Special Edition Using Microsoft Office XP [Paperback]

Ed Bott (Author), Woody Leonhard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789725134 | ISBN-13: 978-0789725134 | Publication Date: May 22, 2001 | Edition: Special

With this edition of Special Edition Using Office XP there is a continual emphasis on realistic applications and uses of the program features. While there are many other big books in the Office market today, there are few that tailor coverage uniquely for the intermediate to advanced Office user as Special Edition Using does, delivering more focused value for the customer. It has been updated to reflect Office XP's Smart tags, collaboration features, speech and dictation tools, built-in recovery features, "add network place" wizard and much more

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

With this edition of Special Edition Using Office XP there is a continual emphasis on realistic applications and uses of the program features. While there are many other big books in the Office market today, there are few that tailor coverage uniquely for the intermediate to advanced Office user as Special Edition Using does, delivering more focused value for the customer. It has been updated to reflect Office XP's Smart tags, collaboration features, speech and dictation tools, built-in recovery features, "add network place" wizard and much more

About the Author

Ed Bott is a best-selling author and award-winning computer journalist with more than 15 years of experience in the personal computer industry and on the Web. For the past decade he was responsible for PC Computing magazine's extensive coverage of every conceivable flavor of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. If you lined up every book Ed has written (all published by Que), they'd take up more than six feet of shelf space. Ed is a three-time winner of the Computer Press Award, and he and Woody Leonhard won the prestigious Jesse H. Neal Award, sometimes referred to as "the Pulitzer Prize of the business press," in back-to-back years for their work on PC Computing's "Windows SuperGuide." He lives in an extremely civilized corner of the Arizona desert with his wife, Judy, and two amazingly smart and affectionate cats, Katy and Bianca.

Woody Leonhard describes himself as a "Certified Office Victim." With 17 (or is it 18?) computer books under his belt, he's seen parts of Office that would curl your hair. Woody's best known as the publisher of Woody's Office Watch, the feisty, weekly, no-holds-barred (and absolutely free) electronic newsletter that specializes in holding Microsoft's feet to the fire. More than half a million people subscribe to WOW and Woody's other newsletters on Windows, Palm-like handheld computers, and more (http://www.woodyswatch.com). He and his cohorts are also responsible for "Woody's Office POWER Pack," the number-one add-on to Microsoft Office. Woody has won eight Computer Press Awards and, with Ed, two American Business Press Association awards. He and his son recently gave up the Colorado mountain scene, and now bask in the glorious sun on Phuket Island, Thailand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1184 pages
• Publisher: Que; Special edition (May 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789725134
• ISBN-13: 978-0789725134
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,915,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Applications > Office XP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive - The Best Book I've Seen on Office XP, June 14, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Special Edition Using Microsoft Office XP (Paperback)

One of the biggest issues I face is when receiving a new version of Microsoft Office, is asking the question, "What's changed and why do I need it?".

Well, I actually bought this book a couple weeks ago, and as a result, have purchased Office XP Professional, which I am thoroughly happy with. This book, Special Edition Office XP helped me understand what the differences in Office versus prior versions are and how I can apply them to my daily work. While the table of contents listed here on the detail page talks about Office 10, it does appears that the book was written on a release candidate beta. The book addresses all the issues I had that Microsoft's own marketing machine couldn't.

Woody Leonard and Ed Bott are both extrememly well known, but it seems their years of experience with Office have paid off, at least from what I am seeing in this book.

There is extensive coverage on all the key areas of Office XP I'd recommend taking a strong look at these key components of the book:the table of contents, the index, the notes, the "cautions" and the tips from Ed & Woody throughout the book. This book is also packed with a lot more than the similiar product from Microsoft Press. I was really disappointed with their product after comparing the two side-by-side. Thanks goes to the authors and the publisher for making my job a lot easier and thanks for an outstanding book.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Better Reference Can Be Found, April 13, 2002

By 

Christine Curtis (Hendersonville, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using Microsoft Office XP (Paperback)

In my opinion Que publishes the best resources on the market and this book does not disappoint. Woody Leonhard and Ed Bott are two of the most highly respected authorities on Microsoft Office and Windows. The book is packed with solid instruction, readable, and written with a sense of humor. Woody pulls no punches and when something is quirky in the program application, he doesn't gloss over it. Loaded with tips and work arounds.

...

22 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for the less than expert, February 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Special Edition Using Microsoft Office XP (Paperback)

I am a long time Microsoft Office user on the Macintosh computer and recently switched to a PC and Office XP.

This book is not the manual that was not included with Office XP. It is encyclopedic(1100+pages) in its coverage of the programs in Office and also include commentary on Visual Basic and Front Page which is not included as far as I can tell in the great majority of Office packages, if any.

Like many encyclopedias the book's detail often results in incoherence. The authors assume that the reader is familiar not only with the Microsoft Office program but with Office's many and sometimes arcane features. This results in descriptions of functions that are confusing and often uninformative. For example, the use of text boxes in Word is given very limited coverage with no clear explanation what a text box is and that you need to use the print layout view in order to actually see the text box in position. There are numerous other examples of poorly introduced and explained features and concepts.

Furthermore, the book integrates tips signed by the authors throughout the text. Some of these are useful, others however added little to my understanding--in my limited use thus far. However, the repeated faux signatures of Ed and Woody alongside the tips is distracting and frankly drives me crazy. How many times do I have to be told that this tip is from the authors-who else would it be from?

This book may be useful to very experienced Office users-though they probably don't need it-but is not a very helpful text to office neophytes and intermediate users.