Office X for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

10 office x for macintosh: the missing manual

As for the programmers in Redmond, let them obsess about how many different

ways they can think of to do the same thing. You are under no obligation to try

them all.

About This Book

Office X comes in an attractive box adorned with plastic bubbles that somehow call

lava lamps to mind. What you won’t find inside, however, is a printed manual. To

learn this vast set of software programs, you’re expected to rely on help screens (see

Appendix B).

Such computerized help comes with built-in problems, however. Although Office

Help is detailed and concise, you need to know what you’re looking for before you

can find it. There are no tutorials, annotated illustrations, or jokes. You can’t mark

your place (you lose your trail in the Help program every time you close an Office

program), you can’t underline or make marginal notes, and, even with a laptop,

reading in bed or by firelight just isn’t the same.

The purpose of this book, then, is to serve as the manual that should have accompa-

nied Office X. Although you may still turn to online help for the answer to a quick

question, this book provides step-by-step instructions for all major (and most mi-

nor) Office features, including those that have always lurked in Office but you’ve

never quite understood. This printed guide should provide an overview of the ways

this comprehensive software package can make you act like a one-person, all-pur-

pose office.

About the Outline

This book is divided into five parts, each containing several chapters.

• Parts 1 through 4, Word, Entourage, Excel, and PowerPoint, cover in detail each

of the primary Office programs. Each part begins with an introductory chapter

that covers the basics. Additional chapters delve into the more advanced and less-

frequently used features.

• Part 5, Office as a Whole, shows how the programs work together for even more

productivity and creativity. For example, it covers the supplementary programs

(WordArt, Graph, and so on), changing the menus and keystrokes (one of the

strongest and most useful Office features), and more.

At the end of the book, Appendix A explains the Office online help system, and

Appendix B offers guidance in installing, updating, and troubleshooting the soft-

ware.

Tip: A third, free appendix awaits you on the “Missing CD-ROM” page at www.missingmanuals.com in

electronic form: Appendix C, “Office X: Menu by Menu.” It describes the function of each menu command

in each of the four major programs, with cross-references to the book in your hands (where these features

are discussed more completely).

The Very Basics