Excel 2007: Beyond the Manual

by Helen Dixon

Overview

Many experienced users may initially find Excel 2007 rather disorientating. But Excel 2007: Beyond the Manual will introduce those who are already familiar with Excel basics to more advanced features, like consolidation, what-if analysis, PivotTables, sorting and filtering, and some commonly used functions.

You'll learn how to maximize your efficiency at producing professional-looking spreadsheets and charts and become competent at analyzing data using a variety of tools. The book includes practical examples to illustrate advanced features. It also covers new features of Excel 2007 along with ways to access old features. You'll even gain timesaving tips and shortcuts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590597989
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	03/21/2007
Series:	Beyond the Manual Series
Edition description:	1st ed.
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	7.52(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

Helen Dixon works for Queen's University in Belfast, U.K., training staff and students in IT and providing a consultancy service for staff. Her qualifications include a bachelor's degree (with honors) in business studies and a master's in computing and information systems. She is studying for a Ph.D. in electronic commerce.

Table of Contents

What’s New in Excel 2007?.- Customizing Excel.- Excel Essentials.- Styles and Formatting.- Sorting and Filtering.- Analyzing Data Using Subtotals, Consolidations, and Tables.- Creating PivotTables and PivotCharts.- Editing PivotTables and PivotCharts.- What-If Analysis.- Formulas and Functions.- Charts.- Adding Graphics to a Worksheet.- Preventing and Correcting Errors.- Protection and Security.- Getting Data from External Sources.- Sharing, Reviewing, and Distributing Data.- SharePoint and Excel Services.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Like millions of folks, you've used Excel for years. You know the basics. Now that you're upgrading to Excel 2007, you're ready to go beyond them. You're ready to go "Beyond the Manual," too. Helen Dixon's Excel 2007: Beyond the Manual will deepen your knowledge of the intermediate-to-advanced features that experts use to build high-powered workbooks.

Dixon trains PC and Office users for a living: She knows how to explain this stuff so you'll understand it. Here, she begins with a quick fly-over of Excel 2007's improvements (new interface and formats, slicker formatting, more powerful analysis tools, and so forth.) There's a quick review of the essentials, but even here, there's new stuff to cover, such as Excel's Name Manager for working with defined names, as well as Microsoft's souped-up conditional formatting.

Dixon walks through sorting and filtering, introducing Excel's powerful new date, text, and number filters and helping you make the most of Advanced Filtering. There's a thorough discussion of data analysis with subtotals and consolidations, plus two full chapters on Excel's revamped PivotTables and PivotCharts. (With Dixon's help and Microsoft's simplifications, these features are way more usable now.)

Dixon then turns to what-if analysis, demystifying scenarios, Goal Seek, and Solver. You'll learn how to build more effective formulas and functions and use Excel's improved chart engine and graphics support. Especially helpful: chapters on preventing and correcting errors, and securing your workbooks.

Finally, since no workbook's an island, Dixon walks you through integrating data from external sources; then sharing, reviewing, and distributing your workbooks, with or without SharePoint and Microsoft's new Excel Services.

Not long ago, we gave props to another book in this series, Windows Vista: Beyond the Manual. This one's equally good. Apress's series is new, but these books are worth keeping an eye out for. Bill Camarda, from the May 2007 Read Only