Office 2010 Terms

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010

A computer program you use to create a collection of slides that can contain text, charts, pictures, sound, movies, multimedia, and so on; often called a presentation graphics program.

Microsoft Excel 2010

A computer program you use to enter, calculate, analyze, and present numerical data; often called a spreadsheet program.

Microsoft Word 2010

A computer program you use to enter, edit, and format text; often called a word-processing program.

Title bar

The area at the top of the program window that displays the name of the open file and the program.

Workspace

The area that displays the file you are working on (a Word document, an Excel workbook, an Access database, or a PowerPoint slide).

contextual tab

A Ribbon tab that contains commands related to the selected object so you can manipulate, edit, and format that object; appears to the right of the standard Ribbon tabs below a title label.

Office.com

A Web site maintained by Microsoft that provides access to the latest information and additional Help resources.

ScreenTip

A box with descriptive text about an object or button you are pointing to. Scroll-To move a different part of the workspace into view.

Dialog Box Launcher

A button in the lower-right corner of a group on a Ribbon tab that opens a task pane or dialog box that provides additional options for that group of tasks.

Microsoft Office 2010

A collection of Microsoft programs, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Publisher, and OneNote.

Group

A collection of buttons for related commands organized on a Ribbon tab. Help (Office)-Information on a feature or how to perform a task in an Office program.

Quick Access Toolbar

A collection of buttons that provides one-click access to commonly used commands, such as Save, Undo, and Repeat.

Microsoft Access 2010

A computer program used to enter, maintain, and retrieve related information (or data) in a format known as a database; is often referred to as a database or relational database program.

Microsoft Outlook 2010

A computer program you use to send, receive, and organize email; plan your schedule; arrange meetings; organize contacts; create a to-do list; and record notes; as well as print schedules, task lists, phone directories, and other documents; often referred to as an information management program.

Folder

A container for your files.

Shortcut menu

A list of commands related to a selection that opens when you click the right mouse button.

Gallery

A menu or grid that shows a visual representation of the options available when you click a button.

Insertion point

A nonprinting marker that shows where characters will appear when you start to type.

File extension

A period followed by several characters that Office adds to the title you give a file to identify the program in which that file was created; the default file extensions for Office 2010 are .docx for Word, .xlsx for Excel, .pptx for PowerPoint, and .accdb for Access.

Protected View

A read-only format in which any file downloaded from the Internet, accessed from a shared network, or received as an email attachment may open where you can see the file's contents, but you cannot edit, save, or print them until you enable editing.

Filename

A title you select and a file extension assigned by Office to indicate the file type.

Mini toolbar

A toolbar that appears next to the pointer whenever you select text; contains buttons for the most commonly used formatting commands, such as font, font size, styles, color, alignment, and indents.

dialog box

A window from which you enter or choose settings for how you want to perform a task.

Task pane

A window that helps you navigate through a complex task or feature in Office programs.

Help window

A window that provides access to all the Help topics, templates, and training installed on your computer with Office and available on Office.com.

Live Preview

An Office feature that shows the results that would occur in your file, such as the effects of formatting options on a document's appearance, if you clicked the option to which you are pointing.

Status bar

An area at the bottom of the program window that provides information about the program, open file, or current task or selection; it also contains buttons and other controls for working with the file and its content.

Button

An icon you click to access a command.

SkyDrive

An online workspace provided by Microsoft that you can use to make a file available to others for review and collaboration.

Object

Anything that appears on your screen that can be selected and manipulated, such as a table, a picture, a shape, a chart, or an equation.

Sizing buttons

Buttons in the upper-right corner of the title bar that you click to resize and close the program window; Excel has a second set that resizes the workspace.

Backstage view

The File tab of the Ribbon, which provides access to file-level options and program settings.

Integration

The ability to share information between programs.

Database

The file you create in Access.

Workbook

The file you create in Excel; commonly referred to as a spreadsheet.

Presentation

The file you create in PowerPoint.

Document

The files you create in Word, although many people use the term document to refer to any file created on a computer.

Ribbon

The main set of commands organized into tabs and groups that you click to execute tasks.

Tab

The part of the Ribbon that includes commands related to particular activities or tasks.

Zoom

To magnify or shrink the display of content in the workspace.