Regardless of you realize it or not, your Outlook’s .pst file contains all the local Outlook folders, such as Calendar, Inbox, Tasks, Sent Items, Outbox, Deleted Items, and user-created folders. Hence it is extremely important that you regularly take backups your Outlook PST files so as to prevent any data loss in the event of a computer crash.

Microsoft has detailed instructions on how to make a backup copy of a personal folders (.pst) file, but unfortunately it is a manual backup process that one needs to follow every time s/he is taking a backup. In addition, it can be cumbersome to make a schedule, remember it and follow it regularly to make sure you have regular backups of your Outlook’s pst file.

In situations like these, running continuous backups using an online backup software can be pretty handy as these backups are fully automated and run in the background. To make matters more seamless, continuous backups perform your backups constantly throughout the day.

The Most Dangerous Common Backup Mistakes (Outlook PST Backup)

The major advantage of this approach is that you no longer have a long backup window. Instead, your updates are split up into smaller chunks and spread throughout the day.

The PST files from Microsoft Outlook will get uploaded seamlessly every time you get an email. Hence, you can be pretty sure that ALL your recent Outlook communications and other data will be always safe even if your computer crashes.

Why Office 2007 documents don’t open in older versions of MS Office?

Microsoft has added new Office Open XML Formats to Microsoft Office Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007 and Word 2007. The new formats help by improving file and data management, reducing file sizes, and improving recovery of damaged files. Office XML Formats uses a ZIP compression technology to store documents. So if you receive a document that someone has saved in Office 2007 format, but all you have is an earlier version of Office that can’t read it, there are some steps you need to take.

Luckily, the fix is easy: Download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. (Take special care to read the Overview on that page – it’s important that you have all High Priority updates from Microsoft Update installed before you install the converters.) The compatibility pack works with Office 2000, Office XP and Office 2003.

So if you have Microsoft Office 2003 on your computer and your friends are using Office 2007 and sending you e-mail with attachments, this is your way to convert Office 2007 files to into Office 2000, 2003 or Office XP format and open e-mails from Office 2007.

MOCPWEP2007FF enables you to open/edit/save Office 2007 documents in Office 2000, 2003, or XP without any work on your part. Just make sure that your office has the latest Service Pack installed – either SP3 for Office 2000 and XP, or SP1 for Office 2003.

But what if you don’t use Windows? What if you are a Mac or Linux user? Still then don’t worry. To convert the .docx file, use one of the several online converters that convert docx files into doc. With most of these converters, all you have to do is — upload your file, select your preferred format (.doc is just one choice), and enter your email address. In a moment, you should get a note containing a link to download the converted file. And most of such services are free service.

With MS Office 2010/2011 round the corner for release, it would be interesting to watch if Microsoft changes its file format, again!

1. You can not carry it everywhere with you. e.g. Lets say you are on a holiday trip and purposefully left your laptop back at home (because you didn’t want to be distracted by your work) and then the unthinkable happens; your boss gives you a call at night and begs you to prepare a power point presentation and few more documents and get them ready when you get back from the holiday, tomorrow. And the nearest computer at your hotel lobby does not seem to be having MS Office installed. Damn! You wish you had not left your laptop back at home.

2. MS Office comes with a price tag and is not Free.

To overcome such shortcomings, the need of “Web Based Office Suite Service” arises. A Web Office suite is a combination of productivity, publishing and collaboration features. A Web Office both embraces the functionality of desktop office suites (e.g. Microsoft Office) and extends it by using Web Native features.

The key to defining a Web Office is to limit it to the type of productivity applications that you’d find in a suite like Microsoft Office. So a Web Office suite would be a set of tools that helps you be more productive in your daily office work, alone or as a group. Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, email, calendar – these are the traditional apps found in an office suite, and they’re as relevant online as on the desktop.

These days, there are is even more great software available to teams who want to assemble their own virtual office. Below are some of the tools every team needs to create their own online office:

1. Google Docs: Google Docs is probably the easiest to use of the various online word processing applications available today. It also has historically given me the fewest problems. It also supports OpenOffice .odt format (which not all word processors do). I’ve never had any issues logging into Google Docs and accessing my documents. You can upload files, create new files, access your documents anytime from anywhere. Also it has Google Gear support, which enables the user with offline access. When you have internet access, you can view and edit your docs in real time and when you’re offline still you can get all the features but it will sync with the online version only when net connection is established.

2. Zoho – Office: Zoho Office Suite is a spry little collection of modules, taking only two seconds to launch the word processor (Writer) and spreadsheet (Sheet). The suite is extensive: it includes Projects (project management software), Show (presentations), Virtual Office (groupware with a calendar, e-mail client and more), Creator (database manager) and Planner (an organizer for reminders and notes). Zoho Writer does a fine job of covering the basics you need most days: check spelling, align text, create bulleted or numbered lists and control fonts (size, style, color). Don’t go expecting much beyond the basic features, however. It’s not as rich as Word or ThinkFree: The spell checker will underline mistakes, for instance, but you can’t right-click and find the correct spelling from a list.

