RobiNZ CAD Blog

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Message Editor, it's Word but it's not...

In earlier versions of Outlook there was an option to “Use Microsoft Word as your Message editor”. This meant other applications, like MindManager & SnagIt, which had Word integration also worked with e-mails. I often used MindManager “Send Topic to Word” and SnagIt “Send Capture to Word” while composing email messages, just like any other Word document.

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 uses the HTML parsing and rendering engine from Microsoft Office Word 2007 to display HTML message bodies. There has been some flack about this as Word 2007 isn’t as good at rendering HTML as the old I.E. based rendering engine. That aside, the Message Editor does have “Word’like” features, even uses Word 2007 components if installed (see table in extended post), but crucially it’s NOT Word.

It’s also the only editor as there is no longer a “Use Word…” option. This means applications that integrate with Word will not find the Outlook 2007 Message Editor and integrate with email anymore.

Both Mindjet & TechSmith are aware of this and I expect they’ll integrate the new editor with their applications in future updates. You can still copy/paste to the Message editor but it’s not as elegant. Something to consider if you are planning to upgrade to Outlook 2007.

Edit MindManager Maps in Microsoft Office Word 2007?

DWF & Windows, MindManager & Word, seems like it’s the week for XML to break down barriers between users & data. Mindjet have released an extension that allows editing of MindManager maps in Microsoft Word 2007.

How? It packages required MindManager ribbon interface components, macros and complete MindManager map inside a Word XML Document which enables seamless round trip editing between MindManager 6 & Word 2007.

Why? It’s intended to make sharing and collaboration easier in a world where Word is – well, 2007 will be – on far more desktops than MindManager. I applaud this move as it will make life easier for MindManager users, like me, wanting to share map info.

Will it result in more MindManager users? Perhaps Word 2007 users will see enough to lead to a full evaluation of MindManager but I have some doubts…

Is a map a map, when it’s in Word?  A unique and powerful part of the MindManager experience is the map format. Will “Word map editors” realise what they are missing editing map content in a word processor? 

An outline is no match for a map!  When I first used MindManager 5 I longed for an outline view that was editable as it approximated my previous preferred method of making notes – Word in outline mode. Some time later an editable outline view was introduced with MindManager 6 but I rarely use it. I adjusted and found the map format a far more fluid and efficient way to work. While you can expand & collapse outline topics easily a list view is far less visual. This suits some people and tasks but for me it lacks a vital element which makes MindManager such a powerful tool.

Does business expect conventional text formatted documents because typewriters, later word processors, are the established authoring tools rather than being the best communication solution?

Time for a different view? This extension solves the problem of editing map content without requiring MindManager. That’s one barrier broken but I feel the real problem is the need to install viewers for MindManager Map viewing. In these days of locked down corporate desktops, virus & firewall protection installing a viewer is impossible for many computer users. Perhaps the Autodesk/Microsoft move with DWFx and XPS, leveraging the Windows XPS Viewer, is something for Mindjet to consider…

If you are collaborating with Microsoft Office 2007 users full details, a video demo and free download of the extension are available on the Mindjet website; 

The New Word 2007 Map Editor for Mindjet MindManager

Press Release: Mindjet Releases New MindManager Add-In for Microsoft Word 2007

Video: Learn more about the New Word 2007 Map Editor for Mindjet MindManager

Screencast Demo at Microsoft Channel 9

Tags: Word+2007

Editing MindManager Maps with Microsoft Word?

If you are testing Microsoft Office 2007 this post on the Mindjet Blog may be of interest. When I read, back in June 2005, that Microsoft Office 2007 was going to use XML I hoped this would mean better integration, perhaps even bi-directional linking, between MindManager and Office applications. Looks like it’s happening…

My Office is still version 2000 (Office XP at work) but the XML format and interface will be enough to add 2007 to the shopping list when it’s released.

Editing Maps with Microsoft Office Word 2007 - The Mindjet Blog.

Using new technology we could embed an entire MindManager map in a Word Document and do the following with it:

1. Allow users to use Microsoft Office Word 2007 to edit the document.
2. Allow users to view and modify the MindManager content, like icons, map markers, task planning information, attachments, and comments from within Word 2007.
3. This is all done without installing anything else (like add-ins) on Word 2007 because all of the code to modify the internal MindManager Map is in VBA Macros in the .docm file.
4. Create the .docm files without having Word 2007 on the system with MindManager.
5. Essentially edit the MindManager map on a system without MindManager on it.  (I know this sounds like heresy to this audience but keep on reading).
6. Because the MindManager map is embedded in the Word Document, merging the Word data back with the MindManager data is possible and doing a round-trip of the map back to MindManager is practical — without losing information

If you are beta testing Microsoft Office Word 2007 and would like to try this out…

The Mindjet Add-in for Word 2007 Video Demo - www.notetalkers.com

Mindjet has allowed us to host a copy of the Windows Media Video sent out with the pre-release of the Word 2007 Add-in for MindManager…

Update 18–09–2006: Microsoft Channel 9 are also hosting the video

http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/In_the_Office

Tags: Office+2007, xml