The Microsoft Outlook Ideas Book

Product Description

A fast-paced guide for instruction and inspiration on creating powerful solutions for small businesses and organizations using Outlook. Throw away your other applications, and learn to use Outlook in practical ways that you never imagined possible! Microsoft Outlook, in tandem with Microsoft Exchange Server, provides a powerful environment for sharing information. This book will show you how to take advantage of that to construct solutions for your business or organization from the features of Outlook. This book is a collection of scenarios that incorporate and link many Outlook components to produce surprisingly powerful functionality. Without the need for code or specially-written applications, you will be extracting information from your Outlook Calendar, Contacts and Tasks folders to create solutions like these:

* Monitoring staff leave and printing schedules

* Managing meeting rooms and printing invoices

* Managing fleet vehicles, their records, and servicing

* Managing a school class calendar, student records, attendance, assignments, and reports

* How to apply the features of Outlook to avoid transferring and duplicating data into other programs

* How to expand your view of Outlook and its capabilities

* Techniques that will enable you to create your own solutions that are relevant to your situation and environment

* The confidence and vision to explore and use existing software to develop your own solutions This book takes a practical, hands-on approach to working with Microsoft Outlook. Carefully structured to lead you through all the steps of each examples, this book will help you to use Outlook in ways you never imagined possible. This book is for users who are comfortable with the basic functions of Outlook, but who want inspiration and direction on manipulating its features to produce powerful methods of viewing, presenting and reporting the wealth of information that it can hold. Users of Microsoft Access and Excel will recognize the functions and constructs used in some of the examples. The techniques in this book are applicable to all versions of Outlook from 2000 upwards. Where there are functional differences between the versions, these have been noted. You need to be running Outlook with MS Exchange Server to use this book
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #1509203 in Books
* Published on: 2006-10-03
* Released on: 2006-10-03
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 144 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Barbara March's long career in office administration, in many different industries, and her passion for computer software led her into software training. After obtaining Microsoft Office Specialist qualifications at Expert level and becoming a Microsoft MOUS Master Instructor, Barbara extended her knowledge and expertise further in MS Office by achieving outstanding pass marks in ECDL Advanced examinations. This knowledge and expertise, she has applied in all her posts including her current role as a data analyst in a local authority. Barbara's analytical mind forces her to question the accepted boundaries of the software she uses and to apply her flair and imagination to find ways to use the software capabilities to the limit and to the benefit of her performance and professionalism.

Microsoft Office Project 2007 For Dummies

Product Description

* Updated to cover all the latest features and capabilities of Access 2007, this resource provides new and inexperienced Access users with nine task-oriented minibooks that cover beginning to advanced-level material
* Each minibook covers a specific aspect of Access, such as database design, tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros
* Shows how to accomplish specific tasks such as database housekeeping, security data, and using Access with the Web
* Access is the world's leading desktop database solution and is used by millions of people to store, organize, view, analyze, and share data, as well as to build powerful, custom database solutions that integrate with the Web and enterprise data sources

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #251730 in Books
* Published on: 2006-12-26
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 768 pages

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Give your Access confidence a boost by mastering the new interface!

Your one-stop guide to the revised, mode user-friendly release of Access.

Access 2007 got a total makeover, and this all-in-one guide helps you work with confidence even if you're all new to Access. The individual work with confidence even if you're all new to Access. The individual minibooks show you how to create and work with tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros; manage databases; and program Access with VBA.

Discover how to:

* Create a database quickly and easily from templates
* Sort, find, and filter data
* Use queries to gather data
* Perform calculations in forms
* Automate actions with macros
* Secure your Access database

About the Author
Alan Simpson is the author of over 115 computer books on all sorts of topics: Windows, databases, Web-site design and development, programming, and network administration. His books are published throughout the world, in over a dozen languages, and have sold millions of copies. Though definitely in the techno-geek category, we let him contribute anyway because sometimes people like that come in handy.

Margaret Levine Young has co-authored several dozen computer books about the Internet, UNIX, WordPerfect, Access, and (stab from the past) PC-File and Javelin, including The Internet For Dummies (Wiley) and Windows XP Home Edition: The Complete Reference (Osborne/McGraw-Hill). She met her future husband Jordan in the R.E.S.I.S.T.O.R.S., a high-school computer club before there were high-school computer clubs. Her other passions are her children, music, Unitarian Universalism (www.uua.org), reading, and anything to do with cooking or eating.

