Comments about O'Reilly Media Word Pocket Guide:

Word Pocket Guide

reviewed by Terry Thomas

Did you ever need a quick reference on the road? You know you can't lug a big manual. What's a busy road warrior to do? Pack a Pocket Guide.

The format of the book is exceptional. It is written in a manner that is very easy to understand, reference and use. I like the step-by-step directions, e.g., Tools --> Options --> Edit --> etc.

This saves time. It's visual rather than a cumbersome narrative. It tells me to go to this site and click on this item.

I found information early in the book that I could use immediately -- like understanding the horizontal ruler and the control tabs. The directions for setting and using the tabs were clear and concise. I now have a better understanding of the parts of the indent markers and the difference between the first line indent and the hanging indent. Before it was hit and miss for me and I was never exactly sure how to accomplish what I wanted done. The section on paragraph formatting was very helpful.

I am delighted with the section that explains copying multiple items to the Office Clipboard. Until reading this, I was not aware that I could place and use more than one item on the clipboard at a time. This is definitely a time saving feature that I will use often.

I found the sections that address establishing and customizing the format of the menu bars helpful. I had a lot to learn. By customizing the tool bars, I now can easily find what I need. And, now I know what the buttons do.

My favorite part is the list of shortcut keyboard commands. I never thought that I would use them but I find it saves so much time over using the mouse to pull down a menu and selecting individual items. I have the book in front of me so I can refer to this list and am learning new commands daily. The compact size of the book is a plus. I can always find a place for it on my desk.

I would strongly recommend this book to everyone who uses Microsoft Word.