Many of us use Microsoft's Office suite on a daily basis for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations, emailing and managing appointments and contacts.

However, if you simply installed the default parts of Office when you first installed the software on your PC, or if your copy of Office was pre-installed when you bought your computer, you could be missing out on some very useful extra tools.

Hidden away on the Office installation CDs are loads of extras. Some of them should install automatically when you first try to use them, while others will have to be added by specifically setting them up.

Here we will run through all the major add-ons and what they do, along with a few free goodies from the internet, to increase the range of Office tools at your disposal. Note that you'll need to have the Office installation disc in your PC's CD reader to install any of these features, other than those that are available to download from the web.

WORD

Page Border Art
In a desktop publishing program such as Publisher, putting a border around a page is a simple task and can liven up even the dullest of documents. But you can also do this in Word if you install and use Page Border Art, which is available to Office XP and 2003 users.

Click on Format in the menu bar at the top of the screen in Word, then select Borders and Shading from the drop-down list. Under the Page Border tab in the dialogue box that appears, click on the Art selector and Word will offer to install Page Border Art features.

Once installed, there is a range of fancy borders available for you to apply to any page created in Word. The word processor automatically takes care of the placement of the borders on the page, so all you have to do is decide which one you want to use.

Additional themes
Themes are pre-designed 'looks' you can apply to Word documents. They can be used to apply colours and specific fonts to document headings or coloured backgrounds to pages, and can be of great use when designing web pages in Word.

If you're using Office XP or 2003, select Format, then Theme, and pick a theme by name to preview and use it. If it's not already installed, the first time you click on it you'll be given the opportunity to install additional themes from the Office CD.

Help for WordPerfect users
If you are used to using WordPerfect for word processing you might want to install WordPerfect Help, which enables WordPerfect keyboard shortcuts to be operated in Word.

WordPerfect Help is one of the options in Word's Help menu, and clicking on this for the first time will install the extra feature. There's also extensive help available within Word's own help system. This feature is available in all versions of Office back to Office 2000.

Repair broken text
If the documents you're working on include text in foreign languages they may not be displayed properly on the screen, depending on the fonts and language options you have installed.

This extra feature will scan a document and make changes to the settings in Office to ensure foreign text is correctly displayed. If you're using Office XP, choose Fix Broken Text from the Tools menu and then pick the foreign language used in your document.

EXCEL

Add-ins
The Excel Add-in includes tools that handle calculations in euros, deal with look-up tables in worksheets and run the Excel Solver, a tool that helps you solve 'what if?' problems.

For instance, say you were planning a big party and were trying to decide where to do your grocery shopping to get the most for your money. By entering the prices of the items on your shopping list from the stores you're considering, Solver could show you where to shop to get your whole list for the minimum cost. If you don't mind visiting more than one store, it could even mix and match to reduce the overall cost further.

To install Add-ins, click on the Tools menu on the menu bar in Excel and select Add-ins. Check the boxes next to the features you want to install and Excel will load the extra functions. These will then appear as options in the Tools menu in Office 2000 and XP.

Quattro Pro 5 Converter
Quattro Pro, part of the WordPerfect Office Suite, was a main competitor to Office when Office 2000 was released, so this converter takes Quattro Pro 5 files and converts them directly to Excel format. This feature will load automatically when you try to open a Quattro Pro 5 file if you have the Office 2000 disc in your CD reader drive.

POWERPOINT

Animation sound effects
There are 16 sound effects supplied on the installation discs for Office XP and 2003, ranging from the clack of a typewriter to a gunshot. These will be installed the first time you select them from the Slide Show, Custom Animation menu, providing the Office installation disc is in the computer's CD reader drive.

Pack and Go Wizard
In PowerPoint 2000, you can prepare a presentation to run on a PC on which PowerPoint is not installed using the Pack and Go Wizard, which can be installed from the Office installation disc. This takes a completed presentation and combines all the slides with a presentation player into one file, which you can then put on a CD, DVD or memory card and run from just about any computer.

OUTLOOK

Stationery
If you go to Tools, Options, then Mail Format and click on the Stationery Picker button in Excel, a dialogue box will appear from which you can pick one of a number of stationery designs. Below this is a preview panel showing each design as you click on its name.

Next to some of the stationery options, though, you'll see a message saying 'Stationery not installed yet ...'. Select one of these and the extra stationery designs will be installed from the Office installation disc, giving you a further 10 options to choose from.

Symantec Fax Starter Edition
Office 2000 offers a cut-down version of Symantec's fax software, so you can send and receive faxes from your PC. Install the feature using Office Setup and you'll find there's a new tab on the dialogue box that appears when you select Tools, Options. This lets you set up a cover sheet for your faxes and the contact details you want printed on it. You can then send a new fax by selecting Actions, New Fax Message.

Office tools and shared parts

Text-to-speech converter
If you are visually impaired or don't like having to stare at a computer screen for long periods of time, you may want to take advantage of the text-to-speech converter in Office XP or 2003. This uses a voice synthesizer to read back any highlighted piece of text or range of cells. To install this for any of the main Office modules, select Tools, Speech, Show Text to Speech Toolbar. The first time you do this, the feature will be installed from the Office installation disc.