Alison Barrows has authored or co-authored books on Windows, the Internet, Microsoft Access, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and other topics. In addition to writing books, Alison writes and edits technical documentation and training material. In real life she hangs out with her “guys” — Parker, 6, and Mason, 4, and Evan 2 — and tries to carve out some time to practice yoga. Alison lives with her family in central Massachusetts.

April Wells is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and holds an MBA from West Texas A&M. She is a database administrator with expertise in a wide variety of enterprise database software programs, including Oracle, DB2, MySQL, and Access. She is the author of several books and white papers on database software and is a frequent public speaker, trainer, and consultant.
Customer Reviews

Terrible and not for anyone, especially "dummies"1
I've never used Access before and spent about 2 days tinkering with it before I decided I needed a book to get any further. This is the first one I picked up. It gives you step-by-step instructions on how to do the simplest of tasks: open a new database, create a new table, use one of the various wizards within Access, how to navigate the new ribbon, etc. But they gloss over anything more complicated than that. That's a big problem when you're trying to learn a program as powerful and easily complicated as Access. I was really looking for help designing queries and I got nothing out of this book - it actually left me a little more confused. I'm pretty good with computers. I can't imagine how confused someone would be if they were actually a "dummy" when it came to computers. Thankfully, I got this book from the library so I didn't waste any money on it, but I did waste my time reading through the first third of the book before I abandoned it. I would recommend Access 2007: The Missing Manual instead - that book walks you through everything, often with screen shots of the program.

Fixing Windows XP Annoyances by David A. Karp

Product Description

Windows XP is the most popular operating system on the planet--and the most annoying. From incomprehensible error messages to inexplicable crashes, from wonky wireless setups to just finding a file, Windows can make your computing life a nightmare. But thanks to Fixing Windows XP Annoyances, you can banish the bugs, speed up operations, and just make Windows work right.

Inspired by author David Karp's Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, this all-new tome pulls together tips, tricks, insider workarounds, and fixes for PC novices and pros, in a handy, accessible Q&A format that lets you find the solutions in a flash. Fixing Windows XP Annoyances will not only increase your productivity but lower your blood pressure. Karp's new book covers:

* Setup and Hardware-Update Windows, reinstall Windows safely, speed up start up, resolve driver-hardware conflicts, and more.
* Windows Interface-Navigate quickly, fix screen resolution problems, customize the desktop, and switch applications more quickly.
* Windows Explorer-Force XP's file & folder management application to remember your view settings, save your default application choices, and get XP's Search tool to behave.
* Multimedia-Having a problem playing a video or burning a CD? Want to do more with your digital photo collection? We have the answers.
* Web and Email-Get a handle on spyware, spam and pop-ups; protect your privacy online; learn how to improve your online experience.
* Wireless and Home Networking-Connect all your PCs; share Internet connections; share files and drives securely; make your wireless network purr; share network printers; and more.

If you're having a problem, just look through the Table of Contents for the annoyance that most closely matches your problem, or feel free to start thumbing through the pages. You'll likely find a fix to a problem you didn't even know could be solved.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #238211 in Books
* Published on: 2006-03-15
* Format: Illustrated
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 219 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Microsoft Windows XP may be the latest in a popular family of operating systems, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. However, the designers of Windows XP have built enough flexibility into their product and provided users with a sufficiently large toolkit to overcome most shortcomings. In Windows XP Annoyances David Karp reveals his ideas about how to use Windows XP most effectively, for maximum fun and productivity and as little aggravation as possible. If you're comfortable working with Windows XP (or any of its recent predecessors) but find certain aspects of it, well, annoying, you'll find this book to your liking. Karp guides his readers through potentially risky procedures, such as editing the Registry and adjusting hardware device drivers, with skill and precision.

