of software applications, and Office, in particular, provides particular challenges.

The Traditional Idiom for Version Numbers for Windows Applications

Traditionally, version information was always stored in the Help->About screen. How Style Guidelines have changed!

The Office 2010 "Backstage View" and Corresponding Shortcut (From Help to the File Menu)

Office 2010 introduces the "Backstage View". Here you will find your Excel version by clicking: File->Help (Alt-F-H). In 2010, you'll see the Product Version (say 2010) in the top-right and the actual Excel version in the bottom right (e.g. Version: 14) and Copyright Notice.

The  Excel 2013 Methodology

Try the same keyboard shortcut above in Excel 2013 and you will be asked to share your worksheet - Ha!  Instead you must to File -> Account -> About.

No comments: