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Microsoft
Office 2003 or 2007? |
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Pro Titanium Edition MSO12 version 8 is fully compatible with Microsoft
Office 2007 (version 12) running under any edition of Windows XP or any
edition of Windows Vista. This edition of XL Pro titanium has been
optimized for Office 2007 and will NOT run under Office 2003 (version
11). |
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Users of MS Office 2003 will need to use XL Pro Titanium Edition version
8. The version of XL Pro Titanium Edition that is designed for
Office 2003 will also run in Office 2007 in "Compatibility Mode". |
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instructions in this section apply to XL Pro Titanium Edition MSO12
version 8 for Office 2007. Most of the screen shots are from XL
Pro Titanium Edition running under Windows Vista Ultimate Edition with
the Aero Interface. The instructions for adding Shortcut icons to
Templates Files and, instructions for turning the Pages Sets toolbar off
and on, contain screenshots of Windows XP Professional Edition.
These menus and features may have a different appearance on your PC
depending on which version of Windows you are using and your Windows
settings. |
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Click on any
image in this section for a larger view
Getting Started
When you open XL Pro, you may see this Security
warning at the top of the work area. Click on "Options".
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Then, click on "Enable this content".
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Click on the large "Start-Edit" button to begin working in XL Pro. |
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XL Pro Controls and the New Office Interface |
MS Office 2007 has a completely new look. The area above the work
area is called the "Ribbon". The Ribbon is on by default but can
be turned off or minimized. Select the "Add-Ins" tab to display
the "XL Pro Command Bar", the "XL Pro Pages Sets" toolbar, the drop-down
"XL Pro Menu", and the "XL Pro Go To Page" toolbar.
Hundreds of additional features are available to XL Pro users via the
Ribbon but, all of XL Pro's custom commands and features can be accessed
from the XL Pro Command Bar, the XL Pro Menu, and the XL Pro toolbars. |
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Select "Add-Ins" and the XL Pro Command Bar will appear near the top of
the screen just below the "Add-Ins" tab.
The "XL Pro Page Sets" toolbar will appear below the "XL Pro Command
Bar" and the "XL Pro Go To Page" toolbar will appear below the Pages
Sets toolbar.
The drop-down "XL Pro Menu" will appear to the left of the "XL Pro
Command Bar" and the toolbars.
The XL Pro Command Bar and the toolbars may not entirely fit on your
screen, depending on the size of your monitor and the resolution.
There may be a small arrow following the last item on the Command Bar or
on the Page Sets toolbar. Click on the arrow to reveal buttons
that are not visible. |
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The drop-down "XL Pro Menu" provides an alternative method to invoke
some of the XL Pro features that are available from the Command
Bar. The XL Pro Menu also includes some XL Pro features that are
typically accessed less frequently than those on the Command Bar such as
"Copy Current Page", "Delete Current Page", Maximize Work Area", "Change
Company Name", "E-mail BestInspectors.Net", "Activate XL Pro",
"Info-Help", and "About XL Pro". |
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Page Sets |
 The
"Page Sets" toolbar allows you to view sets of related pages, the
"Comments and Descriptors Library" and its "Index", or view all
available pages. The Page Sets are displayed together for ease of
viewing and navigation. You can view, define, or redefine your
"Standard Report" by selecting "My Std Report" from the Page Sets
toolbar.The pre-defined Page Sets in XL Pro Titanium Edition are:
Omission Guard, Field Set, Legacy, TREC Basic, TREC Expanded, Ancillary,
Photo Albums, Four Point, Templates, and Library. Selecting "All
Sets" reveals all report pages, including all custom pages that you have
created, the Library, the Library Index, Instructions, and the End User
License Agreement. |
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Individual report pages can be selected either by clicking on the page
tab at the bottom of your screen or by using the "Go To Page" toolbar.
Page tabs are in the order that pages appear in your report. The
pages are listed in alphabetical order in the Go To Page toolbar
drop-down list. All Page Sets except "Library" include the Cover Page.
