The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Office XP is the key to success with Office XP. It covers the new versions of the Microsoft Office programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Publisher, and FrontPage. This book covers everything from word processing to spreadsheet number crunching, from database management to graphics, from slide shows to appointment books. And that's not all-The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Office XP also shows how to make the programs work together to tackle even bigger tasks, manage email, and create and publish custom Web pages. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Office XP doesn't provide a mere general overview of the Office features. It's packed with hands-on, step-by-step instructions to get users up and running with the Office programs in a hurry. As an added bonus, the book includes a quick reference card to teach secret shortcuts and an installation survival guide to help users cope with the quirky Office installation routine.

Joe Kraynak has taught hundreds of thousands of new PC users how to make the most of their computers with his easy-to-read books. His previous books include the first and second editions of The Complete Idiot's GuideA (R) to Microsoft Office 2000; Easy Internet, Second Edition; More Easy Windows 98; The Complete Idiot's GuideA (R) to PCs; and Absolute Beginner's Guide to Computers and the Internet.<./P>

Introduction: Your Office of the Future. Mastering the New Age with Microsoft Office XP. Welcome to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Office XP. The Unconventional Conventions. I. MICROSOFT OFFICE XP OVER EASY. 1. Up and Running with Office XP. Firing Up Your Office Applications. Scooting Up to the Shortcut Bar. Meeting Office Face to Face. Saving, Naming, and Opening the Files You Create. Some Not-So-Basic Mouse Moves. 2. Help!!! Getting Some Office Assistance. Help Is Just a Click Away. Meeting Your Office Assistant. Finding Help Topics in the Table of Contents. Searching the Index for Specific Help. Getting Office Help and Updates on the Web. Office Survival Skills: Recovering from Crashes. 3. Voice-Activating Your Office. First, You Need a Microphone: Hardware Requirements. "Testing, One-Two-Three" (Checking Your Sound System). Installing Speech Recognition. Training Office to Recognize Your Voice. You Speak, It Types: Dictating Your Documents. Barking Out Commands. Office Does Handwriting Recognition, Too. II. WHIPPING UP WORD DOCUMENTS. 4. Making and Editing Word Documents. Starting with the Boilerplate Special. Inserting, Typing Over, and Deleting Text. What's with the Red Pen? Typing Has Never Been Easier! Scroll, Scroll, Scroll Your Document. Changing Views: Zooming In and Zooming Out. Ten Ways to Select Text. Dragging, Cutting, and Copying Text. Juggling Two or More Documents. The Ol' Find and Replace Trick. Oops! Undoing Changes. 5. Giving Your Text a Makeover. Fast and Easy Formatting with the Toolbar. Two More Formatting Tricks. Visiting the Font Smorgasbord. Going Behind the Scenes with Formatting Codes. Paragraph Formatting: Line Spacing and Indents. Ruling Your Indented Servants: Indenting Paragraphs and Lists. Keeping Tabs on Your Tabs. The Painted Word: Using Text as Art. Baby, You've Got Style(s). 6. Aligning Your Text with Columns and Tables. Creating Your Own Newspaper Columns. Setting a Table for Precise Alignment. Cruising Around Inside Your Table. Performing Reconstructive Surgery on Your Table. 7. Spicing It Up with Graphics, Sound, and Video. Inserting Pictures, Sounds, and Video Clips from the Media Gallery. Inserting Scanned Images On-the-Fly. Importing Graphics Files. Shoving Pictures Around on a Page. Resizing and Reshaping Your Pictures. Touching Up a Picture with the Picture Toolbar. Looking Classy with Watermarks. Sketching Custom Illustrations. 8. Proofreading Your Document: Word Can Help. Looking for Mis Spellings. Making Word Automatically Correct Your Typos. Writing Good with the Grammar Checker. Word's Helpful, Useful, Beneficial Thesaurus. Where's a Real Dictionary When You Need One? What About Foreign Languages? (Translating in Office). 9. Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Printing Documents. Setting Up Your Pages for Printing. Chopping Your Text into Pages. Head-Banging Headers and Foot-Stomping Footers. Previewing Pages Before Printing Them. Ready, Set, Go to the Printer. 