Microsoft Office 2000 for Windows for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: Really for "Dummies"
Review: As others have said, this book is very very basic--perhaps because it attempts to cover all the components of the Office 2000 suite in less than 500 pages. If you have even basic familiarity with the program you're using, it won't be much help. For example, I turned to this book to see if I could discover some of the more sophisticated features of Outlook email, and was disappointed. It's pitched to the "how to send a message" crowd. But, I also am trying Excel for the first time, and it helped a lot just to be able to easily find how to enter a basic formula. Bottom line is, once you start using a program regularly you'll graduate from this manual pretty quickly.

Rating:
Summary: Microsoft Office 2000
Review: Great source of easy to read information!

Rating:
Summary: Why I Like It and Bought It and Recommend It
Review: I am a "small business owner" and sometimes I have no backup person to talk to or other resources. If something does not work I have to fix it. That may turn out to be an important problem and might be time consuming, especially if you are preparing quotes or want to send information to a customer right away. If Federal Express is coming at 4:30 PM for a pickup for a proposal or similar and you have a computer problem - one gets stressed, very stressed.

So here is a book for $15. that even if you only use from time to time is a good investment. It may be elementary but one must have a ceratin skill level with Office and this book is 500 pages long with a nice index - lots of stuff - so at least it is a place to turn.

When I bought the book I must have used it 20 times the first week. After that the use drops off but it is good to keep it near. I keep it with 10 other reference books for quick office resources.

Jack in Toronto

Rating:
Summary: Why I Like It and Bought It and Recommend It
Review: I am a "small business owner" and sometimes I have no backup person to talk to or other resources. If something does not work I have to fix it. That may turn out to be an important problem and might be time consuming, especially if you are preparing quotes or want to send information to a customer right away. If Federal Express is coming at 4:30 PM for a pickup for a proposal or similar and you have a computer problem - one gets stressed, very stressed.

So here is a book for $15. that even if you only use from time to time is a good investment. It may be elementary but one must have a ceratin skill level with Office and this book is 500 pages long with a nice index - lots of stuff - so at least it is a place to turn.

When I bought the book I must have used it 20 times the first week. After that the use drops off but it is good to keep it near. I keep it with 10 other reference books for quick office resources.

Jack in Toronto

Rating:
Summary: Turned out to be less than useful
Review: I got this book when I entered the working world out of university- aside from providing a few very basic tips on how to format printing and what not, there is not much to this book that is practically useful.

I wanted something that would pick up where I left off in college and help me make usable spreadsheets with guides to the various equations and what not- alas, there is very little here.

This book is only for total beginners- you will soon outgrow this book and wish you had something that went a bit farther in depth and was of more use as a reference guide.

Rating:
Summary: Dummies again!
Review: I liked this book and use it as a reference. I originally readthis, and then took [an online] course... which provide agreat interactive learning experience! I accompany my knowledge now with this Dummies book, which serves great reference for the beginner to jog the memmory.

Rating:
Summary: Great book but only for the beginners
Review: I must note that I was slightly misled by the other reviews into thinking that this book would be just right for the lower intermediate to intermediate user. Coverage of Office is thin, but quite wide, even including making web pages. However, it falls short of an intermediate user's expectations and topics hardly go any deeper than an introductory tutorial.

On the plus side the author has put in a great deal of effort and spends a lot of time making concepts and procedures understandable to the uninitiated and makes heavy use of buletted tips, tricks and summaries that make it easy to remember.

The strength of this book is in introducing those first time users to Office that have very little knowledge about what most would consider essential knowledge. I also don't think you will find anything useful if you are moving from Office 97 to Office 2000. This is more of an introduction to Office itself, rather than Office 2000.

If you are a complete beginner in any of the Office applications then I think this is a great book. This includes those of you who still feel intimidated by Microsoft Office, as well as people who might be experienced in Word but are just starting out with Excel or PowerPoint for example.

If you are anywhere past a beginner, such as a regular user, capable of most day to day tasks, then this book won't give you any more insight than you already have. You might find some pieces of information useful, such as shortcut keys and a lot of tips, but most of the book will go unused.

Rating:
Summary: Not Too Impressed
Review: I was quite excited when the "...OFFICE 2000...FOR DUMMIES" came out, because from all I'd heard, the "DUMMIES" series of books were quite popular for making the learning process as easy and smooth as possible. I told myself that this book was exactly what I needed when the time had come for me to confront what I'd termed as "the imposing programs," i.e. EXCEL (anything to do with calculations terrifies me) and ACCESS (database? what's a database?) But after making my acquaintance with this book, even I was annoyed at the very slim amount of material it covered.

While awaiting the delivery of it, I thought I'd get a "leg up" by viewing an Office 97 Interactive Beginner Tutorial CD collection by LearnKey. I thought, at the very least, the book would reiterate, if not enhance the material covered in the LearnKey BEGINNER tutorials. I thought wrong. As it turned out, I learned a LOT more from LearnKey than I could have ever imagined from the book.

