Customer Reviews

Special Edition Using Microsoft Office 2003

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We're slowly starting to deploy Office 2003 across out network and this book has been a pretty good general all-in-one type of resource for answering the vast majority of the questions that the users has posed. As well, we've been able to generate several traning sessions based on the content of the book itself using our customized screen shots.

If you need super-deep coverage of a specific application, this is probably not the book for you. If you need a very good overview of the entire suite and what's new and improved, get this book.

A few of the really nice things I liked about this book were the full index and the chapters in the back on macros and VBA...very useful.

This book has a good overview on all the office programs. If you are looking for in depth information on a certain aspect of office I would look elsewhere. I will be buying the Access book because I need in depth information about about Access and this book does not get that deep. I would still recommend this book to anyone because it is much easier to read than the help included with Office.

Once again, Ed and Woody come through for those genuinely interested in exploiting Office functions to their benefit. Hitting topics not referenced in help screens or the MS Knowledge Base, the authors address challenging circumstances with efficient solutions. Learners in many professional roles, from Administrative to Executive relate to Ed and Woody's clearly explained situations and resolutions, which are easy to implement. If you wish to have a top-notch book, which covers all Professional Office Suite applications, this is the book to buy. The front cover is right on target where it states, "The only Office 2003 book you will ever need."

This is very clearly written and so helpful. I just got my first computer a little over a year ago, 2nd hand, and with no owner's manual. I have looked at many self-help computer books from the library and think this is the best one. I keep it by the computer to refer to if I get stuck. If you need to really go into depth, the same authors publish separate books for that purpose. But this is really the only one you should need. I am nearly 63, and am teaching myself with this book and not doing too badly. It comes with a CD-ROM disc which I have not yet downloaded, but probably will. I heartily recommend it.

As described, book was in very good condition and arrived in a reasonable amount of time. 7 work days

I've been a frustrated user of Office 2003 for years, specifically of Outlook, Word and Excel. I'm still using it in 2011 (I did not feel the urge to upgrade).

However, I had hit the glass ceiling of my own ineptitude on this product long ago. Experience without outside help will only get you so far. As for whatever Microsoft help is included, whether offline or online, there's no exaggerating how bad it is.

I'm a French user and the translation is awful, to the point that you often need to mentally translate it back to English in order to make sense of it. But even once in mental English, Microsoft's idea of "help" is beyond awful.

Its worst sin is not to explain the concepts which are central to the software (i.e. : styles, sections, items...). You're left with Microsoft-speak where words have a different meaning -- but it's up to you to guess.

Also, Microsoft walks you through using functions, but does not explain you why you should use them, or what functions you should use in order to achieve whatever you're trying to do.

That's where Ed Bott and Woody Leonhard's book kicks in. Reading it made me understand for the first time what Office is about. Yes, it's that good.

First, they get out of the way everything that an average user already knows. This is not in the book. They go directly to the nagging problems that you cannot figure out by yourself, and that come up again and again. They concentrate on what's useful, not on obscure functions that you might need once in a few years.

This depth and width adjustment is very well thought out. Most of the pages I've read so far directly address things I've tried unsuccessfully to do for years.

Bott and Leonhard take care to explain the software's core concepts. This includes some information you need to know about the inner workings of the product ; for instance, where Word stores the formatting for a paragraph or a section.

Another outstanding quality of the book is that it's solutions-oriented. It keeps coming back to what you're trying to achieve, what your environment is, as opposed to a bland collection of elemental tips.

Therefore it covers the whole gamut between some quite advanced technical intricacies, and a global approach from a user's point of view, while, in the process, pruning everything that's not really focused on most people's issues.

Moreover, Bott and Leonhard don't stop at Microsoft sources or documentation. They use their own experience and testing of Office, which is obviously very thorough. They are able to warn you about some very important functions which do not work well (Word's index, for instance). They might explain you the three different ways to achieve one thing, with the pros and cons of each method.

The layout is elegant, clean and practical.

This book is chock-full of knowledge, intelligence and dedication to people's needs. It's been a joy for me to read, and I'm truly grateful to the authors. Now I know that it's possible to find really good computer books.

I don't know how much of it has to be credited to the authors and how much to the "Special Edition Using..." series by QUE Publishing. I guess both are involved. That's why I also bought the Excel, Word and Outlook separate volumes in that series.

I would strongly urge anyone looking for a computer book, whatever the subject, to research anything written by Ed Bott, Woody Leonhard, or both. I know I will.