The Picture Shape command in previous versions of Office has been replaced with a new Crop to Shape command that allows users to resize and move the selected shape itself when cropping. A Language Preferences interface in Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Publisher, Visio, and Word is accessible in the Backstage view and replaces the language customization interface seen in previous versions of Office. Office 2010 introduces photo crop process improvements in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. An Office ActiveX kill bit provides options to configure ActiveX controls within Office 2010 without affecting the operation of these controls within Internet Explorer. Options include the ability to add various visual effects, to bookmark specific scenes for playback when advancing slides, to fade in or out, and to trim videos. SmartArt, a set of diagrams introduced in Office 2007 for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word has been updated with new effects, options, and interface improvements. Images are automatically cropped when inserted into shapes within SmartArt diagrams to preserve their aspect ratio; users can also manually reposition images.

The SmartArt text pane now allows users to insert, modify, and reorder images and their associated text within a diagram, and new Move Up and Move Down commands on the ribbon facilitate the reordering of content. A new background removal feature based on Microsoft Research technology is included in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word to remove the backgrounds of images inserted into documents. Photos inserted into SmartArt diagrams can also be cropped, resized, or repositioned. After a screenshot has been inserted, various adjustments can be made. The functionality is exposed through a new Screenshot command on the Insert tab of the ribbon that, when clicked, presents individual options to capture either app windows or selections of content. Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word allow users to immediately insert a screenshot of open app windows or a selection of content on the screen into documents without saving the image as a file.

The former option resizes the selected photo so that the entire area of the crop selection rectangle or shape is filled, whereas the latter option resizes the photo so that it is displayed within the selection rectangle or within a shape in its entirety; both options maintain the original aspect ratio of the selected photo. Photos can now be repositioned underneath the selection rectangle. Excel supports hardware accelerated chart drawing, and PowerPoint supports hardware accelerated animations, transitions, and video playback and effects; slideshow elements are now rendered as sprites, which are then composited with additional effects such as fades and wipes implemented using Pixel Shader 2.0. All Office 2010 programs support Direct3D hardware accelerated SmartArt and WordArt object and text rendering. Excel, PowerPoint, and Word support text effects such as bevels, gradient fills, glows, reflections, and shadows. After the background has been removed, users can apply various visual effects to the result image or wrap text in a document around it; users can also crop the image since removing the background does not reduce its original size. Online videos can also be inserted into presentations, and presentations themselves can be saved as videos.

Translations for phrases or words are displayed within a tooltip, from which users can hear an audio pronunciation of the selected text provided by one of the Microsoft text-to-speech voices installed on a machine, copy the translation to the clipboard so that it can be inserted into another document, or view a definition provided by an online service if the selected text is a word. Excel, PowerPoint, and Word support hardware accelerated graphics when installed on a machine with a DirectX 9.0c-compliant GPU that has at least 64 MB of video memory. Publisher and Word support OpenType features such as kerning, ligatures, stylistic sets, and text figures with fonts such as Calibri, Cambria, Corbel, and Gabriola. A Mini Translator allows users to translate selected text in OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. Audio pronunciations are made available through a Speak command, which can be accessed separately from the Mini Translator (e.g., added to the ribbon), but the command can only be used if a text-to-speech engine matching the language of the selected text is installed.