10. Printing Envelopes, Mailing Labels, and Form Letters. Addressing an Envelope or Mailing Label. Merging Your Address List with a Form Letter. III. CRUNCHING NUMBERS WITH EXCEL WORKSHEETS. 11. Worksheet Orientation Day. Taking Excel on the Open Road. All Data Entries Are Not Created Equal. Entering Data. Secrets of the Data Entry Masters. Life in the Cell Block: Selecting Cells. Roaming the Range. Working with Worksheets. All This and a Database, Too? 12. Doing Math with Formulas. Understanding Formulas and Concocting Your Own. Going Turbo with Functions. Cloning Formulas for Quick and Easy Entry. Playing "What If...?" with Scenarios. 13. Giving Your Worksheet a Professional Look. Tweaking Row Heights and Column Widths. Fission and Fusion: Merging and Splitting Cells. Add a Few Rows, Toss in Some Columns. Nuking Rows, Columns, and Cells. Making It Look Great in 10 Minutes or Less. Hanging a Few Graphical Ornaments. 14. Graphing Data for Fun and Profit. Charting Your Data. So Now You Want to Print It? Changing Your Chart with Toolbars, Menus, and Right-Clicks. Bar Charts, Pie Charts, and Other Goodies. Formatting the Elements That Make Up a Chart. Adding Text, Arrows, and Other Objects. 15. Printing Wide Worksheets on Narrow Pages. Preprinting: Laying the Groundwork. When It Just Won't Fit. Finally! Printing Your Worksheets. IV. SNAPPING SLIDE SHOWS IN POWERPOINT. 16. Slapping Together a Basic Slide Show. Start from Scratch? Never! Changing Views to Edit and Sort Your Slides. Inserting and Deleting Slides. Changing the Background, Color Scheme, and Layout. Taking Control with the Master Slide. 17. Adding Text, Graphics, and Sounds to a Slide. As If You Didn't Have Enough Text. Jazzing Up Your Slides with Clip Art and Other Pictures. Backing Up Your Claims with Charts. Adding Sounds to Your Slides. Going Multimedia with Video Clips. 18. Shuffling and Presenting Your Slide Show. Rearranging Your Slides. Adding Special Effects. It's Show Time! V. MASTERING THE INFORMATION AGE WITH ACCESS. 19. Making Your First Database. What Is a Database, Anyway? Database Lingo You Can't Live Without. Cranking Out a Database with the Database Wizard. Creating and Customizing Tables. Creating and Customizing Data Entry Forms. 20. Entering Data: For the Record. How Forms, Tables, and Datasheets Differ. Filling Out Forms. Entering Data in a Table. What Are These Drop-Down Lists For? 21. Finding, Sorting, and Selecting Records. Sorting Your Records by Number, Name, or Date. Filtering Records to Lighten the Load. Using Queries to Sort, Select, and Calculate. 22. Giving Data Meaning with Reports. The Report You Need Might Already Exist! Making Reports with the Report Wizard. Customizing the Appearance and Content of Your Report. Saving and Printing Reports. VI. MANAGING YOUR LIFE (AND YOUR E-MAIL) WITH OUTLOOK. 23. Keeping Track of Dates, Mates, and Things to Do. Getting Started with Outlook. Keeping Appointments with the Calendar. Keeping Track of Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Other Big Events. There's a Rolodex on Your Screen! What Do You Have to Do Today? 24. Managing Your E-mail. Nickel Tour of the Inbox. Adding E-mail Accounts. Creating a New E-mail Message. Retrieving and Reading Incoming Messages. Organizing Messages in Folders. Setting Up Profiles for Multiple Users. VII. TAKING YOUR OFFICE TO THE NEXT LEVEL. 25. Sharing Data Between Applications. Dynamic Data Sharing with OLE. Transforming Word Documents into Presentations and Vice Versa. Publishing Access Reports in Word. Analyzing Your Access Database in Excel. E-mailing, Routing, and Faxing Office Documents. 26. Creating and Publishing Your Own Web Pages. Creating Web Pages in Word. Creating an Online Presentation in PowerPoint. Placing Your Pages on the Web. Managing Your Web Site with FrontPage. Creating Your Very Own Photo Gallery on the Web. 27. Macros for Mere Mortals. Roll 'Em: Recording a Macro. Playing Back a Recorded Macro. Assigning Shortcut Keys for Quick Playback. Making Buttons for Your Macros. Saving Your Macros. 28. No-Brainer Publications with Microsoft Publisher. Conjuring Up Quick Publications with Wizards. Basic Stuff You Ought to Know. Customizing a Prefab Publication. Page Layout Tools You Can't Live Without. Printing Professional-Looking Publications. Printing to a File for Outside Printing. Appendix A: Speak Like a Geek: The Complete Archive. Index.