Press releases

"Excel Annoyances": A Cure for Excel Angst

Press release: January 10, 2005

Sebastopol, CA--"There's a lot of accumulated Excel angst out there," says Curtis Frye, author of the new Excel Annoyances (O'Reilly, US $24.95). "But you don't have time for nail biting. You need solutions now. The faster you can navigate around the roadblocks, the faster you can make good decisions, earn that bonus, get promoted to partner, retire with full salary, and never use Excel again."

Toward that end, Frye delivers Excel Annoyances, the key to fixing all the problems that most annoy Excel users. In this, his seventh book on Excel, author, Excel guru, and professional improvisational comedian Frye comes to the rescue of the many users who are "at their wits' end because of some Excel 'feature,' bug, quirk, flaw, or just plain dumb design decision," as he observes.

Microsoft Excel is the must-have spreadsheet program that's used for everything from running Little League teams to managing the budgets and forecasts of businesses all over the planet. But with such power comes perils: date formats that mysteriously change, lists that won't sort properly, formulas with tangled references, endless recalculations, and charts that refuse to be labeled.

Based on real-world gripes from Excel users around the globe, Excel Annoyances tackles the frustrations, inconsistencies, limitations, and hidden features found in Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. It also guides readers to useful utilities, web sites, and other resources that are likely to make their lives easier.

Divided into practical, logical chapters dedicated to topics like data entry, formulas, formatting, exchanging data, printing, charts, macros/VBA, and more, this fully illustrated, entertaining guide is brimming with smart and simple fixes for most every annoyance users encounter. It covers:

  • Handling faulty formats, using conditional formats, and exporting/importing with ease
  • Making formulas snap by using arrays and names ranges, and troubleshooting wonky references
  • Sorting and filtering like a pro, using lookups, and mastering PivotTables
  • Creating and manipulating charts
  • Printing reports the intended way
  • Moving data to and from Access, SQL databases, and the Web
  • From eliminating Clippy, to using if-then statements, to bringing up the magic 8-ball, the fixes, tools, and tips in Excel Annoyances will help readers make Excel do precisely what they want it to--and plenty more they never considered--as they customize Excel inside and out.

    Additional Resources:

    Excel Annoyances
    Curtis Frye
    ISBN: 0-596-00728-0, 235 pages, $24.95 US, $46.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

    About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

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