A Look Inside Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a comprehensive “virtual correspondent” that provides many tools for the SOHO business owner and it is easy to use. You can create a good percentage of your business correspondence and administration by using Microsoft Office.

MS Office really started off as a menu program. As Windows became more sophisticated, MS Office added components to match the evolving use of the personal computer. It is the number one office integration suite in the world and many SOHO’s use some if not all of its components.

Before we review the components of MS Office XP, be aware that there are different versions of MS Office XP. There is the Small Business Version, tailored to SOHO’s and small businesses and then there is Windows XP Professional for middle to large corporations. So if you like a feature in MS Office Windows XP Professional, that same component might not be in Windows XP Business Edition or Small Business Version.

Microsoft Word XP – Microsoft Word XP is one of the leading word processing packages in the world. Next to WordPerfect, it is the most used. MS Word has pre-made templates for letters, memos, faxes and web pages. You can index big documents and create table of contents in MS Word XP with no problem. Mail Merge is important to most small businesses and MS Word XP is flexible in handling mail merge issues. You can merge from almost any data format and it integrates perfectly with MS Office XP.

Microsoft Excel XP – Microsoft Excel XP is the equivalent to the Lotus 1-2-3 program. Lotus 1-2-3 pioneered the use of spreadsheets, which are cells that you can put numeric values into and add up those values as if you were using a calculator. MS Excel XP is more advanced than that because you can do financial reporting and analysis, presentations and build graphic charts that are easy to format.

Microsoft Access XP - Microsoft Access XP is a Structured Query Language database program which means that you can also write program scripts to manipulate databases. Basically, SOHO business owners use this program to input specialized data. The program has templates for invoicing, inventory control and purchase orders as well as templates for special lists. Many databases in this program automatically assign “keys” that can be counters for items, giving them their own identification number.

Microsoft PowerPoint XP – Need to show a client how a product or service works and you want to create a visual representation of what you are talking about? Use Microsoft PowerPoint XP.

MS PowerPoint also comes with templates that are categorized by business or you can create your own template. You can make visuals spin in and out, add sound and voice to the presentations and load different backgrounds from the Microsoft.com site. This is a dynamic program that can make the difference in influencing a customer.

Microsoft Office XP is a dynamic program that many people use. The learning curve is easy. So if you’re looking for a package to handle your back office needs, Microsoft Office XP will do the job.