RTM’d today: Office Professional 2013 Plain & Simple

cover of Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Plain and SimpleWe’re very pleased to announce that Katherine Murray’s book, Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Plain & Simple, has shipped to the printer!      

Pre-Order

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This full-color, no-nonsense book shows you the quickest ways to get things done with Office 2013. Follow the book’s easy steps and screenshots and clear, concise language to learn the simplest ways to do your work with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, and OneNote .Kathy shows you how to navigate with mouse, keyboard, or touch; create documents, reports, databases, and presentations; share your desktop, worksheets, and files; manage your email and organize your calendar; stay connected with online meetings and instant messaging; and access your programs and your documents via the cloud.
Handy tips teach you new techniques and shortcuts. Quick “Try This” exercises help you to apply what you learn right away.

Kathy’s book will be available via online retailers around February 15. In the meantime, here’s more information about the book:

Contents at a Glance

Section 1 About This Book

Section 2 Getting Started with Office 2013

Section 3 Office 2013 by Touch, Mouse, and Keyboard

Section 4 Accomplishing Basic Tasks in Office 2013

Section 5 Creating and Saving a Document in Word 2013

Section 6 Designing and Formatting Your Content in Word 2013

Section 7 Collaborating with Word 2013

Section 8 Adding Features for Long Documents in Word 2013

Section 9 Creating and Saving Worksheets in Excel 2013

Section 10 Formatting and Enhancing an Excel 2013 Worksheet

Section 11 Analyzing and Sharing Your Excel 2013 Data

Section 12 Creating and Saving a Presentation in PowerPoint 2013

Section 13 Collaborating and Finishing Your Presentation in PowerPoint 2013

Section 14 Collecting, Managing, and Sharing Notes in OneNote 2013

Section 15 Staying in Touch with Outlook 2013

Section 16 Keeping Your Calendar Current

Section 17 Managing People, Tasks, and Notes in outlook 2013

Section 18 Making Contact Now with Lync 2013

Section 19 Creating Publications with Publisher 2013

Section 20 Creating a Desktop Database

Section 21 Creating a Web App

 

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the next generation of Microsoft Office! Whether you're all about touch on the tablet and smartphone or you prefer a more conventional mouse-and-keyboard approach to your favorite Office applications, Office 2013 has something to offer you.

This version of Microsoft Office is much different from anything we've seen before. This version makes the most of the color, movement, and integration Windows 8 brings; helps you stay social by keeping you within a click or tap of colleagues, friends, and family; and gives you easy access to your files by saving them to the cloud so that you can get to your documents using any device that connects to the web. The idea is that you can work or play anywhere, anytime, with anyone you choose.

Sound intriguing? This book shows you how to get the most from these features and many more, helping you master the basics quickly and focus on the things that matter most to you.

Plain Talk about Office 2013

We live in a time of information overload. What we need isn't more information; rather, it's easier access to the clear information we need. Whether you're hurrying to get something done, trying to iron out a glitch, or simply learning how to use a feature for the first time, you don't need to read about every possible option under the sun in order to complete a simple task. And if there are easy-to-follow, colorful illustrations along the way to point out what you click on the screen or show you the order of steps to take, so much the better.

Microsoft Office 2013 Plain & Simple is written in plain language, so there's no computerspeak or technical jargon to get in the way of what you're trying to learn. Simple examples reflect the types of things you're likely to want to do with Office 2013, and the information provided is factual, to the point, and clear.

The Plain & Simple Approach

If you're the type of person who likes to get the straight scoop on new tools and tasks, this is your book. One of the great things about the Plain & Simple series is that it helps you explore--in an easy-to-follow, visual format--just what you need to master the tasks you're most interested in learning. The goal of Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Plain & Simple is to teach you all the basics--quickly and efficiently--so you can get busy creating, sharing, and collaborating with others to create the projects that inspire you. Here are some of the key elements in this book that help you find and master what you need quickly:

· You can read the book in any order that makes sense to you--just start in a section that explains what you want to learn.

· Screenshots show you at a glance where to find the features you need on the screen.

· Steps offer the quickest and best way to accomplish a particular task.

· Tips and notes provide valuable information that go along with the task being covered.

· See Also notes tell you where in the book similar or complementary tasks are covered.

· Try This! Exercises encourage you to try a technique yourself using the steps in the section.

Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Plain& Simple is designed specifically to help you learn what you need to know in this latest version of Microsoft's Office. You'll find friendly focused steps, clear and colorful illustrations, and tips and notes along the way to help you get the most out of the program you're using without giving you a lot of information you don't need.

What's New in Office 2013?

