Faster Smarter Microsoft Office System -- 2003 Edition

As you can see just from the preceding list, the Office System presents you with a huge array of tools you can use to perform all sorts of tasks related to capturing, working with, and sharing information. Whether you work with words, numbers , images, Web content, or data, there s a program in the Office System that was created to do just what you want to do. Whether you write memos, produce reports , design Web pages, manage data, schedule presentations, or create e-mail campaigns , you can accomplish it all with the Office System. Here are just a few ways you can use the Office System:

• You can create the company newsletter in Word, route it to your supervisor for approval, turn it into Web content using FrontPage, and send out an e-mail version using Outlook.

• You can store the inventory records for your small bookstore in an Access database; track sales and accounts receivable and payable in Excel; and do a mass mailing to your entire customer base using the mail-merge feature of Word, all the while saving the data in XML format so it can be used in an unlimited number of ways.

• You can create a professional-level corporate Web site using FrontPage, using SharePoint Team Services to assign individual articles to different departments; compose the annual report in Word; and import charts you created in Excel to show the company s happy financial picture.

• You can use Outlook to help organize your calendar, schedule meetings with your staff, track employee information, assign tasks (for yourself and others), add notes to reviewed documents, and manage your ever-growing contact list. You can also use the new Meeting Workspace to share documents, files, and links related to an upcoming meeting with your team.

The best use of the Office System is, of course, whatever you plan to do with it. How will the Office System applications help you in your day-to-day work? As we go along, think through the tasks you do either manually or with another program and ask yourself how you would like to improve or streamline those tasks can help you get the most out of Office.