3. ThinkFree: It’s not always the smoothest application to use, but their Java-powered power edit mode is definitely the most advanced online word processor and feels a lot like Microsoft Office XP. It’s the only online office app I know of that has support for Microsoft’s .docx format. ThinkFree has three main components — Write (a word processor), Calc (a spreadsheet), and Show (presentation software) — all of which are listed on the site’s My Office page, along with your most recently edited files. If you’re concerned about document compatibility with Microsoft Office, you want ThinkFree. There’s simply no contest.

4. Peepel: Peepel is a free online office suite with document collaboration and maps. Peepel includes a permission based, people tracking system which allows you to see where your friend’s are on a map. Peepel provides spreadsheet and writer, and it is really stylish to work with. You can work in the same window with spreadsheet and writer and all other peepel accessories, without having to toggle your view between the screens.

5. Live Documents: Live Documents is an online office productivity suite that gives you the powerful productivity features of Microsoft Office coupled with the collaboration and mobility of Google Docs. Live Documents is the only online office suite that provides “non-lossy roundtripping” for Microsoft Office documents – rest assured that the documents that you import do not lose fidelity.

6. AjaxOffice: This cool little web based office service is from SourceForge. This is a complete office suite usable via your browser. Your documents are safely stored on a server so that you don’t have to worry about backups and you can access them from every computer in the world! AJAXOffice is to OpenOffice what GMail (Google Mail) is to Mozilla Thunderbird.

7. fengOffice: Feng Office allows businesses to manage project tasks, billing, documents, communication with co-workers, customers and vendors, schedule meetings and events, and share every kind of electronic information. Furthermore, all features are easily accessible within a single web page and accessing an integrated view, business managers and directors can get a clear picture on the status of projects and customer services, assisting them on the decision making processes.

8. gOffice Web Word: This is a browser-based online word processor and desktop publishing program, which is a wrapper around Microsoft Word 2007. This means you can implement a subset of the features found in Word on your website. The output quality of the files will be oustanding because the files will be true Word files. In a single line, gOffice offers a mini-suite of word processing, desktop publishing, presentations and spreadsheets.

9. Num Sum: This is a web-based spreadsheets. This interesting service that lets you share spreadsheets. It lets you track your records, lists and data online and share with everybody or with just your close friends. NumSum was an early “social spreadsheet” service. When it first came out it was hamstrung by the spreadsheets not being shareable. However I’m happy to see that this feature has since been added, enabling multiple users to edit a spreadsheet.

10. TechChunks Office Suite: I might have listed this at the end of my list but make no mistakes. This is by far the best online office suite available at the moment. This has lightening fast response time, is free to use and comes with an wide array of cool apps like — word processor, spreadsheet, project management software, presentation software, database manager, reminders/notes organizer, groupware with calendar and e-mail client, chat, wiki software… Okay, I am just kidding and there is no such web based office suite called TechChunks Office Suite!

Actually, this slot (number 10) is empty for the time being and I would love to hear your favorite online office suites and will update this slot with a reader recommended service, that I find interesting.

1. The Navigation Pane, a souped-up version of the old Document Map, that lets you navigate by headings or thumbnails but also find words and phrases and highlights them in the map and the document.

2. The right-click menu has a Style gallery that lets you quickly set the style of a paragraph or selection.

3. If you want to illustrate a document with screenshots, Insert Screenshot will show you previews of all the other windows currently open on your screen and let you insert them with a single click rather than having to switch to that window, take a snapshot using , switch back to Word and paste the image in manually.

4. The new Picture Layout command puts a picture in your document into a Smart Art diagram ready for you to type the accompanying text around it.

5. Smart Art has great new diagram types, including several different Organisation Charts – with or without pictures or job titles – and you can easily add extra assistant shapes and arrange the charts as you want them.

What features would you wish to see being added to MS Word 2010?

The most significant change in this build is the new installation procedure for test versions of Office 2010 SKUs. Previously, setup used to ask for product keys after it has been initiated, but now, starting from Build 14.0.4514.1009, Office 2010 will ask you for a special unique installation product key before setup has even started, thus making it difficult (not impossible) for those who try to leech through illegal sources.

On Monday, Microsoft released the beta bits to MSDN and TechNet early, as it often does for the networks. It also released the 64-bit beta version of Office Web Apps – the lightweight, online version of Office – to MSDN and TechNet on Monday.

Microsoft is expected to officially release the Office 2010 beta this week at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, running Tuesday through Friday. A tech preview was released in July, but was still lacking some features and polish. The Redmond software giant is also making a bit of a departure by offering browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Because a high-level executive is delivering a keynote speech Wednesday, industry followers suspect the announcements will come then.

Last week, an Office 2010 beta leaked to the Web, though a Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet that version is NOT the same as the one released to MSDN and TechNet on Monday.

Here are some screenshots of the Office 2010 build leaked last week:

MS Word 2010 beta [Screenshot]

MS Outlook 2010 beta [Screenshot]

MS PowerPoint 2010 beta [Screenshot]

It’s unclear whether Microsoft will cap the number of Office 2010 downloads, a move that would duplicate the clumsy process last January when it launched Windows 7′s public beta, or whether it will simply limit time the beta is available, which is what it did with Windows 7 release candidate.

Microsoft has, however, promised to distribute millions of copies of the Office 2010 public beta. Are you planning to grab one?