Office 2013 is a big story set in the context of an even bigger one. Windows 8 arrived on the scene in the fall of 2012, promising to usher in a new era of technology by personalizing our computing experience and seamlessly connecting us to our data in new and ever-expanding ways. Office 2013, with its different editions, builds on the promise of Windows 8, offering a natural touch interface (which still works just as naturally with mouse and keyboard too). You'll also find a modern, clean interface that does away with the frames of the window when you're working with an application full-screen.

Program designers focused on four key areas as they were renovating Office:

· Build on the best of Windows 8. Office 2013 is now fully optimized for touch, with a clean airy interface and easy to navigate ribbon and panes. You can use the Windows 8 touch keyboard--in several styles--or your own keyboard to enter content quickly and accurately. You can dock your open applications so you have more than one window open on the Windows 8 screen at a time, and you can easily connect to devices, people, apps and more from within your Office applications.

· Put Office in the cloud. Now not only is there an edition of Office 2013 available solely in the cloud, but the traditional desktop version of Office 2013 also saves naturally to the cloud, where you can access and work on your files from anywhere, using any device with web access. Office on Demand is a service available through Office 365 subscriptions that enables you to stream Office on a computer you're using that doesn't have Office installed.

· Keep it social. Social media was on the rise when Office 2010 first appeared on the scene, but today it is a way of life today. Office 2013 connects to social media services to enable you to share and use photos and files, connect with your contacts, ask questions on social media sites, and more.

· Enable new experiences. Office 2013 includes new features that can improve your computing experience, whether you're reviewing new documents, taking notes you want to review later, or giving a presentation at a large business meeting. For example, Word includes a new Reading Mode that adjusts easily to the size of your screen, live layout functionality that reflows your document as you move objects on the page, and "peeks" that help you get the information you need without leaving your current view.

See Also

You'll learn more about the new scenarios in Office 2013 in Chapters 5 through 24, where we cover topics and tasks related to the different Office applications.

Which Editions of Office 2013 Are Available?

Technology continues to change the way we live and work, and Office 2013 editions reflect different work styles for different types of users. Here's a quick overview of the different editions:

If you're a big fan of cloud technology and love the idea of working on files from anywhere, using any device, you will like the subscription-based Office model available through Office 365. There are several subscription plans available so that you can choose the one that fits what you want to accomplish with Office. Office 365 Home Premium is designed for home users and consumers who want to use Office on up to five computers and devices. Office applications include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, and Publisher. Other Office 365 subscriptions cater to small business and enterprise. In addition, a version of Office for Mac is available through Office 365. Office on Demand is also available through the Office 365 edition, enabling you to stream Office live so that you can work on computers that don't even have Office applications installed.

If you prefer the more conventional method of installing Microsoft Office on your PC and using it as a stand-alone suite of programs (although you can still save your files to the cloud if you choose), you can purchase and install Microsoft Office 2013.

If you use a device with an ARM processor and Windows RT, your device will come equipped with Office on Windows RT. This edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote and is provided by the manufacturer. It's not something you can buy separately and install.

What You'll Find in This Book

You don't have to read the sections in Microsoft Office 2013 Plain & Simple in any particular order; instead, simply jump in to the section that offers the answers you seek. You'll find that the book is organized to offer shared tasks and topics first, and then sections focus on specific application tasks. For example, in Section 2, "Getting Started with Office 2013 & Windows 8," you are introduced to Windows 8 and Windows 8 features flow through into Office 2013. You also learn how to use Office 2013 seamlessly as you move from PC to browser to tablet to phone.

In Section 3, "Office 2013 by Touch, Mouse, and Keyboard," you find out how to navigate in Office 2013, no matter what type of device you're using and what your navigation preferences might be. Section 4, "Accomplishing Basic Tasks in Office 2013," offers the how-tos on all the basic common tasks you'll perform using the various applications. You'll find out how to do things like choosing backgrounds, opening apps, docking apps on the screen, changing ribbon display, saving files to the cloud or your hard drive, tagging files, previewing and printing files, translating content, sharing files, exporting files, and getting help in Office 2013.

Section 5, "Creating and Saving a Document in Word," begins the sections in which we focus in on specific Office applications. Here you learn how to navigate the Word window, start a new document, add your own content, insert bookmarks and pictures, flow your text and use live layout, search and replace text, edit and format content, add tables and SmartArt diagrams, and insert text boxes and online video. Section 6, "Designing and Laying Out Pages in Word," focuses on applying themes and styles to your document so you get just the professional look you're hoping for. You also learn to work with spacing, margins, and tabs in this section. Section 7, "Collaborating with Word," teaches you what you need to know to share and work successfully with others on your Word documents. You'll find out how to track changes, add comments, collaborate in the cloud, and restrict editing in parts of your shared document. Section 8, "Adding Features for Long Documents in Word," rounds out the sections on Word by showing you how to add headers and footers, insert page numbers, create sections, add columns, insert footnotes and endnotes, add a table of contents, prepare a mailing, design a form, and customize long documents.

