Book on Excel (Excel 2003)

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What is a good book i can read to get a better appreciation of excel? i don’t want a total beginners book although I will be guided by you. i am a beginner at Excel and very experienced at Access and VBA.

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I like Excel Books by John Walkenbach – he has written several for each version.

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Thanks Hans, i will check them out.

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I found Pivot Table Data Crunching by Bill Jelen and Michael Alexander to be very useful.
It really helped me improve my pivot tables by showing a lot of features that I was unaware of.

Yesterday I found a link to a book called “Excel Best Practices for Business” by Loren Abdulezer. I usually like to have a quick flip through a book in the store before buying. Look up an area I’ve had a recent problem with and see how helpful the information is. If the book explains things in a manner that I can understand then I am more inclined to buy it. I will be looking for the above book, next time I am in a book store to see how useful it may be.

Reading the table of contents, to see what the book covers, then relating it to things you want to learn is also helpful. Not much point getting a book that mainly covers topics you are already proficient in.

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Thanks for the info, but as i’m a beginner in Excel i guess any book will do to start with, as long as it describes VBA, formulas, lookups etc.

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Hi Hans,
i am a complete beginner to Excel, what would you recommend for a start?

Others recommendations are just as welcome.

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I’ve been using Excel since version 1.00 in 1985 (for Apple Macintosh). It came with an extensive two-volume paper manual
But this means that I hardly know what currently the best beginner book is. I’m sure others can help.

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Thanks anyway.

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BTW, in general the “Step by Step” books from Microsoft Press provide an adequate introduction to the various Office programs; for Excel 2003 it would be “Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Step by Step”.
They don’t go very deep, though, and they hardly cover VBA, if at all.

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Hi Patt,

I’ve found John Walkenbachs ‘Excel bible’ (IDG press) very useful both for starters as well as the more advanced topics.

Bests

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Thanks i think i will start with this, see response to Hans.

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I think i will go for one of the more advanced books, maybe the Excel 2003 Bible. If i struggle too much with that i will go with a beginners after that.

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Since you’re good at Access VBA, all you probably need to get up to speed with Excel VBA is getting to grips with the object model.

This requires two things:

1. Get to know Excel (for which the excel bible of JW is perfect)
2. Get a VBA book. A good one is:

http://www.oaltd.co.uk/ExcelProgRef/Default.htm%5B/url%5D

If you’re thinking of doing more serious Excel dev work, then this is the ultimate book:

http://www.oaltd.co.uk/ProExcelDev/Default.htm%5B/url%5D

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I would wholeheartedly recommend both of those – mine are quite dog-eared from constant use now!

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Do you mean the 2 he mentions aside from the bible.

Thanks for your input Rory.

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Yes – the last one is a serious piece of work; the VBA programmer’s reference is so good I ended up buying the 2003 version after my 2000 version fell to bits. Probably the most frequently used of the 10 or so Excel books I have.

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Thanks Rory

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Thanks Jan
i will go with the first two you mention initially (the bible and the vba book).

When i become that good i will purchase the third one you mention, of course that may never happen.

Is it worth going for the 2002 version or maybe the 2003 version for all these books?

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I’d pickup the version that is closest to your Office version. 2003 should do just as well as 2002 though.
Just don’t do the 2007 versions unless you have a need to work with Excel 2007.

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Thanks for that, i have just ordered the 2003 versions.

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Hi Patt

An additional superb book that offers a good VBA angle and that you may find very useful later, is one I was recommended in here as well.

VBA Developers Handbook (2nd ed.) by Getz & Gilbert ISBN 0-7821-2978-1 (SYBEX)

Good hunting… / ;o)

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Thanks, I’ll keep that one in mind for later.

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Somewhere in this thread you’ve become a PlatinumLounger (3,500 posts). Congratulations!

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I reckon at this rate i may catch you in about 200 years, with the help of 100 others.

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I found that “Using Microsoft Excel 2000” by Blattner & Ulrich (published by QUE in 1999) a good mix of introductory and advanced topics and clear explanations. It has a 30 page chapter on VBA.

Paul

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I will go to my local store and check this out, thank you.

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You know I have to say it is somewhat comforting to hear that our Lounge experts still use, and perhaps occasionally need, a good book on Excel and/or VBA. It makes me feel slightly less inept.

Paul

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