| Overview
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.
Editorial ReviewsProduct Description Becoming an Excel jockey takes practice, dedication, and expert guidance. And, despite its fairly steep learning curve, Excel is a marvelously rich program that enables users of every stripe to turn data into information using tools to analyze, communicate, and share knowledge. Whether you're new to Excel or an intermediate-level spreadsheet aficionado, Excel: The Missing Manual is sure to become your go-to resource and training partner. Like all Missing Manuals, this book is an advanced-beginner river of knowledge that offers jumping off points to side and more advanced topics. Covering all the features of Excel 2002 and 2003, including worksheet basics, formulas and functions, organizing worksheets, charts and graphics, advanced data analysis, sharing data with the rest of the world, and more, Excel: The Missing Manual is an easy-to-read, humorous, thorough, and downright enjoyable guide to the world's most popular spreadsheet program. |
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Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 5 reviews. Ski/Snowboard Like a Pro... Use Excel Like a Pro, 2006-03-21 Reviewer rating: 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, 2005-07-08 Reviewer rating: 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, 2005-03-10 Reviewer rating: 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. | comprehensive and concise, 2005-01-31 Reviewer rating: I'm a little leery of taking the title "Missing Manual" literally. Other books in this series have discussed the Macintosh and other Apple offerings, where indeed typically Apple provided only a paucity of information in its manuals. But for Excel, Microsoft does offer comprehensive hardcopy documentation. This book is really one of a numerous set of third party offerings that try to improve on Microsoft.
The strongest argument for this book is that it appears to combine a comprehensive description of Excel with a conciseness of that explanation. In other words, it really doesn't belong in the Missing Manual series, but rather in O'Reilly's regular and long running series of texts, that share these properties. You know, the books with the purple covers.
Granted, the book is bulky. But that reflects over a decade of Excel being continually refined and added to. The conciseness of the explanations means typically some prior exposure to spreadsheets in general, and Excel in particular, would greatly aid your understanding. | Ideal Excel walkthrough, 2005-01-14 Reviewer rating: 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. |
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