Book Review: Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

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Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007Title:  Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Author: Patricia DiGiacomo

Publisher: Que publishing

Size: 998 pages

Price: £19.13 (Amazon)

OfficeRocker rating: 8/10

Who is it aimed at?

The book is a very thorough reference guide to everything in Outlook 2007.  It is pitched at an intermediate, computer-savvy  level but it is easy to understand.  I'm not sure how many people go out and buy a book that is this complete on one product but if you use Outlook every day, it will ensure you are not missing any new tricks with 2007. 

What does it cover?

Everything.  To give you an idea, even the contents table is 22 pages long.  It does seem to be a pretty exhaustive end to end reference of the product.  It covers:

  • setting up and configuring outlook
  • outlook as a personal information manager
  • outlook as a mail client
  • outlook as the client for Exchange server
  • Programming and Advanced Outlook topics

The index is very thorough too so it is pretty easy to find things later.

What is good about it

It is very thorough and that's what you want in a reference book.  It is easy to dip in and out of if you just want to read up on a particular feature or topic.  In particular I was very pleased to see a decent section on Business Contact Manager (44 pages in chapter 35) which is often overlooked.  I like to think I'm a pretty advanced user of Outlook but I still learnt some things about linking contacts together and using contact templates for example. 

Criticisms of the book

It is a bit thin on integration with other applications I think.  There is a little bit on using WSS for shared meeting workspaces but I couldn't see anything on say, taking documents offline from SharePoint using SharePoint lists folders.  It does cover RSS feeds though.  It doesn't have anything on task integration the To-Do bar does with WSS or indeed anything on integration with OneNote 2007 which I think is possibly one of the best new features of Outlook.  OneNote does not even get a listing in the index and there is nothing about the task integration with Project either.  For amusement, the picture on page 33 - it was meant to be a screenshot of Office online I think but instead it was the Apple Mac homepage.  Is the author a Mac user?  in which case how did she write the book - presumably on Office for Mac 2004 not on Office 2007.

Summary:

A solid reference book on Outlook 2007, well researched and written.  If you are after a dip-into guide covering everything or you want something to raise your monitor up a few inches this is a good buy.