Many people do stick to office 2003. FOr those that want to use the latest office, there is a classic menu ad-on which removes the ribben and replaces it with a normal menu.

It's actually sort of funny because I'm experiencing a similar issue now. I've just got a new PC, but don't feel like installing office on it just because I find it rather slow... But sadly I'll need to do something about it, as I do have to work with doc files for school. The second problem is Microsoft is really hard about people changing languages it's not funny. I have an office 2007 CD which is in Polish. I prefer having all my programs in English (I already can't do it on this win7 because downloading additional language packs can be done only on ultimate). Well, you can't change the interface of Office either. If I install an English Office, then I won't have a Polish dictionary for spell checker and things. So yeah, this is just crap.
I'm actually also having a similar problem with finding a relatively decent calendar... Something which of course exists in Office. Outside, the only one I could find was calendar magic, which prints your calendar view in a normal text field as a table, which is a pain with like 9 different pieces of infrmation on-screen. And it's written in vb6, in which NVDA just seems to never read labels for the edit fields adding to the massive confusion.

Hello,
If all else fails, and you don't really want to write HTML, you can always use a tool such as PanDoc, or Calibre
But IBM Lotus Symphony is indeed great.
I'm curious though, why would you need an office suite when you wish to write short stories, etc?

Rob

I have a similar issue. I have word 2007 and i am writing college essays now. In the past, i had and still have a friend who makes sure my title is centered on the paige, and that i have all the indentation correct before i submit my paper. My question is, is there a way i could do all the formatting independently? Its great that my friend can help but, he may not always be around. Any tips?

Hi,
NVDA should be able to detect word 2k7-10 formatting as well.
You can centre paragraphs with ctrl+e, etc. Then NVDA+f should tell you the formatting of the current paragraph.

Rob

Here's a really short list:
Align left: ctrl+l
Align right: Ctrl+r
Justify: ctrl+j
Align centre: ctrl+e
Modify paragraph attributes, such as font size: ctrl+shift+p
Change font: ctrl+shift+f
Change style: ctrl+shift+s
If you are using classic menu for office (the student version is free), be sure to check out the format menu for some additional things, e.g. numbered lists, the table menu for tables, etc.

Rob

Any time! Glad to be of assistance.
If you need more help, be sure to post

Rob

Hi,

Aprone, the problem with using Office 2003 and earlier is that we are talking about software that is almost ten years old or better. Not to mention if I got a copy from you or someone else it wouldn't be my copy, but a pirated copy. I'd prefer not to have to pirate the software just to get something equal to OpenOffice or LibreOffice that a sighted person can get for free and continue to get updates on as well. Which was really my point behind the message.

Yeah, I don't like the ribbons and things in Office 2010, but I can live with them. I'm more upset about the fact that the screen reader developers such as GW Micro, Freedom Scientific, Dolphin, you name it put all of their resources into supporting Microsoft's Office, which costs a small fortune, but have yet to come out and support free or low cost alternatives that are just as good, and cost much less to own.

Essentially, what I am looking for is an office bundle that is as powerful as OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Microsoft Office, runs on Windows 7, and is fully accessible. Finding such an office bundle is somewhat difficult. Which is why I am throwing this out here.

pitermach, yeah, I know a lot of people stick with Office 2003 to avoid the ribbons and such. That's alright if someone plans to stick with XP, but I am now using Windows 7 and plan to update to Windows 8 when it becomes available. I don't think that sticking with old software for the sake of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" works for me to well.

Truth is I'm a power user and love to be on the bleeding edge. I'll pay for upgrades I think are worth my money such as some of the new things in Windows 8 such as better boot time, better resource management, better SAPI voices, an all new Narrator that is more like VoiceOver, etc. That's something I'll pay for but don't think the upgrades to Office since 2003 have been benifitial to me in any way. However, I'm not sure how long something like Office 2003 will be compatible with the current Windows OS. I know for sure Office 2000 and Office XP won't work on Windows 7 because I tried it and they crashed big time. Although, Office 2003 still works I couldn't tell you how long that will last.

Trenton, thanks for the tips. I'll definitely take a look at that IBM office bundle. Sounds just like what the doctor ordered.

robjoy, my interest in a full suite isn't just for writing short stories. That's just one of several reasons that got me looking into upgrading beyond Office 2003. I've got several spreadsheets here containing lots of financial data that requires a good spreadsheet application. Although, I could create a custom database in Microsoft SQL Express I was hoping to find a simple database similar to Microsoft's Access that I could use to store order information for USA Games Interactive in. Then, I'd like to have a word processor like Word to write books, manuals, short stories, etc with. So I could really use a full office suite, and would prefer to have something cheaper than Office 2010 to upgrade to.

CAE_Jones, all I can say is whatever works. My situation is quite a bit different, because all of the computers at my house are now either running Windows 7, or Ubuntu Linux 11.04. On the Linux side I'm set as I can use LibreOffice, but on the Windows side I'm looking for an office suite that is accessible and fully Win 7 compatible so I can exchange documents back and forth with the Linux office suite. Right now that IBM office suite mentioned above looks like my best option.

arqmeister, most screen readers I've used are able to speak the formatting in a Word document. It might not be enabled by default, but Window-eyes, for example, will tell you if the text is centered, bolded, left justified, right justified, the text is in italics, etc. I always managed to write up reports in Word 2000 and get the reports looking as good as everyone elses. I might have someone look at the final draft before turning it in, but all the formatting and leg work was mine.

The most common formatting key commands are as follows.

Bold Text: control+b
Center Text: control+e
Change Font: control+shift+f
Change Paragraph: control+shift+p
Change Style: control+shift+s
Full Justify: control+j
Italic Text: control+i
Left Justify: control+l
Right Justify: control+r
Underline Text: control+u

Brad, sighted people often underline text they think is important, want to make note of, and that allows them to find that text later quickly.

For example, let's assume you are in a history class, and you have your laptop open, have Word running, and you are jotting down notes. The professor tells you that George Washington's birthday will be on this weeks test. If you were sighted you would select Washington's birthday, and then click the underline button to underline that section of your notes. That way when you study for the test you can quickly glance at the screen or read the hard copy and find the section of your notes you want by looking for all the underlined text. Most screen readers like Jaws and Window-Eyes will tell you that a certain section of text is underlined so works for us as well as a sighted student.

Same goes for bold and italics as well. They are just ways to draw attention to a certain word or section of text to let the reader know that this or that is important. By adding such visual references a sighted reader can quickly find his/her place and look for certain text at a glance. Someone blind from birth has never been taught to read this way, and therefore I understand why you might not know what they are used for.