Office 2008 "Elements Gallery" Opinions

[jeremy6044]

Is it just me, or is the "Elements Gallery" that shows templates from a menu bar the most useless waste of space ever. I mean, put that in a floating window we can get rid of. I don't need to add templates all the time. Who does? Why is it front and center when the useful commands that we use all the time are floating cluttered boxes that are hard to navigate?

Does anyone disagree with me and like the Elements Gallery? I'd like to know because maybe it's more effective than I can see at this point. I'd hate to have a menu bar that I can't get rid of never ever be used.

 

[Cougarcat]

The elements gallery is not a terrible idea, but the fact you cannot make those large buttons go away is ridiculous, especially in Word. I work on a laptop, so vertical space is very important to me. The gallery takes up extra space at the top, so I can see LESS of my document at a time. I think I'll stick with 2004, at least until I get an intel mac.

 

[jeremy6044]

Does anyone use the elements gallery functions on a regular basis?

 

[markcres]

Actually I like it!

In fact I get depressed when I have to use the Office XP we use on our PCs at work!!

I have used the latest version of office for PC and it isn't anywhere near as good as the mac version!!

 

[jeremy6044]

would you be so kind as to tell us what you use it for and why you like it better?

 

[lugesm]

Jeremy is right. Vertical space will become a more important issue as more and more notebook computers with widescreen monitors are sold.

Actually, I like the feature a lot, but it would have been nice if MS had made the bar an option in the "Preferences" window, or if it could be shifted to the left or right side or floating.

In the broader perspective, I really like the new MS Word for Mac. Microsoft has finally produced a product worthy of the Macintosh, IMHO.
This will make it easier for MS when they finally buy Apple.

 

[Nogueira]

The Elements Gallery Bar is a total waste of space and cause distraction too.
I wish Microsoft had made an option to hide it completely.
I have tried writing some scripts to get rid of it but didn't find a way.
If somebody know how to get rid of it, please post it in the forum.