The author's tone is to the point and professional without being dry, without any of the phony, forced humor that appears in a lot of operating-system books. Though he inexplicably ignores the Windows XP Power Toys--some very handy utilities you can get from Microsoft's Web site--he does a great job of handling important questions. Case in point, the important issue of which files can be deleted to free up disk space, and which you shouldn't touch even though they look like pointless garbage. Similarly useful attention goes to the question of which background processes can be safely halted, and which are important. There's fine coverage of scripting with the Windows Script Host (WSH), as well. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to get the most out of Windows XP, even when it appears that the operating system is working against you. Troubleshooting techniques, hardware advice, Registry hacking, interface customization, and advanced networking subjects all find a place in this book.

About the Author
Windows expert David Karp is the author of O'Reilly's bestselling "Windows Annoyances" series of books, including his latest, "Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks". He also co-authored "Windows XP in a Nutshell". A clear and engaging writer, he is a consistent voice for empowering Windows users to get more out of their operating system, and his annoyances.com web site has garnered a sizeable following. David has also written "eBay Hacks" and "eBay: The Missing Manual".
Customer Reviews

Not the clearest sometimes, but...4
While some of the content wasn't easy to implement, I got quite a bit of use out of it. I tend to go back to it from time to time, even.

Why does XP need so much fixing?4
There are many things about Windows "professional" that isn't. It has puppy dogs and talking paper clips. All files gravitate towards "My Documents" and "My Pictures" and often the only way to get to "My Engineering Files" is to click first the desktop icon, then "My Computer" icon, then the drive letter... I want the operating system to get out of my way and let me work. And yet Windows is notorious for putting all sorts of settings in obscure locations that are the last place you might look for them. Hence there are so many utilities for configuring your system the way you want it. Unfortunately, these utilities just do it without telling you how it is done.
This book directly addresses most of these annoying features and explains how (and why) to fix them. In so doing it provides a great deal of insight into the MS mentality. There are of course other annoyances not covered in the book, but I now have a much better idea where to look for them.

Fixing Windows XP Annoyances1
Purchasing this book was a mistake. I expected something similar to
"Windows 98 Annoyances" by the same author. There was no chapter on the Registry, and little or no information about the Registry.

Word Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming Your Text (Hacks) by Andrew Savikas

Product Description

As one of the applications in Microsoft Office, Word is the dominant word-processing program for both Windows and Mac users. Millions of people around the globe use it. But many, if not most, of them barely skim the surface of what is possible with Microsoft Word. Seduced by the application's supposed simplicity, they settle for just what's obvious--even if it doesn't satisfy their wants and needs. They may curse the wretched Bullets and Numbering buttons multiple times a day or take hours to change the font size of every heading in a lengthy report, yet they're reluctant to dig deeper to take advantage of Word's immense capabilities and limitless customization tools. Let Word Hacks be your shovel. Let it carve your way into Word and make this most popular and powerful application do precisely what you want it to do. Filled with insider tips, tools, tricks, and hacks, this book will turn you into the power user you always wanted to be. Far beyond a tutorial, Word Hacks assumes you have a solid working knowledge of the application and focuses on showing you exactly how to accomplish your pressing tasks, address your frequent annoyances, and solve even your most complex problems. Author Andrew Savikas examines Word's advanced (and often hidden) features and delivers clever, time-saving hacks on taming document bloat, customization, complex search and replace, Tables of Contents and indexes, importing and exporting files, tables and comments, and even using Google as a dictionary! With him as your guide, you'll soon be understanding--and hacking--Word in ways you never thought possible. Covering Word 2000, 2002 and Word 2003, Word Hacks exposes the inner workings of Word and releases your inner hacker; with it, you will be equipped to take advantage of the application s staggering array of advanced features that were once found only in page layout programs and graphics software and turning Word into your personal productivity powerhouse.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #166195 in Books
Published on: 2004-10
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
304 pages
Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Andrew Savikas works in the O'Reilly Tools Group, where he helps the Production department turn manuscripts into O'Reilly books. He developed and maintains the custom Word template and VBA macros used by all the O'Reilly authors who don't insist on writing in POD. Except for the ones who insist on writing in XML. Or Troff. Andrew also works with FrameMaker, FrameScript, InDesign, DocBook XML, Perl, Python, sed, and whatever else he finds lying around the office. He has a degree in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and lives in Boston with his wife Audrey, who loves to see her name in print.
Customer Reviews

Excellent resource for Word and COM programmers...
It seems like the Hacks series just keeps getting better and better. This time I had a chance to review the book Word Hacks by Andrew Savikas (O'Reilly). As usual, there are a number of items here that I'll be able to use right away...

