Series: Annoyances | Publication Date: October 8, 1997
First, the promise: Because Microsoft Office 97 is an integrated suite of applications, your spreadsheet, word processor, database, presentation graphics program, and personal information manager not only share a common user interface, but allow you to share data among the programs seamlessly.
Now the reality: Despite marked improvements from version to version, there is much in Office 97 that remains annoying. Maybe it's the fact that identical user interface options are implemented differently -- and sometimes are not implemented at all -- in individual Office applications. Or maybe it's that Office is too integrated; there are pan-Office "sticky" settings that, when set in one application, affect all other Office applications too. Office 97 Annoyances takes a look at these and other annoyances and shows how to get rid of them so that you can get your work done more easily and efficiently. For instance, the book shows you how to:
Configure the Office Shortcut Bar to provide an effective tool for accessing your Office applications and documents
Customize the toolbar of each Office application except Outlook so that it reflects the way that you work rather than the needs of Microsoft's marketing machine
Use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as a macro language to control the behavior of the individual Office components, in the process removing many of their annoyances
Sometimes, you can't do anything to improve Office's integration -- or lack of it. But you can reduce your annoyance level simply by knowing where Office's integration is most problematic. Office 97 Annoyances also arms you with knowledge in the following areas:
The pan-Office "sticky" settings
Shortcomings in the Office Binder, an integration utility developed to address shortcomings in Office integration
Office 97 Annoyances is for the users who want to be as productive as possible when using Office 97. Learning which Office annoyances you can and can't eliminate will save you countless hours (and endless aggravation) when working with Microsoft Office 97.
Continuing the grand tradition of O'Reilly's Windows Annoyances series, Office 97 works from the premise that using Office 97 and its component applications can be a downright awful experience without an understanding of various customization and optimization features. You'll find plenty of top-level tricks for customizing and making good use of each application's toolbars and settings and the Office Shortcut Bar. A large section of the book is devoted to Visual Basic for Applications, the programming language that allows you to customize the applications themselves. Some Office 97 quirks that are considered beyond help are also discussed, such as a variety of "sticky settings"--settings in Office applications that automatically change in all of the component apps, even if you don't want them to. In addition to global Office issues, the guide addresses each of the component applications--Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Office 97 Annoyances also explores the latest Web-enabled features of the suite, how to use the component apps to develop for the Web, and where to go online to find more information and tools to ease your frustrations. Office 97 Annoyances is not for novices and assumes a certain level of expertise. Users with the right experience level and the desire to take more control of their computing lives will benefit immeasurably from this informative and entertaining addition to a clever series.
About the Author
Lee Hudspeth is a co-founder of PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. (Hermosa Beach, CA), a Microsoft Solution Provider. His background is in operations research, financial analysis, and marketing analysis (formerly with Unocal Corp.). He has coauthored several books on Office, including The Underground Guide to Microsoft Office, OLE, and VBA and The Underground Guide to Excel 5.0 for Windows. He is co-editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter Woody's Underground Office. He's a Microsoft MVP (Most Valued Professional), coauthor of the Microsoft course on application development using WordBasic, and a certified Microsoft trainer in Visual Basic and WordBasic. Along with other PRIME Consulting staff, Lee has developed innumerable lines of VB, VBA, and WordBasic code for the firm's numerous Office add-ins (PRIME for Excel and PRIME for Word), going way back to Word 2.0. Lee also writes and delivers Office usage and development custom courses to hordes of interested parties the world over.
T.J. Lee, a co-founder of PRIME Consulting Group, has a background as a certified public accountant and has done computer and management consulting for years. He has coauthored several books on Office, including The Underground Guide to Microsoft Excel 5 and The Underground Guide to Microsoft Office, OLE and VBA. T.J. is co-editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter Woody's Underground Office and a certified Microsoft trainer. He has written countless courseware packages and manuals, coauthored the Microsoft Education Services course on Developing Applications in Word, and taught and lectured for thousands of developers and end users.
Woody Leonhard's books include Windows 3.1 Programming for Mere Mortals, The Underground Guide to Word for Windows, The Hacker's Guide to Word for Windows, The Mother of All PC Books, The Mother of All Windows 95 Books, and several others. He was series editor for Addison-Wesley's Underground Guides (11 books) and A-W's Hacker's Guides (4 books). Along with T.J. Lee and Lee Hudspeth he's editor-in-chief of PC Computing's Undocumented Office, a monthly hardcopy newsletter. He's a contributing editor at PC Computing (circulation 1,000,000+), and productivity editor for Office Computing (circulation 400,000), a new monthly magazine from the editors of PC Computing. He also publishes a free weekly electronic news bulletin on Microsoft Office called WOW (Woody's Office Watch), available by sending email to wow@wopr.com. Woody's software company makes WOPR (Woody's Office POWER Pack), the number-one enhancement to Microsoft Office. A self-described "grizzled computer hack, frustrated novelist and Office victim," by day he's a Tibetan human rights activist and co-founder of the Tibetan Children's Fund. Woody lives on top of a mountain in Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado.
