Working with Multiple Windows
Every time you open another file in an Office application, the file opens in its own file window. You can have multiple programs and files open to help you multitask—to jump between different jobs you’re working on and to look at information stored in a number of different files and applications.
The taskbar is a band or bar that appears by default along the bottom of the Windows desktop. A button for each file or program that you open appears on the taskbar. The Office 2007 applications work with Windows Vista to provide you with multiple options for navigating between open file and application windows, including using the taskbar.
Switching to another file or application window
Switching to another open file makes it the active file in its application. When you use the taskbar to switch between open files, Windows switches to the application for that file, if applicable. You can use one of the following techniques to navigate to another file or application in Office and Windows:
View tab on Ribbon. To switch to another open file window in an application, click the View tab on the Ribbon, click Switch Windows, and then click the name of the file to select, as shown in the example in Figure 3-16. The selected file becomes the active file.
Taskbar. Click the taskbar button for the file to open, which immediately makes the file appear in its application. If the taskbar button represents more than one open file, clicking it displays a menu with the name for each open file. Click the file you want to open to select it.
Shortcut key combination. If you press and hold the Alt+Tab key combination, a task-switching box with an icon for each open file, as well as for the Windows desktop, appears. Continue holding down the Alt key as you press and release the Tab key until you’ve highlighted the desired file icon; then, release both keys. The file you last selected opens onscreen in its application.
Quick Launch toolbar. Click the Switch Between Windows button on the Windows Vista Quick Launch toolbar to “stack” the open windows, as shown in Figure 3-17. Then click the window for the file (and application) you want to switch to.
Figure 3-17. Windows Vista provides a visual way to switch between open file and application windows.
Note
Many of the actions described previously work nearly the same under Windows XP.
Arranging windows
Arranging windows sizes all the open files in an application and positions them so that the files fill the available space in the application window without overlapping. (Word actually sizes multiple instances of the Word application window to fill the screen.) This feature enables you to review and compare the information in multiple files more easily, or to perform an action such as moving or copying information from one file to another, as described in the next section.
The View tab of the Ribbon includes an Arrange All button. Click that button to arrange the open file windows, as in the example shown in Figure 3-18. Note that some applications also include Cascade, which stacks the open windows so that you can switch to another window by clicking its title bar.
To arrange all the open file and program windows on the Windows desktop, right-click a blank area of the taskbar (not a taskbar button) and then click Show Windows Side by Side.
Note
In some of the Office applications, such as Publisher, use the Window menu to switch between open files within the application and to arrange open Windows.