Customer Reviews

Word 2000 for Windows For Dummies

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I have a number of the Dummies books, and they are all pretty useful, as is this one. But I would recommend "Just the tips, man for Microsoft Word 2000" if you really want something that gets to the point. That book has just the stuff you need to learn and get better on the software. It's not like your typical manual.

This book is very helpful for anyone who knows little or nothing about the Microsoft Word 2000 program. The index is easy to use and directions for each process are clear and easy to understand. The "cheat sheet" in the front of the book is very nice and helpful for answering those small questions. A very helpful book for anyone with the Word 2000 program.

This is right on target: bought this not expecting much (I'm not a big fan of the dummy books). My wife wanted to start 'learning the computer' which translated into Word processing. This book really did serve as a good introduction to Word.

Also recommended: For my own use, it wasn't much help. I'm a long time Word power-user. I'd say the best advanced book is 'Learn Word 2000 VBA Document Automation' (driza) and the best average user book is 'Using Word 2000' (camarada). Good luck!

I found this a little easier to understand and use than "The Complete Idiot's Guide." I don't know what that makes me. It is pitched at a more elementary level and the jokes and cartoons are better. It is more frank about the limitations of Word 2000 Neither book deals with the problems of crashes and glitches, and when (and how) you have to telephone the [$$$]-please have-your-credit-card-number-ready line for help. I'm still struggling (having come from Wordperfect for DOS).
On one occasion no commands were working, and I eventually found I was typing within a footnote. Right now I can't delete or rename any document. Neither book helps with that.

I originally used Nita Rutkosky's book on Office 2000. It's also written lucidly, and it has projects or problems scattered throughout the chapters, as well as at the ends. of the chapters.

I found Word 2000 for Dummies very useful when I wanted to quickly tackle a task I rarely do. The index is helpful, and the text is clear and easy to follow. For example, its discussion of mail merge is one of the clearest and most logical I've seen. It enabled me to do a mail merge when I suddenly had to do this one day. Following the instructions in Word 2000 for Dummies, I did this successfully on the first attempt.

I bought this book because I wanted info on how to insert data from an Excel spreadsheet into a Word document. The 1/2 page on Excel spreadsheets was absolutely worthless as all it said was to paste/copy, which is not what I wanted to do. After a lot of trial and error I finally figured it out by myself. If you just want the basics I guess the book is OK but for anything advanced it's not very good.

Most everyone can learn just by banging around on the keys how to use the Word program, and pretty much anybody with access to a computer in 2007 is going to need to figure the basics of Word out. Beyond just writing a letter or saving a file, your requirements are going to vary all over the place.

The Dummies series is rightly acclaimed as a very easy way to learn some complicated stuff, and computer programs can be complicated stuff. As a general rule with office products, if you can describe what you want to do with a document or file, there is a way to do so with the program, and so it is with Word 2000 as well. The point is to do so easily and reliably and without taking hours to do so. The Help features might actually provide help, or they might cause the user to spend a lot of time stabbing around the edges of what they really need.

Word 2000 For Dummies includes information on doing just about every last thing you can do or might ever want to do with Word, and it's all presented clearly, with memory aids and a great cheat sheet summary, and with a little humor. The index is good, and if you can read English you will be able to make Word 2000 tap dance for you.

If there is a downside it is that clarity often requires wordiness and some of the chapters frankly take page after page explaining what seems extremely obvious. But I suppose there was a time when none of this material seemed obvious, and as such it's not a serious drawback.

If you prefer to have a great reference book to use, instead of struggling to find just the right answer from the program's Help function, this is a great book to buy.

I purchased this book just for the information on "section breaks." What little there is, in a word, [bad]. It is therefore totally useless to me .... Here is a quote from that section:

"I have no idea what a text wrapping break is."

Now that's helpful! At least I now know who the real "Dummie" is!