Customer Reviews

Microsoft® Office Word 2007 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a Word user for a long time, the 2007 version looks much different. This book really helped me track the changes. I'm also helping some new users to Word and they thought it very easy to follow. They liked the CD with practice data for the work sessions. 'Microsoft Office Word 2007 Plain & Simple' is another book that is great for raw beginners, this would be a good follow-up. It's much more complete and goes into diagrams, charts, table of contents, index, mail merge, reviewing, email, and the Web. Will get to XML later. Well worth the $16.50!

I was attracted to this title because the I liked the concept of working through the examples in the book in tandem with the sample files on the accompanying CD.

This title is one of a series of "Step by Step" books published by Microsoft Press for the various 2007 Microsoft Office System applications
(I bought both this and the Excel book).

The books are good, but there are a surprising number of errors in the printed content. For example, on page 12 of the Word book, the table listing keyboard shortcuts for moving the insertion point indicates pressing Ctrl + End to move the insertion point to the beginning of the document (the Excel book has tons of errors).

Given who published these books, and the target audience, you'd think they would have been bullet-proofed.

One reviewer has said you would think that Microsoft would spend more money and time on protecting is manual and this shows. I totally agree. If you want to learn how to use Microsoft word 2007 I would suggest you look for a different kind of manual.
This book depends entirely upon your using the so-called practice files on the CD. If these practice files don't show you what you need to know, you're out of luck. Let's take a look at some examples of how the book works:
The instructions for sending a fax are included in a text box about 3 x 5 inches and tell you virtually nothing about how to send a fax.
Instructions for adding bookmarks and cross-references occupied four pages of text and the only instruction really useful is found in a text box consisting of three sentences.
Instructions for creating and printing labels is covered in four pages of the text and refers you to the different elements of the practice files on the CD. Hopefully the files will show you everything you need to know because the text tells you nothing.
Chapter 6 "instructs" you on working with graphics symbols and equations. Of course it only tells you how to use the practice files.
This book takes up a lot of wasted space in your bookcase. In the interest in conserving both space and money you might want to consider purchasing a teaching disk. These are normally pretty useless things, but no more so than this Microsoft text. I give it one star because it does look impressive sitting on your shelf.

I was a little apprehensive about purchasing this book due to the negative reviews of it, but purchased it anyway. I am not sorry I did as I learned much from the book and appreciated the very clear formatting which makes the information easy to acquire. Each chapter begins with its chapter summary and ends with "Key Points." Words located in the glossary are in blue and italicized. Frequently, when there is a button to click or key to press, a graphic or symbol accompanies the instruction so you know for sure what you're looking for. All instructions are located within the book, even those pertaining to the practice files from the CD, which means that you can even use your own document files in some cases in place of those from the CD.

Truly, Microsoft Office Word 2007 Step by Step is very simple to understand, the information and instructions very easy to implement. Don't let the negative reviews mislead you. The "Save Your Money" review, in my opinion, is hardly worthy of notice. Another reviewer commented that there were many "errors in the printed content" and listed one; I'm not sure that I found more than that one. A solid review, on the other hand, noted that there is a "problem with file 04 in Chapter 8 that prevents it from loading into Word," so I suggest using file 03 in Chapter 8 instead as I did.

The book is great! It even includes information on the Microsoft Business Certification Program!

Overall the book is well laid out and organized. It presents a series of 'lessons' that teach the basics of word processing - using the new format and capabilities of Word 2007. The very different layout of Word 2007 from its predecessors make this a welcome edition to someone seeking to learn the more advance features of Word 2007. It can be used by the beginner.

It, as most technical books do, assumes a level of knowledge and context that is not usually available to the new user. I noted a number of times when the text confused my wife, who is a relatively new Word user. She did, however, find the book very useful.

There is a problem with file 04 in Chapter 8 that prevents it from loading into Word. I was unable to find out where and if the correction was posted online. A call to Microsoft was absolutely no help. I am used to having access to corrections online, so was surprised at the inability to find the corrections for this book. The lack of help at Microsoft is more a condemnation of MS than the book, but no help after multiple calls was indeed frustrating.

Russ

I don't agree with the previous reviewer at all! I found this book to be a very good way to learn how to use the new version of Word, which is so different from the old version. The book teaches some cool projects that use features I didn't know about, and it's also really helpful to keep at my desk as a reference.

I bought this after having really good results with have two other books in the series (Outlook Step by Step and Windows Vista Step by Step). I'd definitely recommend the series.

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
Microsoft Windows Vista Step by Step

Hello Word Users:

I read the negative reviews of this book and still purchased it. I am really surprised at how good it is!! This book will actually teach and reinforce the use of Word 2007 because it has you perform the tasks and does a good job of explaining them. In a few cases it was a little vague, but those cases were few and far between. For example, the section on creating "Quick Styles" could have used additional explanations and examples, but after using this book, I can now use Word 2007 with confidence and create some stunning documents.

Even though Word 2007 has help screens, working through the examples really solidifies the process of creating documents that are visually pleasing and technically correct.

Is it perfect? No.
Is it useful and does it accomplish its task? ABSOLUTELY!!!

I highly recommend it.

Rich Locus, CPA
President, Logicwurks, LLC
Eugene, Oregon

In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire Step-By-Step series covering MS Office. I strongly suggest any student, curious George or researcher to pick up a copy and read it. I recently purchased MS 2007 Access, Excel, Power Point and Word set in the Step-By-Step series. The authors are concise in their descriptions without being boring and the information is invaluable.

I have been using Word for years. I recommend this book, but there's some good and some bad. It quickly helped me to understand a lot of the features I do not usually use. The section at the beginning of the book is a short-cut of many most-used items. It was quite helpful. The rest of the book contains the step-by-step explanations. Sometimes the authors assume you know what you're doing, which is ok for an intermediate user. A novice will have to do some cross-checking to figure-out the explanation. I did not like the CD. The CD was not straight forward or easy to use. Licensing requirements pop up several times while you try to install the CD. You have to agree to the terms before you can use the CD. It's time consuming to read the requirements. While using the CD, some of the practice documents unexpectedly saved as Read-Only, and now I have to reinstall the CD. I gave four stars to this product because overall the book was a good learning tool.

This is a great book! I am currently half way through the book, in chapter 5, page 145 I found my first editing error, so I went looking for a solution. I found the web site but I guess not enough customers know about it as my problem wasn't listed, only 3 editing problems were listed. So please in order for others to know the solutions, when you come across a problem in the editing go to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933393 and tell them about it. You can go there and print out all the problems with their solutions and correct your books!
With Word 2000, I taught myself tables but must admit I'm learning so much more with Step by Step, having a CD to download practices is a big plus. First, the new step is covered by written explanations then reinforced by doing hands on practice(s) then at end of chapter, a quick overview of key points taught. I recommend this book to anyone learning Word 2007.