Section 9, "Creating and Saving Worksheets in Excel," introduces you to Excel 2013 and gives you the lay of the land in the Excel window. You find out how to create a new worksheet, add worksheet data, insert pictures, add a chart, save and share a workbook, and export or collaborate on a worksheet. Section 10, "Formatting and Enhancing an Excel Worksheet," shows you how to apply a theme, format cells, add and delete columns and rows, hide and display information, work with multiple worksheets, create a data series, and set a print range. Section 11, "Analyzing and Sharing Your Excel Data," shares what you need to know to analyze your worksheet data. You discover how to create and work with functions and formulas, create data tables, sort your data, create PowerView Reports, add sparklines, work with PivotTables, add slicers and a timeline, and change data relationships.

Section 12, "Creating and Saving a Presentation in PowerPoint 2013," teaches you about creating, editing and formatting your presentation. You'll learn to choose a slide layout, work with master slides, insert pictures and video, and add sound effects.. Section 13, "Collaborating and Presenting in PowerPoint," focuses on adding comments to a presentation, sharing your presentation with others, co-authoring a presentation in real time, presenting live, packaging the presentation, broadcasting the presentation online, and saving your presentation as a video.

Section 14, "Collecting, Managing, and Sharing Notes in OneNote 2013," introduces you to digital note-taking by taking you on a tour of the OneNote window, and showing you how to create a notebook, open existing notebooks, create sections, add note pages, use page templates, manage pages and sections, file unfiled notes, insert side notes, add notes in audio or ink, clip notes from the web, and much more. Section 15, "Stay in Touch with Outlook 2013," shows you how to launch Outlook, navigate the Outlook window, set up your email accounts, add contacts, set up teams and groups, read and respond to mail, use Quick Steps to manage your mail, flag mail for follow-up, tag and organize your mail, and add and manage RSS feeds. Section 16, "Keeping Your Calendar Current," spotlights all things scheduling, showing you how to display calendar views, share your calendar, create a team calendar, and publish your calendar online. You learn to create an appointment, invite participants, set recurrences, and schedule a team meeting. Section 17, "Managing People, Tasks, and Notes in Outlook," wraps up the focus on Outlook by demonstrating how to view, organize, add, and find contacts; create, assign, and track tasks; and create, categorize, manage, and share your notes.

Section 18, "Make Contact Now with Lync 2013, " introduces you to Lync 2013, Microsoft’s online meeting and instant messaging tool that is included as part of Office 2013 ProPlus. This section shows you how to launch Lync, add contacts, send and respond to instant messages, and make phone, audio, and video calls, and chat in a chat room.

Section 19, "Creating Publications with Publisher 2013," shares how you can create your own publications—newsletters, flyers, brochures, invitations, and more—by using Publisher templates. Discover how to flow text, tweak images, add tables, create boilerplate content, stack and group objects, and finalize your publication.

Sections 20 and 21 show you how to create a Desktop Database and a Web App, respectively. You’re introduced to Access, with a spotlight on Access data templates, and the basics of creating a simple database. What's more, these sections walk you through the process of creating a custom web app you can use to create an application you can publish to the cloud or use on your desktop PC.

A Few Assumptions

I wrote this book with a few assumptions in mind. First, I'm assuming that you've already installed Office 2013 on your computer and other devices. If you haven't yet installed Office 2013, you can install the software easily by purchasing and downloading the software from Microsoft store or by installing it from the CD in the packaged software you purchased.

I'm also assuming that you're interested in the most popular Office 2013 apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Lync, and Publisher. You might be using either Office 365 Home and Family, Office 2013 ProPlus, or Office 2013.

Additionally, I've assumed that for the most part you're familiar with computer basics, although we do cover some navigation tasks as part of the coverage of Windows 8. But I'm assuming you know how to use your mouse, you're familiar with your computer, and that you've already connected your computer to the Internet and to your printer.

Before We Begin…

The primary goal of Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Plain & Simple is to help you learn the tasks you most want to accomplish in Office 2013. Hopefully along the way you'll discover new features you're excited to try, connect to friends, family, and colleagues you haven't talked with in a while; and find out how great it can be to have the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere, anytime, with anyone you choose.

Office 2013 makes it possible for you to work the way you choose, and create the documents, worksheets, presentations, notebooks, messaging, and web apps you want. I hope you'll enjoy exploring all the possibilities in Office 2013 as much as I enjoyed writing this book for you.

The best way to learn is by doing, so let's get started using Office 2013.