Introduction

IN THIS INTRODUCTION

What's in This Book	1
This Book's Special Features	2

It has been estimated that although Microsoft Office 2003 contains more than 10,000 features, the average user is familiar with only about 150 of them. That means that most people have left a whopping 98.5 percent of Office territory unexplored. In practical terms, it also means that most people aren't taking advantage of the power of the Office suite. It means that most people are working inefficiently by trying to make the techniques they know serve a wide range of situations, and it means that most people are working ineffectively because they aren't aware of techniques that could solve their problems and add sophistication to their documents.

You'll no doubt be happy to hear that the goal of this book is not to give you a tour of the 98.5 percent (or whatever) of Office features that you may be unfamiliar with. I don't know anyone who wants to learn all of Office. Instead, my purpose here is to share with you the tips and shortcuts and little-known techniquesin short, the tricksthat I've amassed in my more than 15 years of wrestling with the Office programs. You'll also no doubt be happy to hear that this book shuns what I call "stunt tricks": those arcane and useless tips that have no purpose in the real world and serve only to show off the knowledge and smarts of the writers. A pox on their houses! This book is grounded firmly in the real world of business and other practical concerns, and the tricks I offer are designed to help you work better, faster, safer, and smarter.