Product Details
Paperback: 396 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly Media; First Edition edition (October 8, 1997)
T.J. Lee has over 21 years experience in the computer industry working with large firms on a wide spectrum of technology implementations. His experience has allowed him to manage, delegate, supervise and control development projects or administrative workflow for a single office, division or an entire business. He can coordinate development efforts and resolve problems between diverse groups within an organization.
TJ is a technical writer and an expert in documenting workflow processes. He has co-authored 11 computer books to date (O'Reilly, Addison-Wesley, and QUE) on subjects ranging from programming to hardware upgrades and has created training materials, lectured, and taught computer seminars around the world. TJ's extensive technical writing skills have always tried to focus on making complex processes understandable to non-technical readers.
**Expertise**
Extensive experience managing groups of technical people on complex projects.
Expert with Microsoft end user products and in analyzing and automating office tasks utilizing these software programs in network environments.
Able to work with management and office staff to analyze and streamline manual tasks and processes while automating online processes using off the shelf and custom written software products.
Certified Public Accountant in the state of California. Auditing experience in the fields of real estate, condominium and PUD associations, and manufacturing. Supervisor level accountant overseeing audits, general ledger and financial statement preparation for convalescent hospitals, condominium associations, and contractor/developers. Performed MAS engagements involving user requirement studies, hardware requirements, procedures analysis and lease-up absorption projections. CPA license status changed to inactive June 1993 and is currently classified "inactive clear."
Consultant on the Perkins Coie conversion from mini-computer based Wang word processing to PC based word processing using Microsoft Word for Windows. Helped develop the Word training materials and performed initial training for Perkins Coie's pilot project at their corporate headquarters in Seattle, WA. This was the first major law firm in the USA to adopt Word for Windows over WordPerfect on the PC platform.
Consultant to Latham and Watkins (LA headquarters, Costa Mesa, and San Diego offices) on implementing personal computers to replace centralized dumb terminals. Taught Microsoft Excel, Lotus Agenda, and Harvard Graphics courses to Latham personnel from managing partners to staff lawyers and secretaries.
Developed PRIME for Office Utilities CD - this product includes an add-on utility set for Word, Excel, and an Office add-in called DocLauncher. Developed four of the utilities in WordBasic and oversaw the conversion of these utilities to VBA. The utilities are currently written as a COM add-in. Performed quality and beta testing as well as marketing and distribution on this project.
Consultant to Avery Dennison creating the specification and budget for the Avery Dennison Divider Magician product (a $100,000+ development project), oversaw the contract developers during development, and did quality and beta testing. Managed all client contact and negotiated all change orders. Developed all of Avery Dennison's WordBASIC macro templates for their label products from Word 2 through Word 6 then converted select WordBASIC macros to VBA for Word 7 through Word 9 (2000).
