Does PowerPoint 2003 come with a Manual?

[NoviceUser]

Does PowerPoint 2003 come with a manual/book or do I need
to purchase that separately? Any recommendations for a
novice?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Do they make manuals anymore? The Help in PowerPoint is, at times, OK.
Your best bet is probably to peruse PowerPoint books at your local
bookstore (not mine; it's not for beginners) or tutorials online. I'd go
to a physical bookstore and flip through a few books to see which one
seems to work for you.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.loyola.edu/education/PowerfulPowerPoint/

 

[Bill Dilworth, MS PPT MVP]

Not really, but like most computer products it comes with Help files. These
can answer direct questions and, well, sometimes aren't very friendly,
intuitive or provide answers that only a computer geek (like me)
understands. Sometimes they don't even have tutorials, and well ... back to
your question. Yes, I'll make some recommendations

If you want a book, than there is a new one out there that I recently
picked-up. It is called "Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint" (she's one of our own
MVP's). The book is well written and will take you from novice to pro in
short order. I give it a major thumbs up.

There is a book geared more for teachers that also looks pretty good also
called "PowerPoint for Educator's", by D. Marcovitz, although I haven't read
the whole book, the parts I've seen look excellent.

A source of incredable informational wealth is the PowerPoint FAQ at
www.pptfaq.com This answers most of the questions that users run into.
Great stuff. I'd recommend making it a desktop icon shortcut for any
Powerpoint user.

There are also some book series you may be more familar with, PowerPoint for
Dummy's and such.

So the answer to your question is yes and no. There is no manual, but lots
of novice level help available. We are more than happy to answer questions
about problems you are encountering along your growth path, so you might
want to put the newsgroup into your favorites folder, too.

--
Bill Dilworth, Microsoft PPT MVP
===============
Please spend a few minutes checking vestprog2@
out www.pptfaq.com This link will yahoo.
answer most of our questions, before com
you think to ask them.

Change org to com to defuse anti-spam,
ant-virus, anti-nuisance misdirection.
..
..

 

[NoviceUser]

Thank you. It's amazing to me that a basic manual doesn't
come with the software. At one time it was traditional to
have a User Manual and a Reference Guide. How did not
having a User Manual become accepted practice? I'm
thinking of upgrading my software but didn't want to buy
an extra manual (an electronic version of a user manual
would be fine) if that was redundant. Just reading the
help file like a book doesn't seem practical.

 

[NoviceUser]

Thank you. Will follow all the helpful advice.

-----Original Message-----
Not really, but like most computer products it comes with Help files. These
can answer direct questions and, well, sometimes aren't very friendly,
intuitive or provide answers that only a computer geek (like me)
understands. Sometimes they don't even have tutorials, and well ... back to
your question. Yes, I'll make some recommendations

If you want a book, than there is a new one out there that I recently
picked-up. It is called "Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint" (she's one of our own
MVP's). The book is well written and will take you from novice to pro in
short order. I give it a major thumbs up.

There is a book geared more for teachers that also looks pretty good also
called "PowerPoint for Educator's", by D. Marcovitz, although I haven't read
the whole book, the parts I've seen look excellent.

A source of incredable informational wealth is the PowerPoint FAQ at
www.pptfaq.com This answers most of the questions that users run into.
Great stuff. I'd recommend making it a desktop icon shortcut for any
Powerpoint user.

There are also some book series you may be more familar with, PowerPoint for
Dummy's and such.

So the answer to your question is yes and no. There is no manual, but lots
of novice level help available. We are more than happy to answer questions
about problems you are encountering along your growth path, so you might
want to put the newsgroup into your favorites folder, too.

--
Bill Dilworth, Microsoft PPT MVP
===============
Please spend a few minutes checking vestprog2@
out www.pptfaq.com This link will yahoo.
answer most of our questions, before com
you think to ask them.

Change org to com to defuse anti-spam,
ant-virus, anti-nuisance misdirection.
..
..





.

 

[Kathy J]

Bill's kind words are making me blush - Though I am glad that he likes the
book. I like printed material for most things (surprise - that's why I wrote
the book). However, in the process of writing the book I found how hard it
really is to explain some parts of PowerPoint that can be understood better
by doing some "guided learning" than by just reading. Whatever you start
with, make sure that you take the time to play with the tool. You will
probably learn just as much as you do from the reading.

One other note. You will probably find that the on-line PPT classes and the
various sites owned by the frequent posters on this newsgroup will help a
lot too. If you have a problem, use Google or the search engine on any of
the MVP sites to find answers. Of course, you can always ask here and
someone is likely to point you to an existing answer (if it exists).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Featured Presenter at PPT 2004 - http://www.pptlive/com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

 

[TonyRamos]

Hi all,

The advent of the disappearing manual is being discussed here and
there with growing frequency. It was the topic of a long and ranting
blog entry that takes top honors for its title alone: "I would RTFM if
there was an FM to FR"

Feel the heat at http://www.designbyfire.com/000084.html

Just thought I'd share...

Cheers,
Tony

Tony Ramos
Specialist in PowerPoint Presentation Design
http://tonyramos.com
Home of "Tony's PowerPoint Weblog"

Bill's kind words are making me blush - Though I am glad that he likes the
book. I like printed material for most things (surprise - that's why I wrote
the book). However, in the process of writing the book I found how hard it
really is to explain some parts of PowerPoint that can be understood better
by doing some "guided learning" than by just reading. Whatever you start
with, make sure that you take the time to play with the tool. You will
probably learn just as much as you do from the reading.

One other note. You will probably find that the on-line PPT classes and the
various sites owned by the frequent posters on this newsgroup will help a
lot too. If you have a problem, use Google or the search engine on any of
the MVP sites to find answers. Of course, you can always ask here and
someone is likely to point you to an existing answer (if it exists).

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Featured Presenter at PPT 2004 - http://www.pptlive/com

[snip]

 

[Echo S]

Hi all,

The advent of the disappearing manual is being discussed here and
there with growing frequency. It was the topic of a long and ranting
blog entry that takes top honors for its title alone: "I would RTFM if
there was an FM to FR"

Feel the heat at http://www.designbyfire.com/000084.html

Just thought I'd share...

You have the best links, Tony! Thanks. Just the title alone gave me a much needed chuckle. Top honors, indeed!