New Features Overview - IBM® Lotus® Symphony 1.3

Welcome
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Welcome to IBM Lotus Symphony 1.3, the latest release of IBM's intuitive, easy to use productivity tool suite based on the Open Document Format (ODF) standard.  This video will highlight and demonstrate some of the new features available in this release, including:

  • Support for widgets and Live Text
  • Support for network connection hyperlinks for URI protocols
  • New clip art
  • Enhanced animation effects in Symphony Presentations
  • Improved DataPilot functionality in Symphony Spreadsheets
  • The ability to create and print envelopes, and enhancements to outline-level numbering styles in Symphony Documents

In addition, interoperability with Microsoft Office 2007 has been greatly improved by addressing adoption issues, and by providing key feature refinement and solutions.

Now, let's take a look at some of these features in detail.

Welcome screen is displayed.

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009.

 

Widgets
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2 A widget is a tool that can provision items to client systems. For example, a widget can be used to install and update a stand-alone or third-party feature by calling a feature update site to either initially deploy, or later provision updates to, a client plug-in.

Symphony Home Page is displayed.

3 To deploy a widget in Symphony, first click File -> Preferences -> Widgets.
 Click menu item File -> Preferences -> Widgets.
4 Select the "Show Widget Toolbar and the My Widgets Sidebar panel" option to enable the widget sidebar in Symphony.  Click OK to close the Preferences pane.
 Select "Show Widget Toolbar and the My Widgets Sidebar panel" checkbox and click the OK button.
5 Next, choose "Browse the widget catalog" in the Widget sidebar, to see a list of widgets available to you.
 Select the "Browse the widget catalog" link; the catalog opens in a new browser tab.
6 For this example, select the 'By Category' view, and scroll through to find the "Travel" category.
 Select "By Category"; click Next to find 'Travel'.
7 Click the "American Airlines status" widget link to open the American Airlines status widget.
 Click the "American Airlines status" link.
8 Now, simply drag-and-drop the attachment to the Widget sidebar to deploy this widget.  Close the widget catalog.
 Drag the attachment to the sidebar; close browser tab.
9 To use the American Airlines status widget, simply double-click the icon in the Widget sidebar.  Specify a flight number and click OK; the flight status is displayed in a browser window.
 Double-click icon; flight number is typed into dialog box.  Click OK, and a new browser window opens with the flight information.

 

Live Text
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10 Live Text works with installed widgets by recognizing and identifying particular content types, such as person, e-mail or phone number.  That content type can then be clicked to perform an appropriate action; for example, clicking the Live Text of a person to search for that person in Google.

For this example, a widget that converts US dollar values to euros will be installed to Symphony.  Live Text will then be set to recognize US dollar values in a document, and provide the option to see those values in euros.

Symphony Home Page with Widget sidebar is displayed.

11 In the Widget sidebar, choose the menu icon, then select Catalog -> Browse.

 Click Catalog -> Browse.
12 Select the "By Category" view, and scroll through to the "DNUG" category.  Click the "IBM Dollar-Euro conversion widget for GoCurrency.com" widget link to open the widget, and drag-and-drop the attachment to the Widget sidebar.

 Click "By Category"; click Next until "DNUG" is displayed.

Click "IBM Dollar-Euro conversion widget for GoCurrency.com" link and drag attachment to sidebar.
13 Next, deploy Live Text in Symphony by clicking File -> Preferences -> IBM Lotus Symphony -> Lotus Symphony Documents -> Live Text.  Make sure that the content type 'US Dollar' is selected and click OK.

 Click File -> Preferences -> IBM Lotus Symphony -> Lotus Symphony Documents -> Live Text from menu; select "US Dollar" checkbox and click OK.
14 Now, open a document, and add text that includes a US dollar amount.

 Click "Create a new Document" link from the Home Page; Symphony Document opens, with typed text that includes the character string '$30000.00'.
15 Notice that Live Text recognizes a US dollar value and marks it.  Hover over the Live Text and click the Live Text Actions button to see options associated with this content type.  Choose "See Value in Euros".  The conversion value is displayed in a pop-up box.

 Blue link displays under '$30000.00' character string.

Hover over link displays Actions button.

Check "See Value in Euros" option; conversion pop-up is displayed.

 

Hyperlinks for URI protocols
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16 Symphony can automatically create network connection hyperlinks for URI protocols, including FTP, MailTo and, for UNIX only, SMB.  Simply type in a server path and press Enter to create an active hyperlink.

From Symphony Home Page, click "Create a new spreadsheet" link.

17 For example, add a MailTo link to a spreadsheet.  Notice that the hyperlink is activated once Enter is pressed.

 "mailto" link is typed into spreadsheet cell; click Enter.
18 Click the hyperlink to send mail via the default e-mail client for the system.
 Click "mailto" hyperlink; Notes-email opens with pre-populated New Message.
19 Now, add an FTP link to the spreadsheet and press Enter.

 FTP link is typed into spreadsheet cell; click Enter.
20 Click the link to open an FTP server. Note that if you did not have access to the server, you would be presented with a request to authenticate.

 FTP file server dialog box is displayed.

 

Adding clip art
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21 The clip art gallery has been revised to include additional, refined graphics.

From Symphony Home Page; click "Create a new presentation" link.

22 For example, open a presentation and select Create -> Clip Art to open the clip art gallery.

 Click Create -> Clip Art; gallery opens.
23 Scroll down and select the "Environment" file folder to preview clip art graphics associated with the environment.  Drag-and-drop the Earth graphic (Earth.png) to the presentation below.