Consultant to American Honda Motor Company, Inc. Oversaw the development of the user requirement specifications and coding of a file distribution application that made customer survey results available to dealers over their network. Later managed the conversion of this design to a Web based application and oversaw the coding and testing of the final program. Education
Certifications: Certified Public Accountant in the state of California (licensed 1986, current status inactive clear) Microsoft Word for Windows Developers Program (Member) Microsoft Excel Developers Program (Member) Microsoft Consultants Relations Program (Microsoft Excel Partner) Microsoft Certified Product Specialist (Windows) Microsoft Certified Trainer (Word and Excel) Citrix Certified Sales Professional (2007) for Application Delivery Infrastructure
Developed and presented the following seminars: Masters Seminar Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows (Sydney, and Melbourne Australia 1995)
PRIME Consulting Seminar Putting OLE 2.0, VBA, & DDE to Work (Los Angeles, CA 1993, 1994, 1995)
PRIME Consulting Seminar The Hacker's Guide to PackRat (Baton Rouge, LA 1991, Indianapolis, IN 1992, Costa Mesa, CA 1992)
Developed and presented professional education sessions at the following conferences:
Microsoft Developers' Tools Forum (Third Party WinWord Solutions, WordBASIC Tips & Tricks)
Windows and OS/2 Conferences (Context in Word for Windows, Graphical Word Processing Comes of Age 1991; Development Using Windows Macro Languages, Document Management 1992)
Microsoft Word Users Conference (Integrating Word with Other Applications: OLE & DDE 1991)
Developed the following training materials:
Developing Applications in Word (co-authored with Microsoft Education Services for Microsoft University 1994)
Putting OLE 2.0, VBA, & DDE to Work (for PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. 1993)
WordBASIC Developer Training (for PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. 1992)
**Published Works**
Computer books on CD-ROM (co-author):
Computer Tips Compendium (2001)
The Book That Should Have Come with Your Computer (1993)
Printed computer books (co-author):
T.J. Lee and Lee Hudspeth's Absolute Beginner's Guide to PC Upgrades (QUE - 2001, English and Turkish)
The Unofficial Guide to PCs (QUE - 1999)
Outlook Annoyances (O'Reilly - 1998, English, Polish, French, and Chinese)
Word 97 Annoyances (O'Reilly - 1997, English, Polish, French, and Chinese)
The Underground Guide to Microsoft Office, OLE, and VBA (Addison-Wesley - 1995, English)
The Underground Guide to Excel 5.0 for Windows (Addison-Wesley - 1994, English)
Developing Applications in Word (Microsoft Education Services, English)
Various magazine and newsletter articles for a number of publications including eBay Magazine, TheNakedPC Newsletter, PC Computing, Office Computing, and Woody's Underground Newsletter.
**Professional Experience**
2001- present McMillan Consulting - Project Manager Oversee network upgrades and deployments, and the development of comprehensive network/project documentation.
1998 - 2003 TheNakedPC Newsletter - Publisher, Editor, Contributor Responsible for management of this critically acclaimed bi-weekly computer technology electronic newsletter. This newsletter was favorably reviewed by the Langa List, Netscape Netcenter, Computer Currents, PC World, Andover.net, and Lockergnome. TJ was one of the three founders of this publication and during his tenure as editor subscriptions went from 0 to over 100,000.
1999 - 2000 eBay Magazine - Columnist Wrote a regular column in eBay's monthly printed magazine on a variety of computer technology topics with the focus on how to get more out of your computer, the Internet, and new technologies in general.
1997 - 1999 PC Computing (Ziff-Davis) - Contributor Regular contributor to PC/Computing magazine. TJ was a co-writer of the article "Undocumented Internet Secrets" which received the prestigious National Magazine Award. This was the first time a technical publication won this coveted award.
1997 - 1998 Office Computing(Ziff-Davis) - Senior Contributing Editor A companion magazine to PC Computing this short lived publication focused on actual hand-on how-to projects for mid to advanced users of Microsoft Office.
1996 - 1997 Woody's Underground Office Newsletter - Editor, Contributor This printed newsletter on the technical aspects of Microsoft Office and general computer technologies received the Computer Press Association's 1997 Best Overall Newsletter award.
1992 - 2001 PRIME Consulting Group, Inc. - Principle Oversaw day-to-day operation of a computer consulting company focusing on application development using Microsoft Office and web site construction. Managed clients, programmers and technical writers working in different locations using telephone and telecommuting technologies including the Internet.
1990 - 1992 Plan B Consulting - Sole Proprietor TJ founded this computer/technology consulting firm. Training, development, and general business consulting required additional resources and capitalization resulting in merging with another consulting firm to become PRIME Consulting Group, Inc.
1988 - 1990 Gilbert & Associates - Consultant A cutting edge consultancy firm at the vanguard of graphically-based distributed computing. While at Gilbert & Associates he was assigned to consult and perform training at firms such as Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, and Perkins Coie.
1985 - 1988 Arnold Dubin & Company - CPA Started as a staff accountant and while employed at Arnold Dubin & Company sat for, and passed the California Board of Accountancy CPA Exam. Worked up to supervisor level accountant overseeing audits, general ledger, and financial statement preparation for condominium associations, and contractor/developers. TJ spearheaded the firms move into management advisory services and computer consulting.
This review is from: Office 97 Annoyances (Paperback)
I don't really mind some of the annoyances of Office 97 described in this book. What I enjoyed the most was the chapter on Visual Basic for Applications, VBA, which gets you up and running like only the folks at O'Reilly can do. If you use Office 97, you should consider reading this book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: Office 97 Annoyances (Paperback)
This book is easily one of the best VBA tutorials I have ever seen. It helped me build custom VBA programs to take control of MS Word, even to reformatting the printed pages on the fly to make them conform to the features the printer offered! I can't recommend this book highly enough to the Office 97 user!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
