I just started using Office 2013 (from 2003) a few weeks ago andI find new reasons to think Office 2013 sucks EVERY DAY. Every day I pounds my fist on my desk because some useful feature that was available before is now missing or takes much longer. It seems like changes were implemented just because you needed to make changes, not because you were looking at the way people worked to improve their work flow. Here are a few of them that I have found:
My biggest complaints are about Outlook. I am especially baffled as to why you uncoupled Outlook from Word. I use both every day, and compose hundreds of emails a week, along with other correspondence and reports. I use autotext a lot! Now, I find that there are separate normal templates, one for Word and one for Outlook. The autotext is not shared, so entries I create in Word are not automatically available to me in Outlook--I have to create them again to use them in Outlook! I've tried to understand
The Backstage is really not user friendly. It adds extra steps to what used to be a two click operation. In addition, I find the shifting of the screen to the right disorienting. Why put some stuff at the top of the page, and other commands in this weird place. How is the user supposed to figure out what's "Backstage" and what's in the Ribbon? I'm finding out by trial and error.
Speaking of style and colors, the relatively monotone, run-together look of 2013 makes it hard to differentiate different items, and there are only two options for the look? I expected that somehow i would still be able to get the old look back.
I can't print a selection in Outlook, only a page or the entire email? GOOFY. I used to be able to highlight someone's mailing address in an email, print a label and have something shipped to them. Now I need to copy the address, paste it into Word and then print my label. That, to me, is NOT an improvement.
I found this thread that explains one of my first beefs about having the Reading Pane on the bottom in Outlook: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/b4d21ea2-547b-4b7b-8fe1-d183d5b4ac8a/outlook-2013possible-to-removeedit-layout-header-in-mail-preview-pane
You obviously didn't finish the design of 2013. I was trying to send an email marked "private." I had to go to the Ribbon, then guess that in the "Tags" tab that by clicking on the itsy-bitsy icon at the bottom right of the tab that I would get a dialog box that would allow me to mark it private. The box is unchanged from 2003, including the style and colors.
I told the IT manager at my job that I would no longer complain to him, because there's nothing he can do. I know I'm Shouting Down the Well to send this, but it gives me some satisfaction to communicate my intense dislike of Office 2013. Maybe by sharing this with you, someone can help me find easier ways to do things, or you will be able to implement changes in a new (retro) version of Office that would be more user friendly.
Rick Walker