Chapter list: Word Under the Hood; The Word Workspace; Formatting, Printing, and Table Hacks; Editing Power Tools; Templates and Outlines; Housekeeping; Macro Hacks; Forms and Fields; Advanced Word Hacks; Word 2003 XML Hacks; Index

For those unfamiliar with the Hacks format... It consists of 100 tips, tricks, or unique ways of doing things with the subject at hand (like Word, Excel, etc.). The hacks are normally not things that you would find intuitively obvious, or even things that you thought were just flat-out impossible to do. In Word Hacks, the author (along with a number of contributors) takes you on a trip into the inner world of Word and uncovers a multitude of tricks you've probably never seen...

Wonder how to get IE to launch Word documents in Word? That's hack # 8. Need dummy text to fill out content in a document but you don't want to just type random characters? Check out #14. How about using Word as a Windows backup utility? Yes, you can do that, and hack #81 shows you how.

The thing I like most about this book is the profusion of VBA code to be found. For non-programmers, this might be a hindrance in that a lot of the hacks involve using the VBA code they supply. I can think of a number of potential readers who would be totally lost there. But for developers who use COM to manipulate Word from other software packages, this is a treasure trove of ideas. An excellent "R&D" resource... "Rob & Duplicate"! :-)

If you're an average user of Word or a power user who doesn't want to play with code, you'll get some value here. If you're a techno-geek who wants to program everything, this is your book. Highly recommended...

Break into the world of Word macros
A better subtitle for this is "Tips for Taming It with Macros." The book begins with showing how to tweak the interface to meet your needs, one of the few hacks not requiring macros. For a long time, I never modified the interface beyond choosing the tool bars I wanted to view. I frequently used the word count feature and added that to the interface. Since then, I've learned to modify it based on my needs so I can quickly access the most often used features. Tip #1 is all about that.

Haven't ventured into macros, or at least not much? Get a crash course on how to create and run macros so you can use those included in the book and venture on your own. Savikas explains the basics at the 30-foot level while guiding the reader through the steps of creating and running a simple macro. Many of the hacks use macros.

When clicking on a link to a .doc file from within a Web site, the file opens within the browser and editing it is difficult because many of Word's tool bars are not there for your use. Hack #8 puts an end to this nuisance. In "Building a Better MRU" (most recently used), take the MRU file feature up a notch and pump it up with a form.

According to the book, most of the hacks work with Word 2000, 2002 (also known as Word XP), and 2003. It mentions some of the hacks work with the old Word 97, but the book focuses on 2000, 2002, and 2003. The last chapter, "Word 2003 XML Hacks," begins on page 319 and is the only one specific to the newest version of Word.

The book follows the Hack series model making it easy to use as a reference. All the tips offered are listed in the table of contents. If you like what you find there and want something heavily focused on macros, the book will satisfy your needs. Those looking for a manual with help for getting around Word and discovering some of its power are better off with a different book.

Anyone who is comfy with Word and likes to fiddle with something a little more advanced will get just that. Try a couple of hacks at a time to build up your Word knowledge. Soon you'll be creating your own macros. Those who are macro pros might not glean much from the book. The book's publisher's Web site includes five sample hacks . Try them out to get a feel for what the book offers. The same page has a link for downloading code examples from the book.

Concentrates on macro programming
There is a huge global base of Microsoft Word users; some subset of which should find this book useful. Savikas goes beyond common texts that either get you quickly started on MS Word, or comprehensively tell you of every option. You are presumed to be already facile. So much so that you've run into recurrent annoyances, which perhsps the book can help alleviate.

The hacks deal mostly with problems for which macro programming is needed. It's not about situations where the answer is some obscure manual sequence of steps you must do within MS Word. Nor are the large reference books on MS Word likely to be of help. They do explain macro programming, and give examples. But that consists only of a fraction of their coverage. Whereas, you have here a book focused on macros.

You don't necessarily have to already be programming macros to get something out of this book; though it would help. If a given hack addresses your situation, you can just copy vebatim the hack's solution code into a macro.