Software Reference

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I have to admit that my first reaction when I saw Microsoft Office Word 2007: Essential Reference for Power Users was "Wow, who needs this?" Then I started looking at what was in the book, and I quickly changed my mind.

The Essential Reference is a big book - 640 pages on A4 paper, with a heft ot match. The author, Matthew Strawbridge says:

This book is the first attempt ever to catalog and describe all of Word's features. The whole of the user interface is displayed graphically and explained, together with cross-references to the commands, which are found alphabetically later in the book.

As you might expect from a book of this nature, it's not intended for casual users. If you're looking for a guide on how to use Word's new ribbon interface or how to set up a template, you're probably better off with one of Christine Kent's tutorial books or one of the many aftermarket replacements for the user guide that Microsoft no longer provides. So who is this book aimed at? The author says:

This book is targeted at experts and power users who need to understand how Word functions at a low level. It will be useful to teachers and trainers, helpdesk staff, technical authors writing books about Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Office programmers.

The first part of the book covers basic concepts about Word and the new Office button. Two chapters are devoted to the ribbon and one to task panes. The longest part of the book – almost 300 pages – covers all of Word's many dialog boxes. VBA programmers will appreciate the complete list of Word's commands, cross referenced to the dialog boxes, where appropriate. There's also a complete list of the default autotext entries and a section with thumbnails of all the new galleries. The index is thorough, although you may need a magnifying glass to read it.

But this book is more than just an extensive set of lists. Everything is cross-referenced; for example, the section on dialog boxes includes the VBA commands that call them, to name just one example. Usage tips are included throughout the book. And the level of detail is impressive. For example, the description of the Formula dialog, which has only four fields, is two full pages long and includes all of the possible field values as well as a page of examples, a note and a usage tip. This is typical. Every time I open this book, I find something new and interesting that I didn't know before.

Casual Word users may be deterred by the Essential Reference's rather hefty size and price, but anyone who uses Word day in and day out will find it invaluable. Technical writers who work primarily in Word, consultants who develop templates or Office-based solutions, or help desk support staff in organizations with an installed base of Word 2007 users should definitely consider buying this book.

About the only thing that I could see that would improve the book would be a colour edition, but that would drive the price to astronomical levels. A PDF edition, with colour graphics, would certainly have a wide appeal.