Excel_2003: The Missing Manual

By Matthew MacDonald

Whether you are an Excel neophyte, a sophisticate who knows the program inside out, or an intermediate-level plodder eager to hone your skills, Excel: The Missing Manual is sure to become your go-to resource for all things Excel. Covering all the features of Excel 2002 and 2003, the most recent versions for Windows, Excel: The Missing Manual is an easy-to-read, thorough and downright enjoyable guide to one of the world's most popular, (and annoyingly complicated ) computer programs. Never a candidate for "the most user-friendly of Microsoft programs," Excel demands study, practice and dedication to gain even a working knowledge of the basics. Excel 2003 is probably even tougher to use than any previous version of Excel. However, despite its fairly steep learning curve, this marvelously rich program enables users of every stripe to turn data into information using tools to analyze, communicate, and share knowledge. Excel can help you to collaborate effectively, and protect and control access to your work. Power users can take advantage of industry-standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) data to connect to business processes. To unleash the power of the program and mine the full potential of their database talents, users need an authorative and friendly resource. None is more authoritative or friendlier than Excel: The Missing Manual. Not only does the book provide exhaustive coverage of the basics, it provides numerous tips and tricks, as well as advanced data analysis, programming and Web interface knowledge that pros can adopt for their latest project. Neophytes will find everything they need to create professional spreadsheets and become confident users. Excel: The Missing Manual covers: worksheet basics, formulas and functions, organizing worksheets, charts and graphics, advanced data analysis, sharing data with the rest of the world, and programming. If you buy just one book about using Excel, this has GOT to be it. This book has all you need to help you excel at Excel.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596006640
• ISBN13: 9780596006648
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 770 Pages
• Weight: 2.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 7.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great Book for Excel Users

This book is exactly what it describes itself to be: the User Manual which *should* have been included with the software. I originally found this title at my local library, and decided to buy my own copy within a week after having checked it out.

Ski/Snowboard Like a Pro... Use Excel Like a Pro

Becoming good using Excel is like learning how to ski/snowboard. Riding up the lift looking down on the experienced skiers/snowboarders ride down the mountain having fun and making it look so easy and graceful, and you think to yourself, if only I could do that, I would be happy. Will I ever be able to ride like that, maybe, but how long? That is what it is like learning/using Excel out of the box. After flipping through many a Excel book, I finally through the dart and picked The Missing Manual. The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald is a wonderful instructional piece. Written in a manner that does not put a person to sleep nor so techy that tears just fill your eyes trying to hold back the pain whilst reading it, because you tell yourself this is good for you. I find myself going to the Missing Manual all the time, for things that I never knew how to do, and to remind me of things I did once a long time ago and cannot recall. This book is a great resource for the newbie to intermediate.... which if you are looking for a book on this subject, I bet you most likely fit into that category.

Excel- The Missing Manual is excellent

This manual has help me to master pivot tables, macros and lookup functions, which has made me a much more productive user of Excel. I strongly recommend this book to people who want to get the most out of Excel.

From a basic start to as far as you want to go

When I start to look at a book on Excel I first turn to the index and look up Pivot Tables. Pivot tables are an amazingly powerful tool that allows you to turn the data around (pivot even) and look at it from another point of view. It's also amazing that a high percentage of books on Excel simply ignore pivot tables altogether, or perhaps give them half a page. This book has an entire chapter on pivot tables. Furthermore, if you read the Microsoft help screens on pivot tables you get 113 topics to read. In this book the description of pivot tables explains what they are, shows you some examples to illustrate what can be done, and then leads you through using them. This is truly what the manual should have shown, if of course there was a manual that came with Excel. The next thing I look for is XML. This is really the big thing that makes Excel 2003 a new edition of Excel. Sure enough, a chapter on XML as well. (Except for this section and a few very minor points, you can use the manual for earlier versions of Excel.) But suppose you are not up to guru level and wanting to know about pivot tables and XML. Well, the book starts off with Creating a Basic Worksheet and goes on from there. In summary, here is everything you need to know about Excel from the very basic steps to just as far as you want to go.

Ideal Excel walkthrough

This is the ideal Excel walkthrough. It's a balanced blend of basic and advanced information that has a gentle learning curve that will take you all the way from creating your first spreadsheet through the basics of macro development. The book is organized into eight parts, though the first four make up the majority of the book. Part one covers the basics of editing, files, printing, saving. Part two is all about formula creation. Part three is about templates and lists. Part four is about charting and graphics. After that it's into networking, macros, and more advanced topics. The writing is excellent and the use of screenshots is effective and not overwhelming as with other books. A superb walkthrough of the fundamentals of Excel.