Equation Editor
The Equation Editor available in Office 2000, XP and 2003 allows you to create complex equations and set them into the main text of a word processing document or spreadsheet. The editor handles most mathematical structures, keeping things such as superscripts, roots and brackets in order.

A new toolbar will appear once you've installed the Equation Editor, from which you drag and drop the various mathematical operators to build your equation. You can return to edit an equation whenever you need.

Microsoft Photo Editor
This is a simple photo touch-up program but it can be used to perform basic image-editing functions and to apply simple filters such as watercolour or pen and ink effects. This needs to be installed manually from the Office 2000 or XP installation discs using Office Setup.

International support and proofing tools
Office 2000, XP and 2003 come with support for French, Spanish and UK English, though oddly not for German. If you install the appropriate proofing tools, you can check sections of text in these foreign languages for spelling and grammar. You can even use the tools to translate passages in documents thanks to third-party translation services linked to the web. These won't be as natural as professional human translations, but should give you a feel for the meaning.

Some of these language tools will install themselves from the Office installation discs the first time you try to use them, others will need to be installed using the Office Setup program.

Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar
The Office Shortcut Bar available in Office 2000 and XP is designed to speed your use of the various modules, by providing quick ways into programs or specific documents created using Office. It can be tailored to your needs and is available from the Start, Programs, Microsoft Office Tools menu.

Alternative User Input
If you have difficulty using a keyboard or mouse, you may find the facilities for speech (select Speech from the Tools menu) and handwriting recognition (which can be installed using Office Setup) within Office XP and 2003 useful.

Bear in mind, though, that the only version of English understood by the speech tool is US English, so a mid-Atlantic accent will give you a head start. You'll also need to have a microphone connected to your PC to use the speech recognition features, and a handwriting input device - such as the Wacom PenPartner (£30) - if you plan on using Office's handwriting recognition features.

Office document imaging
This additional module of Office XP and 2003 enables you to 'scan' documents and perform basic Optical Character Recognition (OCR), to convert them from 'pictures of pages' to editable text. Once installed through Office Setup, the tool appears in the Microsoft Office Tools menu and can be used to scan and save documents to other Office applications.

Additional TrueType fonts
Office 2003 provides extra fonts to add to those that are already installed with Windows. There are more than 50 of them, which have to be installed from Office Setup. They include well-known names such as Baskerville and Lucida, as well as more unusual display fonts, such as Jokerman, Ravie and Snap. With these extra font types at your disposal, there's no excuse for dull, run-of-the-mill newsletters or flyers.

WIZARDS, TEMPLATES AND CONVERTERS

Templates and macros
Templates are designed to provide the basic structure for a document, whether it's a word processing page, a worksheet or a slide presentation. They provide the overall design so you can fill in the blanks and modify them to suit your needs.

Some templates are automatically installed with Office programs, but there are loads of others available here that you can download and install as and when you need them.

Using Word to produce a mailshot for a club or group can save a lot of time, but only if setting up the mail merge function doesn't take longer than handwriting the envelopes would. Word 2003's Mail Merge templates, which are installed as soon as you run a mail merge from the Tools menu, can take a lot of the sweat out of the task.

Macros are sets of instructions that automate any given task. If you always carry out a specific set of formatting actions on documents, for example, you can set up a macro to perform the tasks automatically. You can install extra macros for all the major Office modules either by selecting them for the first time within an application or by installing them from Office Setup. You can also set the macro to run by pressing a single key, which can be a real time saver.

More wizards
As well as templates and macros, several Office applications have extra wizards to lead you through the software's more complex tasks.

Topics covered include producing agendas and calendars in Word and saving your Office settings to customise the look and feel of the applications. You'll find additional wizards on the Office installation discs for Office 2000, XP and 2003.

Free goodies
As well as all the hidden features on the Office installation disc, there are yet more add-on tools available from Microsoft's Office Online website. Here you can download extras and updates for every version of Office since Office 97, ranging from the comparatively trivial - such as adding sound effects to office functions - to major extensions, like creating e-books using Word.

There are Office add-ins from other suppliers, too, but surprisingly few for later versions of the software. Try Tucows for a list of freeware and shareware extras, or use a search engine such as Google or Copernic.

Getting at the hidden bits
Some of the additional parts of Office install themselves automatically the first time you use them, providing you have the Office installation disc in the CD drive in your PC. In the Office Setup program, the elements that will automatically install are marked with a '1', to emphasise this.

Those parts of Office marked with a big, red 'X' in the Office Setup program won't be installed automatically when you try to use them, and have to be selected explicitly when you install the program, or when you run Office Setup again to maintain the software.

When you click on any of the items with a 1 or an X displayed next to their icons, a pop-up menu offers the opportunity to install them by selecting the Run from My Computer option. Do this and the selected components will be added to your Office installation by the Office Setup program.

Get a little extra
While the five major modules that make up Office - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access - provide huge scope for general office tasks, when you add the extra features on offer you'll find you have a far more comprehensive range of tools at your disposal.

All the extra tools and features we've looked at here are easy to install and available free of charge. While some of the additional features need to be downloaded from the web, most of them are included on the Office installation disc that is probably gathering dust on a shelf or has been stashed away in a desk drawer.

You may not want or need all the extras described here, but there will be something on offer to improve the way you work with Office. Once they're installed, you can get on with actually using them.