By “best way,” I mean what is/are the quickest and cheapest? Taking a class on them is not an option for me right now (too much distance/time involved).
I want to be able to say I know how to use them on my resume without lying. I don’t need to be an expert, I just want to be functionally proficient. Can anyone recommend some good, easy-to-find books or (hopefully free) online tutorials on them?
I’m not afraid to experiment and mess around with the programs (have them on my own PC) but I’m really not familiar with all the features, commands, or capabilities, and those are what I need to know.
don’t know about free, but get a copy of “windows 98 office for dummies”. this is one great book, and can take you thru it really quickly. make sure it is the 98 book. i had a copy of “windows 97…dummies” and couldn’t make heads nor tails of it.
Do what most people do: Lie about it on your resume, get the job, then when you have to work on something, learn like crazy before they catch on.
The best way to learn something is to use it. Now, there aren’t many practical home applications for Powerpoint that I can think of, but it’s really a pretty simple program until you get into the really fancy stuff.
But I am the office-proclaimed excel guru at work, even though I have never taken any classes, or even read any books on it, I just use it and learn it at home. I track gas mileage on it (complete with estimates until certain maintenance needs to be done, based upon current miles), investments (including rates of return and graphs and such), tax deductions, etc. All of these I set up on my own, gradually, over the course of several years (I think I started using Excel in 1995-1996.)
What I’m getting at, is if you want to learn it, get a book, but then do more than just experiment it, find some useful purpose for it and USE it - that will teach you much quicker (and be useful!)
today I bought “Office 2000 for Dummies,” which is what I have on my home Computer. It does seem to be what I’m looking for. Thanks for the suggestion, ski.
Lizard, what sort of work do you do or desire to do? I ask because in both Excel and Powerpoint, it’s probably more important to know about the objectives of what you’re building, rather than the mechanics of how to use the application.
For example, knowing how to use Powerpoint to build slides is a very different skill set from knowing how to organize a presentation. Or give a presentation. And if you’re looking to get a job where you write and give presentations, you’re better spending your education cycles honing those skills.
Well, I don’t have any particular job in mind, I’m just trying to increase my overall marketability. (B.A’s in Journalism apparently not being terribly desireable by themselves.) So you can see why I just want to learn the probrams in general. I have no idea what I might end up building.
I second ski. Start using the programs at home to track your income, expenses, etc. Then analyse the expenses: by type, date, whatever – the point being is that’s basically what you’d be doing with it at a business. Actually, part of using Excel is looking at the data you collect, and figuring out new ways to analyse it.
You will be a god if you become pretty good with Access.
On the other hand, if you are a man, why learn excel and access, leave that to the lowly. ;Q
Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I had to “look over” the PPT made by some man who was billed at the same rate as me, I’d be a wealthy woman now.
I just wanted everyone who posted to know that I bought a copy of “MS Office 2000 for Dummies” and it met all my needs. thanks!
Ooh, I am a god!
Ditto on the “learn by using” method. That’s how I learned Excel. I use it all the time, and make it do lots of fairly complicated stuff, and learned it all by using.
BTW, I did take a beginner’s course on Access, then gave myself a project to build an app I really needed and learned a lot more than the class taught by trying to make that do what I wanted. I also found that many principles I’d learned in Access could be transferred to Excel and vice versa.
I personally didn’t find the Dummies book someone gave me to be any more helpful than the MS Access User’s Guide & Building Applications handbook and online help, but that could just be me.
Microsoft Press offers two different series that deal with each Office App specifically.
One is “Getting Started” and the other is “Step By Step.” Ex: “Getting Started with PowerPoint XP” or “PowerPoint XP Step By Step.”
Of the two, “Step By Step” is much more comprehensive and easy to follow. Both offer CDs that have “labs” you can perform on your own, as well as online tutorials.
Aside from using the books, Ad Hoc is the best way. Help has come a long way (baby) so just try and create a reason to use it and see how far you get using Help. There are also some PSS Tech Support Forums that deal with PowerPoint specifically.
Have fun!