The objective of the book is very clearly defined in the title and in the introduction -- to let readers work like a Pro(fessional) using Word 6.. The text resembles a manual handbook with illustrations. Prints are very readable and compared to "bible-thick" reference books, it only has 253 pages. So it's like reading a short story.
Work like a Pro started with giving basic pointers to individuals who are very new to Windows...using Word requires this type of knowledge. The first 28 pages cover instructions on using Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. So for advanced users, the story is getting shorter, because you can skip this section!
I read through all the sections and what interests me is that I felt like I'm in a Continuing Education class, where I get instructions step-by-step, the only difference is I can take my time as long as possible until I learn a single step and not worry about dragging a whole class get stuck with me. And also there's no live instructor present.
I learned to create, print, and save a document in a snap. Editing documents are far more interesting, it teaches you options like using shortcut menus. These include commands that are only appropriate for the area you highlighted in a document. For example, you highlighted a sentence in your document and you wanted to edit only that statement, what you do...you point your mouse to the item (a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph), highlight it, click the right button and you'll see a menu which includes three editing commands and three formatting commands that can be used with a selection.
There are so many ways that you can do to format characters, paragraphs and pages by using either a click of a mouse or your keyboard. It includes instructions to get the most from templates and wizards, set defaults, convert files and even get on-line help. The Appendices give you a complete list of shortcut keys for working with Word 6, if you forget. I find this guidebook (as I wanted to call it) very useful to secretaries, writers, journalists, students etc., or even individuals who would like to write letters to their love ones just to show off!
Before I started using this text I told you I was an average Word user, well...now that I am done reading and doing the exercises (they're not that hard anyway), I consider myself an expert. Now, should that fall in the category Professional?
This reference manual is published by Mike Murach & Associates,
Inc. from Fresno, California. List price is $20 and user group price is
40% off, or $12. Order direct at (800) 221-5528 and don't forget to let
them know that you got their number from the PC Alamode.