Office 2007 Missing Manuals

Word 2007: The Missing Manual (Chris Grover) amazon.com amazon.co.uk
Excel 2007: The Missing Manual (Matthew MacDonald) amazon.com amazon.co.uk
PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual (E.A. Vander Veer) amazon.com amazon.co.uk
Access 2007: The Missing Manual (Matthew MacDonald) amazon.com amazon.co.uk

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Reviewed by Matt Stephens
March 29, 2007

It all started with Internet Explorer 7. At least, that’s my theory. With version 7 IE finally gained tabbed browsing, as a direct response to the same features in competing web browsers Firefox and Opera. But Microsoft must have really bitten the tabbed bug: if tabs are so effective for web browsing, why not extend the metaphor to help users accomplish tasks in other applications, like Word or Excel? (Remember this is just my theory, but it seems like a plausible one).

Whether that was their thought process or not, tabbed functions are now the major new feature in Microsoft’s Office 2007 suite, courtesy of the “ribbon” UI component.

Everything you’ll ever want to do in Office (that is, Excel, Word, Access and PowerPoint) is now packed into the ribbon. Functions are grouped logically into tabs: so, for example in Excel you get tabs called: Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View, and Developer. Each one could be thought of as a “task”: you want to Insert something, change the Page Layout, Review a document, etc.

Under each tab, you get a collection of buttons, list boxes etc to help accomplish the task in question. So far, that’s all very wonderful, and UI experts the world over are cooing with appreciation at this unexpected nod towards usability from Microsoft.

Another move in the right direction is the elimination of modal message dialogs. Whereas previously, Word, Excel etc showed warnings and alerts in modal dialogs, warnings are now displayed in a message bar beneath the ribbon, along with any additional options to choose a course of action. The number of times I’ve had to close a modal dialog just to check something, then repeat the action to get the modal dialog back and choose the correct option: so the move away from modal dialogs is a major improvement in usability.

The ribbon does its job so well that (in theory) you don’t need drop-down menus any more; so they’re gone. Farewell, bon voyage, tsetchem leshalom, and good riddance. (Introspection moment: am I the only one who really didn’t mind drop-down menus in the slightest?)

But here’s the problem: this bold new UI is so different from what was there before, that (initially at least) no one really knows how to use it. We’ve all grown up with the familiar Office UI, but Office 2007 is so different that many users will resemble a lumberjack switching to a newfangled chainsaw after a lifetime using his trusty axe. Chainsaws are much more awkward, and frankly overrated: you just can’t get a good swing with one.

So what we all really need is for O’Reilly to come up with some “Missing Manual” books that cover the new UI. Luckily, they’ve done just that. And here they are:

• Word 2007: The Missing Manual (Chris Grover)
• Excel 2007: The Missing Manual (Matthew MacDonald)
• PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual (Emily A. Vander Veer)
• Access 2007: The Missing Manual (Matthew MacDonald)

Note that these books assume a small amount of PC savviness on the part of the reader. If you've never set foot in an Office application before, O'Reilly also offer some beginner-friendly books: Word 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual, Excel 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual, PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual, and Access 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual,

(That’s a lot of missing manuals: what was Microsoft thinking?)

For the sake of brevity and all it stands for in all shapes and forms, I’ll shorten each book title to Word:TMM, Excel:TMM etc.

Rather like the ribbon interface, each book is divided up into common (and not-so-common) tasks that you’ll want to perform. For example, Excel:TMM kicks off with basic tasks such as: Creating and navigating worksheets; adding information to Worksheets; Moving data around; managing worksheets and workbooks; and formatting cells.

Then, at around the page 200 mark, the book kicks into high gear, and walks you through creating formulas and functions; manipulating dates, times and text; financial functions; creating charts and inserting graphics. Then the book kicks into really high gear, and explores the murky world of advanced data analysis using Excel scenarios, and Excel’s goal-seeking tool.

There’s also a section on sharing data with the rest of the world, with tasks including protecting your workbooks, connecting worksheets to the web, and so on.

Then, at around the page 700 mark, Excel:TMM kicks into really, really high gear, with a detailed exploration of programming Excel. To be honest, this was the point where (being a programmer) I really began to get interested, so (purely from my own nefarious perspective) it’s a shame this was where the book ended. But there’s still plenty of detail there on programming VBA: about 90 pages, in fact. This contrasts with the 15 pages or so of macros and VBA covered in the Word 2007 book.

My favorite out of all 4 books, though, is Access:TMM. Being “the database book”, it really gets its teeth into the subject, and shows you how to get the best out of the Access database. This includes 100 pages or so on programming Access, using macros and VB.

Of course, Access is primarily a database targeted at “mortal” users. So, appropriately enough, Access:TMM begins with a gentle walk-through of creating your first database. Then, having shown you the mechanics, it takes a step back to explore six principles of database design. This is all good commonsense, such as “Choose good field names” [more important than it may sound], “Avoid duplicating information”, and “Include an ID Field.” DB normalization 101, in other words: but all presented in a nice reader-friendly, not-too-scary format.

PowerPoint, meanwhile, is where the declarative, task-oriented nature of the new ribbon control really springs to life. This is reflected in PowerPoint:TMM, which is naturally structured around the tasks presented in the ribbon: delivering slideshows, printing, formatting, adding charts, diagrams and tables; creating animations, etc.

Lots of sample screenshots throughout make this book graphically rich, with an interesting and eye-catching layout. As well as all the info about setting up a slideshow, there's also a good chapter about presenting your slideshow. This takes you through preparation and delivery of your presentation.

Finally, Word:TMM follows a similar structure to the other three books, focusing on common and not-so-common tasks. Chapter 1 walks you through the basics: creating, opening and saving documents. While that sounds almost too basic to devote a whole chapter to, the chapter does also introduce templates, the five basic document views, and different file types.

In later chapters, Word:TMM gets its teeth into meatier territory, e.g. setting margins, customizing columns, and formatting sections using style sets. Finally, there are four chapters on customizing Word: changing the workspace, using macros, creating your own themes and templates, and so on.

So, as with the other books in the series, Word:TMM starts in basic territory but soon gets you up and running with the more advanced stuff.

In fact, for anyone wanting to not just get familiar with the Office suite’s new ribbon interface, but really learn it in-depth, these books will get you there. They’re all nicely laid out and clearly written; and the way they’re uniformly arranged around specific tasks means that you can read each book either cover-to-cover, or as a “random access” tutorial.

More book reviews:

Use Case Driven Object Modeling With UML: A Practical Approach (Doug Rosenberg, Kendall Scott)

The Zen of CSS Design (Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag)

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