Microsoft Office XP Inside Out

Microsoft Office XP Inside Out
Manufacturer: Microsoft Press
Product Type: Book

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
As office productivity suites grow more capable and network-wise, the demand placed upon their users--who typically are everyday office workers with no particular interest in software technology--grows dramatically. That's why a carefully compiled manual, like Microsoft Office XP Inside Out, is invaluable in an organization that expects its employees to use the new features of Microsoft Office XP. This book won't hold your interest if you attempt to read it straight through, and indeed it may strain your back when you lift it off the shelf. On the other hand, if you want a concise but comprehensive tutorial on the use of Excel's PMT function or FrontPage's new ability to output XML code--or any of hundreds of other details--this book has your number. Just check the jumbo-size index.

The book could have paid more attention to automating Office XP with Visual Basic. Even though more space is devoted to the programming language than most of the competition and the book does a good job of explaining the core language and key objects, a lot of its capabilities go unmentioned.

Otherwise, the authors do a wonderful job of explaining procedures and concepts whose power lies in their details. In explaining features, they'll typically present a procedure that covers the generic case, then discuss variations on that theme in longer paragraphs and special sidebars. As is the trend in books like this, screen shots are augmented with labels and instructions--this aids clarity and speeds up the answer-finding process. --David Wall

Topics covered: Everything that the programs in the Microsoft Office XP suite--Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Exchange, FrontPage, and Publisher--can do, including customization via Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to an extent. Creating, formatting, editing, sharing, storing, and the rest of the work that Office assists in is covered.
Book Description
MICROSOFT OFFICE XP INSIDE OUT is the foremost reference to Office XP for PC "super users". Complete in one volume, this book gives you a thorough overview of Microsoft's popular productivity suite and its new knowledge-sharing features and functions. The book provides the information advanced user really need with no beginner content included. Then it delivers in-depth information about each major Office XP application and tool, including Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint(r), Microsoft Access, Outlook(r), Publisher, FrontPage(r), and Microsoft Small Business tools. The book also shows how to integrate Office XP applications by sharing data, using the Office Binder program, and other techniques, and it demonstrates how to use the Microsoft Visual Basic(r) development system to master Office XP by building macros, using variables, operators, and functions to manage operations, using control structures to modify the user interface, and working with application objects. Throughout the book you'll find a wealth of timesaving Office tips and tricks, troubleshooting techniques, and indexes, plus a CD-ROM that holds an electronic version of the book's text, handy Web links, sample macros and code, tutorials, utilities, and additional third party software. This is the authoritative handbook you'll keep by your computer and use whenever you're stuck or stumped!