 Select "Environment" folder; drag and drop Earth graphic to presentation.

 

Animation Effects
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24 Pre-set animation effects for objects in a presentation have been enhanced.

Presentation with Earth graphic selected displays.

25 For example, select the Earth graphic and select Presentation -> Animation Effects.  Click New to create a new effect.

 Click Presentation -> Animation Effects; click New.
26 Select the Type, and Effect of animation, in this case "Emphasis" and "Whirlpool" respectively, and select an Amount, in this case "Two Spins".
 
 First two selections are already made; select "Two Spins".
27 Notice that there are additional options available, such as whether the animation sequence should be delayed or repeated, on the Option tab.  Select OK to save the new effect.
 Click Option tab; click OK
28 Now, choose Preview in the Order of Animation Effects window to open the preview window.  Click the green arrow button to preview the selected animation effect.
 Click Preview; click green arrow; preview is animated
29 When finished, click Preview to close the preview window, and Close to exit and save the effect.
 Click Preview; preview window closes. Click Close; Animation Effect window closes

 

DataPilot enhancements
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30 Data analysis using the DataPilot has been improved, and includes more practical instructions for creating and using the DataPilot.

Symphony Home Page is displayed.

31 For example, open a spreadsheet, select the data range and, from the menu, click Data -> DataPilot -> Create.

 Click File -> Recent Files to open sample spreadsheet.  Select range (A1:F16); click Data -> DataPilot -> Create.
32 Check "Existing place", choose a cell in the same spreadsheet, and click OK.  Notice that the New DataPilot Table pane appears, along with the DataPilot panel.

 Check "Existing place" option; click cell (A20); click OK.

The new DataPilot Table pane and DataPilot panel appear.
33 Populate the table by dragging and dropping data for analysis, in this case, 2008 sales totals by Product Type and Region.

 Drag and drop Product Type, Sales Region, and 2008 data to the DataPilot panel.
34 To manipulate data, click the arrow next to the Sales Region in the DataPilot panel and select 'Field Options'.

 Click Sales Region arrow; select "Field Options"
35 For this example, select the Sort tab and change the sort order for 'Sum 2008' to "Ascending". Click OK.  Note the corresponding change to the sort order in the DataPilot table.

 Check "Ascending"; select "Sum 2008"; click OK.

 

Creating envelopes
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36 To create an envelope in Symphony Documents, choose File -> New -> Envelope.  Select the options and print settings for your envelope.

From Symphony Home Page, click File -> New -> Envelope.

37 You can fill in sender information manually, to create an envelope for a single recipient, or by using the mail merge feature to create a batch of envelopes for multiple recipients.  For this example, Select the "Display Mail Merge panel" option, and click OK.

 Create Envelope dialog displays; check "Display Mail panel" box; click OK.
38 Now, select the file where recipient address information is stored.  The file can be one of three file types: OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods), IBM Lotus Notes contacts (.nsf), or comma-separated values (.csv).  Click the Browse button, and choose the address file, in this case "Addresses.ods".

 Click Browse; choose address file.
39 Insert fields from the source file to the envelope.

 Fields are inserted.
40 If desired, provide return address information in the appropriate field.

 Return address is typed.
41 When all fields have been inserted, click the Finish Merge button, and choose "Preview" to see the completed envelopes.

 Click Finish Merge, select Preview option.
42 Then click the Finish Merge key again to save, print, or e-mail the completed envelopes.
 Click Finish Merge, select Save option.

 

Outline style enhancements
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43 The Style List has been improved to allow a better experience when applying a numbering style, or assigning a list level to a paragraph style.

From Symphony Home Page, choose File -> Recent Files and open sample document.

44 For example, choose Layout -> Style List to open the Style List.

 Click Layout -> Style List.
45 Select "Paragraph Styles", then select "Heading 1" and click the Modify key.

 Select "Paragraph Styles"; select "Heading 1"; click Modify.
46 Choose the Numbering tab, and select a Numbering Style.

 Choose Numbering tab; select "Number List 1".
47 Now, click the Customize button to make changes to the Number List 1 style, for example, add an ellipsis after the number, and change to Consecutive numbering for all levels.

 Click Customize; choose "1-2-3"; add ". . . "; select "Consecutive numbering".
48 Once changes have been made, click OK to save and exit the List Style pane, and click OK to exit the "Style" pane.  Close the Style List.

 Click OK; click OK; close pane.
49 Now, when the Heading 1 style is applied to a paragraph, the modifications can be seen; in this example, the ellipsis following a number.

 Apply Heading 1 from toolbar to selected paragraph.

 

Microsoft® Office 2007 interoperability
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50 Interoperability with Microsoft Office 2007 has been greatly enhanced.  For a complete overview of Microsoft Office 2007 feature support in Lotus Symphony, click Help -> Help Contents -> IBM Lotus Symphony -> Common Help Topics and select "Microsoft Office 2007 interoperability".

Click Help -> Help Contents -> IBM Lotus Symphony -> Common Help Topics; select the "Microsoft Office 2007 interoperability" topic.

 

Thank you
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51 That concludes this video. We hope you've found this overview of new features helpful.  For complete information about new features in IBM Lotus Symphony 1.3, including links to additional demonstrations and product documentation, please visit the Lotus Symphony wiki at:

http://www.lotus.com/ldd/lswiki.nsf

Final screen displaying link to wiki.