Reference Book or Manual (Word 2003)

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I’m looking for input as to the best Word 2003 reference text for intermediate to advanced users. I need to get at document structure and working around problems by changing hidden formatting codes, etc. If possible, a brief explanation of “why the best” is also appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

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I’m partial to the INSIDE OUT series for reference (Word, Excel, etc.) as I find helpful to flesh out my explanations to end-users. It’s thorough, though I’m not sure I believe its assurances about the Master Document features. In a similar serious vein, Que’s Special Edition Using Word is also excellent. If you are looking at a more “how do I fix frelling Word” I like the “annoyances” series and Woody Leonard’s Office 2003 Timesaving Techniques for Dummies is just BRILLIANT for how to set up Word (and others) in the first place so it isn’t fighting you. Though technically not a book, Clive Huggans has an excellent book-length Word document about controlling Word and using features smartly. It’s was written about Word’s Mac version, but it nearly perfectly applicable to the Windows version.

An excellent bit of reference is the Word MVP FAQs and Shauna Kelly’s Word site in addition to this fine forum and the Word newsgroups.

Lastly, I’m sure a search of this forum will yield you messages about other people’s recommendations. I suspect most people will say that there isn’t a single Word book that adequately trains users in the intermediate to advanced features because needs vary so greatly. The legal users versus the technical writers versus the mail-merge demon all use intermediate features but with less overlap than you would think.

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Thanks Eowyn,

That’s great input and I’ll follow-up on your suggestions.

Thanks again!

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It’s not really a reference, but there’s plenty of stuff on working around problems in Word Hacks. I’m obviously partial , but I honestly refer to it myself regularly. It’s squarely aimed at intermediate to advanced users, especially those willing to get their hands a little dirty under the hood.

Cheers!

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Hi Andrew,

Thanks! I will have a look.

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