The "Omission Guard" page set page tabs
The "TREC Expanded" page set page tabs
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The Page Sets toolbar can be turned off by selecting the "Close Toolbar"
button at the far right of the Page Sets toolbar. The Page Sets
toolbar can be turned on by selecting the "Page Sets" button on the XL
Pro Command Bar at the far right. |
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Go To Page menu is a context based menu. In other words, the pages
listed will depend on which page set is visible. Only XL Pro
pre-defined Page Sets will appear in the Go To Page toolbar drop-down
menu when a Page Set has been selected using the Page Set toolbar.
When you select "All Pages" from the Page Set toolbar, all available
report pages, including any custom pages that you have created, will be
listed in alphabetical order. Selecting a page is as easy as
scrolling to the page name and clicking on the page name. |
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The "Omission Guard" page set |
The "Templates" page set |
The "Ancillary" page set |
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The entire XL Pro program, the Comments and Descriptors Library, and
all page sets are contained within a single file. When you work in
XL Pro, you are working in the Master Program and Report file.
Once you have activated XL Pro, you can create multiple instances
(copies) of XL Pro within the same "Program Files" folder. Each
copy of XL Pro can be treated as a template that can be tailored to
specific building types. Even the libraries in each tailored copy
of XL Pro can be different. For example, you can have one Template
for single family homes, another for duplexes, one for restaurants, one
for office buildings, one for manufacturing plants, and so on.
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Saving Files |
 When
you save your Master file or a Template file, in Office 2007, be sure to
select "Macro Enabled Workbook" as shown in the screen shot. |
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Creating Shortcuts for XL Pro Report Templates |
The icons that XL Pro installs on your desktop and Quickstart Bar
always point to the Main program file. When you create custom
Template files, you can also copy the icons that launch XL Pro and have
them each point to an XL Pro Template file.
Copy the XL Pro icon on the Desktop and paste the copy to the
Desktop. Right click on the icon. Click on the "General" tab
to rename the icon. Enter the new name where "XL Pro Titanium
Edition" appears next to the icon. Click on the "Shortcut" tab,
then click on "Find Target..."
Click on the file name of your Template file. check to make
sure that the name appears in the "Target:" box under the Shortcut tab,
then click on "OK".
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Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista? |
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Microsoft Windows Vista has a slick new look with lots visual appeal.
It looks especially good when the new Aero Interface is turned on.
Unfortunately, Vista does not deliver the "Improved productivity" that
Microsoft promises in its advertising. Vista requires a much more
powerful PC than Windows XP. It requires much more memory than XP
and it seems to have some very serious bugs. Microsoft has issued
several updates addressing a variety of problems. One such update,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941649, caused one of our
test PC's, a custom built high-performance PC running Vista Ultimate
Edition, to crash and it would not boot up after the "fix" had been
installed. Windows Vista Ultimate Edition had to be repaired
using the Vista DVD. The update had to be removed in order to get
the PC to work again.
We installed Vista on a second PC, a mid-priced Dell PC that was less
than a year old at the time. We attempted to upgrade the PC from
Windows XP to Vista Home Premium Edition. The upgrade attempts
failed repeatedly. After four attempts to install the upgrade, we
finally had to do a fresh clean install. Everything on the PC was
lost. Fortunately, we had backed up all the data that was on the
PC but all the programs had to be reinstalled.
PLEASE NOTE: The problems we experienced with Vista were BEFORE XL
Pro was installed on the test PC. In fact, there are fewer
problems with XL Pro running than with most other software that has been
tested on our test PC.
MS Office 2007 runs well under Windows XP. XL Pro Titanium
Edition runs well under any combination of any Windows XP or Vista
Editions and Office 2003 or Office 2007 so XL Pro does not need to be a
factor in your decision of which version of Windows you choose.
Our recommendations:
If you are using Windows XP now, do NOT upgrade to Vista. Our
customers who have experience with both PC's that have been upgraded to
Vista and PC's that came with Vista already installed have told us that
the PC's that come with Vista already installed seem to work much better
than those that have been upgraded.
If you are shopping for a new PC, try to find one with Windows XP.
If you cannot find a PC with Windows XP, buy the most powerful PC you
can afford. Get at least 3GM of high speed DDR2 RAM and a
high-performance video card. Do NOT attempt to run the Aero
interface unless you have a high-performance video card.
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