Microsoft Office Live
As part of the Executive Board of the PTA and Chair of two committees I have a lot of stuff to organize. Some of it is electronic, some of it is data collected from paper. Different pieces of the information are used by different people. In the end I wind up with a ton of papers and a ton of emails, which is a real pain. When I was invited to participate in a blog tour for Microsoft Office Live I thought it would be a great opportunity to try a system that could make things easier and more organized, and hopefully save me some time and energy.
Microsoft Office Live is a set of free online tools. It is free to create an account. Account holders have up to 5GB of free online storage where they can store thousands of Office documents which can be accessed from anywhere. The documents all work with Microsoft Office products - Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can even share access to your files with others to make collaboration seamless and easy. You decide the level of access that folks you’re sharing your files with have by choosing read only or read/write.
Using Microsoft Office Live is easy. It’s all web based so there is no software to install. You probably guessed this but I’ll say it anyway - you do need to be connected to the internet to use Office Live. You create an account using your email – you can log in using this or a Windows Live id. Once your account is created you create different workspaces for different projects and needs.
Once I saw how versatile Office Life was I decided to create several more workspaces for home, Scouting and vacation. I created another to share with my parents, since we often work on various different projects together. There appears to be no limit to the amount of workspaces you can have. To move between them just select the workspace you want in the sidebar and you’re set.
I prefer to do things on the computer. I find it more organized and easier to manage. I liked that I could upload my own documents into Microsoft Office Live. There are a number of preloaded templates available including Class, Essay, Event, Household, Job Search and Meeting. You can edit them to suit your needs. You can even copy and combine them. I saw a template I liked in Class but was using other templates from Household. It took less than five seconds to copy it from one to the other. Hands down, what I liked best about it is that there’s no flash drive, CD or paperwork to carry around or forget to bring with you. For me this means I can detail my thoughts and ideas without having to write myself notes, find the notes when I get home and then enter them into the computer. Changes are real time and always available – no waiting. The other thing I love is that you can easily collaborate with others without all being i the same place.
Microsoft Office Live would be a great tool for any individual, business or family trying to streamline, organize and go paperless. Small businesses, groups and organizations can also use Microsoft Office Small Business, which offers the ability to build and host a free website with no knowledge of code. That could be a big money saver!
To learn more or to get started using Microsoft Office Live visit To http://www.officelive.com/en-us/.
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Microsoft Office Live. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”
Filed Under: Computers And Tech • Reviews
I’ll leave the technical end to hubby lllike a good queen bee.