To be honest, I felt quite cheated, especially with the lack of content in the ACCESS and EXCEL chapters. For example, the Learnkey ACCESS beginner tutorial (did I mention they were BEGINNER-level) taught me not only how to build databases utilizing the database wizard, but also how to build them "from scratch." At the beginning of the ACCESS chapter in the book, there's a little paragraph at the bottom of the page, which more or less states that since building databases from scratch can become quite complicated, the book would only concentrate on utilizing the database wizard. Oh goodie.

The "statement" went so far as to tell the reader that if he/she wanted to learn how to build databases from scratch, they should look into purchasing "ACCESS FOR DUMMIES"...by so-and-so. My first thought (besides oh goodie), was, "Why should I have to buy another book? Isn't learning how to do WHATEVER I needed to do, from scratch or otherwise, the reason why I bought THIS one?" My second thought was, "How kind of him to include a reference to soften the blow, which, by chance happens to be another "...DUMMIES" book. Surprise, surprise. I'll bet the "...DUMMIES" PTBs (powers-that-be) had a bit to do with that. I won't waste anymore of your time getting into detail as to why I had issues with the EXCEL chapter. It's all pretty much redundant anyway.

Given what "material" Mr. Wang did provide, the book is a comfortable and friendly read. A few of his little "blips" actually brought forth a smile (imagine that!). He also does a wonderful job of breaking down the information included in each chapter by establishing the main and subtopics very clearly, followed by bulleted paragraphs and brief definitions. His form of writing is down-to-early and flows very smoothly.

Also included are the numerous diagrams and "tips," "reminders," etc., clip arts I now know are typically seen in a "...FOR DUMMIES" publication. I even found myself thankful for the charts listing the shortcut keyboard strokes, which I happen to prefer using over the mouse.

I'll be objective for a moment longer by stating that maybe I brought my frustration on myself. With this being my first hands-on experience with the "...FOR DUMMIES" line of books, it's quite possible my expectations were a bit higher than they should have been. After all, the title does hint at what's to come.

HOWEVER, (ok...objective moment over), I truly do believe Mr. Wang could have included a lot more "bang for the buck," for not just ACCESS and EXCEL, but for ALL of the programs covered as the MS OFFICE SUITE. There are so many more procedures that, in my opinion, (I did say objective moment over, right?), are beyond basically easy and should have been part of the book.

So much so, as a matter of fact, that I'd be ready to dub this book, "Pre-Basic Study Guide for ...OFFICE...FOR DUMMIES." I also think...again, strictly my opinion, that in order for anyone to find this book useful, they'd have to be either VERY vaguely familiar with the SUITE of programs (meaning you've heard of them but that's about it), OR would have JUST learned how to operate a computer and now the next step is to learn some very useful business software and "the guy at the computer store" suggested OFFICE as the best place to start.

People, if you consider yourselves even somewhat of an advanced novice of the software, take a risk and buy a different book that will show you how to do whatEVER you need to from scratch, as well as by utilizing the wizards. Don't get me wrong, the wizards are a great tool to help make learning easier and creating, for lack of a better word, generic output, while you're still getting your bearings and understanding how "things" work.

HOWEVER (yes, again)...unless you don't have any need or reason to learn more than the very basics of the programs, the time will come (a lot sooner than you expect if this book was your first choice as a learning tool, )in which you'll need to move past the very basics and that's all this book is good for...the very basics.

Rating:
Summary: Too remedial
Review: I've read several "Dummies" series - including the individual books on the MS Office 2000 applications, like "Excel 2000 for Dummies" and have in the past found them to be enjoyable, well organized, and helpful. "Dummies" books aren't just written for newcomers, but also those looking for a brush-up - unfortunately, the authors of this book seem to have lost all sight of who their intended audience is.

The material is so remedial that it begs the question "If you have to be instructed to click on 'File -> Open' to open a new document/spreadsheet/database, what on earth are you possibly using MS Office 2000 for?" If you have to be instructed on fundamental basics, you probably don't have much use for the instructions on creating an ACCESS database. If your knowledge of e-mail, word processing, or other simple functions is limited, your time would be better served taking a general computer class or reading a different "basics" book that covers fundamental software knowledge - not one suite.

With the individual "Dummies" book for any of the applications, you're able to skip over the fundamental information and refresh your memory on more difficult tasks or expand your acquaintence to a working knowledge of the program. "Microsoft Office 2000 for Windows for Dummies" does not allow this freedom. They've attempted to write about a huge subject in 438 pages (sans index) and the authors fall short here of anything but a simplistic recant of fundamental skills and bland humor. For this reason, I give it 3 stars.

That said, if you do need to learn fundamental office skills, and are comfortable with the "Dummies" style, this is a nicely priced book with a great index. WONDERFUL index!!! Even I found the index useful for a couple of references I was looking for and didn't want to skim the entire section on "Storing 'STUFF' in ACCESS".

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource for those who need a little extra help
Review: Microsoft® Office 2000 For Windows® For Dummies® is an excellent choice for those needing some extra help when you have a question. The assistance is thoughtful, simple, and sometimes even funny. Answers are easy to find and well defined.

We use it in our office and are getting ready to buy another copy! We have tried other "help" books, but have returned to be "Dummies!"