Microsoft Excel 2010 On Demand 1st Edition

This is an excellent book which discusses the features of Excel 2010 in a very comprehensive way. It covers all aspects of using Excel 2010 as well as pointing out significant differences between Excel 2010 and the earlier Excel 2007. Although the book is classified as being at Beginning-Intermediate level, it is not really suited to anyone without existing knowledge of Excel.The chapters are logically structured but, as the book suggests, it is anticipated that it will be used more as a reference than a progressive course of instruction.It uses a visual approach to explaining each topic, listing the steps to carry out each task and providing appropriate screenshots. The tasks are supported by a series of exercise files which support the text and these files can be downloaded from the publisher's website [...]. These files provide "before" and "after" versions of each worksheet.The introduction to the book states that "Each task is presented on no more than two facing pages, which lets you focus on a single task without having to turn the page". This works well in most cases but is a format which cannot do justice to some of the more complex tasks where more detail is desirable. Array Formulas, for example, have only a single page.The text introducing each chapter is informative and sets the scene for the following content. The beginning of the chapter on Charts, for example, provides clear illustrations and explanations of how charts are organised. Additionally, they are sometimes sections within a chapter which provide very good overviews of the topics to follow. Particularly useful are the section "Avoiding Harmful Attacks" in chapter 12 concerning protecting and securing workbooks and the section "Sharing Information Between Programs" in chapter 13 which examines and simplifies the choices available when transferring data to and from Excel.The book is full of very useful "Did You Know?" hints and tips which draw attention to often neglected features of Excel such as the Format Painter as well as giving great ideas about good working practices such as the use of ISERROR inside formulas to prevent error messages.Another aim of the book is to prepare the reader for the Excel 2010 Microsoft examination. To this end there is a downloadable document which shows the correlation between each objective in the syllabus and the appropriate topic in the book. There is the possibility of some confusion here as the book mentions Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) whilst the downloaded document describes Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification. Unfortunately, this arises from a Microsoft decision to rebrand their Office examinations as MCAS for version 2007 and then revert back to MOS for Office 2010. All of the information does relate to the same certification process.In addition to the downloadable documents already described, there is other material currently available or available soon. This includes New Features and Keyboard Shortcuts and a set of Projects which help to build your knowledge by working on more complex tasks. All of these are very worthwhile downloads.Finally, the book contains a coupon code which allows you to register for access to an online version of the book for a period of 45 days through the Safari Books Online subscription service. Again, this is useful option which provides the opportunity to search quickly and easily through the text of the book.Overall, I can highly recommend this book as a source of reference for any existing Excel user wanting to get to know version 2010.

As a long time spreadsheet author, I have spent many hours pondering how to become productive in the latest version of Excel. Currently, I am getting prepared for migrating my small business office staff to Excel 2010 from a combination of Excel 2003 and Excel 2007. This book contains extensive information presented in a manner that facilitates migration to Excel 2010 by both large organizations with well funded training programs and small work groups with little or no funding from training. In my corporate career, I attended a number of company sponsored training courses on various Office products, this book would be an excellent supplement to employee training courses.All users of Excel 2007 will appreciate the Table of Contents with annotations indicating new features and an appendix containing a quick review of new features. In addition, I found the "For Your Information" and "Did You Know" boxes scattered throughout the book to be very helpful.The organization of the book lends itself to use by users of various skill levels because the first nine chapters emphasize the features needed to make simple spreadsheets into impressive presentations which utilize the graphics power of Excel. This approach should work well for assisting users that need to simple, quick and effective analysis.The more advanced chapters move the reader from a good introduction to data tables/pivot tables to more advanced topics including security, publishing worksheets as web pages, recording a macro and integration with Windows Live.This is a well designed book that I would recommend for both non-technical Excel user and the intermediate user that often is considered the local guru (Excel subject matter expert). A combination of screen shots and step-by-step instructions provides an effective reference point for the guru and an easy to follow guide for occasional users when the guru is on vacation.

This is one of the best Excel books I've used. The full color step-by-step guides really make navigating the new ribbon system a lot easier. I am aware of groups that hate the new menu setup, as a result of this book I've been able to get over my frustrations of adapting to a new format. I've also learned some neat shortcuts and tips that have made me quicker and much more efficient. I'm quickly becoming an office resource amongst my peers how are just muddling through without a book. I would recommend this to anyone from a novice excel user to a seasoned hand in previous versions of excel trying to find their way.

Excel 2010 on Demand is a book best used a reference tool. It is well laid out; its use of color adds to the readability where some books overuse it to the point of being distracting. At 556 pages this book is not comprehensive, but does a nice job of hitting the points that most users will want. Power users may find the book somewhat lacking, but this is obviously not the target audience.The one disappointment I found was that the e-mail address listed for feedback was not working! I hope the publishers read this forum.Full disclosure: this book was sent to me free of charge in exchange for a review on Amazon (although the publisher did not specify that the review had to be positive).

i love it