Applies to Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2010
By now you've upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, , 2013, or Microsoft Office 2016 and found that the Microsoft Office 2003 routing slip feature is missing. You liked this great feature in Microsoft Word 2003 and Microsoft Excel 2003. So what happened to the routing slip feature in Microsoft Word 2007 and up and Excel 2007 and up? The short answer: Microsoft decided to remove it to enhance your user experience. Below is their official statement on the topic for the 2003 to 2007 Microsoft Word upgrade:
"Send to Routing Recipient: Removal of this low-use feature from the user interface improves the user experience."1
What does this mean to you? Without an alternative solution, the document routing feature is no longer available. We believe that Microsoft is mistaken--many companies consider document routing critical to their business processes.
The Real Solution
We at Office Routing Plus (ORP) found that you do use document routing. We brought back the power of workflow along with a much more powerful feature base than the Microsoft Office original feature set.
What is a routing slip?
The dictionary defines it as a slip of paper that specifies a route for a document to circulate. In our case it's not real paper - it's virtual paper like your electronic Microsoft Word document.
How does a routing slip work?
Our virtual routing slip will allow the initiator to setup the route the document will take. It will automate that route so the information flows from source to destination. Our routing slip will report what routing locations have been processed and what routing locations remain as next destinations. Like a paper process our routing slip is like a cover sheet to your information packet. We attach it directly to the information being routed.
Our routing slip technology
We use technology that integrates right into Microsoft Office. When you're ready to attach your routing slip, use menu controls inside your Microsoft Office program that will link your slip to the document. Once a slip is linked to a Microsoft Office document, our software will integrate into your email system to allow each user in the routing process to route to the next sequential recipient. When that person receives the document, they can open it and review the routing slip content, which will display who the document has been routed to already and who it needs to be routed to next. Once the user routes to the next recipient, the document essentially has their e-approval.
Who can see my routing slip?
Everyone who participates in the routing process needs to have Office Routing Plus (ORP) installed on their computer. Without Office Routing Plus installed, the receiver will not be able to see the routing slip or route the document on to the next step.
Routing slip archive
Once your document has gone through its entire routing process you will be able to save the final version and preserve the results. The completed routing slip will be attached to the final version of the routed document. Since the slip is attached to the routed file you can preserve the slip and the document by saving the document to your computer or adding it to your normal network/file backup processes. Extra steps are not required to save the routing slip information. We have made this process as simple and streamlined as possible.
Routing slip security
Most companies use Microsoft Active Directory for user and file security. ORP can link into your network security infrastructure and enforce the user controls you've already setup. Combined with systems like Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook, ORP can maintain the same level of information security you already expect from your network. Routing slips will include the users email and approval time stamp. We support the latest versions of Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Windows Desktop Operating Systems, and Microsoft Outlook.
About ORP
With over 32,000 installations worldwide, Office Routing Plus (ORP), a document routing tool built as a plug-in for Microsoft Office software, is an international leader in sequential workflow solutions.

Products

Standard

ORP Add-on

Enterprise

 
Our Goal
To deliver industry leading document workflow solutions.
Feature Highlights
Read more about our Features
Workflow Routing Slip Use Highlights
Read more about our Workflow
ORP Runs on Microsoft Office
Office Routing Plus (ORP) is supported on the following platforms:
  • Microsoft Word 2000
  • Microsoft Word 2002/XP
  • Microsoft Word 2003
  • Microsoft Word 2007
  • Microsoft Word 2010
  • Microsoft Word 2013
  • Microsoft Word 2016
  • Microsoft Excel 2000
  • Microsoft Excel 2002/XP
  • Microsoft Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Excel 2007
  • Microsoft Excel 2010
  • Microsoft Excel 2013
  • Microsoft Excel 2016
  • Microsoft Office 2000
  • Microsoft Office 2002/XP
  • Microsoft Office 2003
  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • Microsoft Office 2010
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft Office 2016
Read more about how to Route Documents across multiple Microsoft Office environments
Industry Highlights
  • Manufacturing
  • Industrial
  • Commercial
  • Retail
  • Petroleum and Oil
  • Real Estate
  • Pharmaceutical
  • Legal
  • Food Service
  • Facilities Management
  • Advertising
  • Healthcare
Read more about our Industry Highlights
ORP Language Support
Understanding Microsoft Office Features and Changes
Click each link to read Microsoft's articles.
What has changed from version 2003 to 2007?
Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft Office 2007
What has changed from version 2007 to 2010?
Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft Office 2010
Have not made the Microsoft Office 2007/2010/2013 upgrade yet?
Here are 10 good reasons to make the move [techrepublic.com]

1 Taken from microsoft.com on 6/21/2011.

Next Steps

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Learn More:

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Meet some of our Customers

Recommendation Highlights

" Thanks to the Office-Routing Plus Add-in, our teams are back in business routing documents for review purpose. Without this valuable add in, we would have to do the whole process manually, which is going to be unsustainable. Thanks again! "
– Steve Yuen, IT Analyst, Johnson & Johnson Inc.

" The Office-Routing Add-in allowed us to quickly and easily replace the lost functionality of document routing in Office 2007 without having to develop custom work flows through the Share Point Server – we have been very pleased with the results "
– Kent Smith, W.C. Bradley Co.

© 2011 Office-Routing.com by Probitas Solutions, Inc
Office 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000 are trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation