Microsoft Office 2010 new features include "cancel on load". This is a little "Cancel" button on the right-hand bottom corner of the application splash screen which can be used to cancel the loading of the application:

Figure 1: Cancel on load

VERSION: 14.0.4006.1110

A few days ago, I wrote about the "Backstage View" (see article here: http://www.msofficegurus.com/post/Office-2010-Backstage-View.aspx) which is a new addition to Microsoft Office 2010. However, when we move to Excel Options (or any other "Options" in Microsoft Office), the well-know dialog box is opened:

Figure 1: Excel Options dialog box

I think that a better way to present the Options dialog box is to embed it in the Backstage View. Here's how it might look like:

Figure 2: Options dialog box embeded

VERSION: 14.0.4006.1110

Two days ago, I blogged about the “Office Button” (or the “Office Tab”, as I see it). In that post, I showed a picture of the “Backstage view”, which is shown when you click the Office Button.

The great thing about the Backstage View is that you have, at your finger tips, many features related to your document such as print options, new document options, share options, etc:

Figure 1: "Info" Backstage view

Figure 2: "New" Backstage view

Accessing the Backstage will give you everything you need to do once you have created your document. You can set the document’s properties, encryption, printing properties, etc.

Through the Backstage, you and your colleagues will have all the Metadata that really matters about the document at your and their fingertips.

The other fantastic feature comes in the form of extensibility. Backstage view allows developers to build applications that control and add features to it. In this way critical information about the status of a project being tracked by a document can be easily accessed through the Backstage view.

VERSION: 14.0.4006.1110

Excel 2010 now comes with sparklines. In the past, we needed third party software in order to work with these little creatures. They are now native to Excel. Here’s a look at the Excel 2010 sparklines:

Figure 1: Line Sparkline

In the above scenario, we have a line sparkline, but Excel 2010 comes with some others such as “column sparkline” and “win/loss sparkline” shown below for the same dataset:

Figure 2: Column Sparkline with high points (light color)

If we consider the conditional formatting data bars introduced in Excel 2007, this is a great addition to Excel 2010.

Most importantly: it is very easy to use. Under the “Insert” tab, close to the “Charts” group you will find the “Sparklines” group. The shaded area in the picture below shows the sparkline location:

Figure 3: Sparkline group under the Insert tab

Once the sparkline is inserted, you can quickly change style, type, show/hide low/high points, etc:

Figure 4: Sparkline extensibility tab and Sparkline Design tab