Learn Microsoft Office 2019

A comprehensive guide to getting started with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, and Outlook

Linda Foulkes

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781839210617
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Desktop Applications
• Index: Computer Science

Publisher's note: This edition is based on MS Office 2019 and does not make use of the most recent features in MS Office 2021. A new second edition, updated for MS Office 2021 including new topics and the latest productivity feature enhancements for Office web and desktop has now been published.

Key Features

• Explore MS Office to enhance productivity and boost your professional development
• Get up and running with the new and improved features in Microsoft Office 2019
• Discover how to overcome common challenges when working with Office 2019 applications

Book Description

Learn Microsoft Office 2019 provides a comprehensive introduction to the latest versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook. With the help of illustrated explanations, this Microsoft Office book will take you through the updated Office 2019 applications and guide you through implementing them using practical examples.

You'll start by exploring the Word 2019 interface and creating professional Word documents using elements such as citations and cover pages, tracking changes, and performing mail merge. You'll then learn how to create impressive PowerPoint presentations and advance to performing calculations and setting up workbooks in Excel 2019, along with discovering its data analysis features. Later chapters will focus on Access 2019, assisting you in everything from organizing a database to constructing advanced queries. You'll then get up to speed with Outlook, covering how to create and manage tasks, as well as how to handle your mail and contacts effortlessly. Finally, you'll find solutions to commonly encountered issues and best practices for streamlining various workplace tasks.

By the end of this book, you'll have learned the essentials of Office business apps and be ready to work with them to boost your productivity.

What you will learn

• Use PowerPoint 2019 effectively to create engaging presentations
• Gain working knowledge of Excel formulas and functions
• Collaborate using Word 2019 tools, and create and format tables and professional documents
• Organize emails, calendars, meetings, contacts, and tasks with Outlook 2019
• Store information for reference, reporting, and analysis using Access 2019
• Discover new functionalities such as Translator, Read Aloud, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), and data analysis tools that are useful for working professionals

Who this book is for

Whether you're just getting started or have used Microsoft Office before and are looking to develop your MS Office skills further, this book will help you to make the most of the different Office applications. Familiarity with the Office 2019 suite will be useful, but not mandatory.

Section 1: Word

Microsoft Word 2019 is included in Microsoft's latest office desktop productivity suite, Microsoft Office 2019. This part of the book introduces end users to Word 2019, identifying its new features and demonstrating how to use it to create, format, and work with documents. You will cover everything you need to know to start using Word 2019 productively in the workplace, at home, or for certification purposes.

Beyond the basics, you will cover a range of tasks, from working with graphic elements and performing picture corrections to modifying tables and adding references, such as citations and a table of contents. This part of the book also covers the many ways that Word 2019 supports real-time collaboration and the sharing of documents.

Throughout, new features of the application will be highlighted for you, and you'll learn shortcuts to speed up everyday tasks. Once you reach the end of this content, you will have grown your knowledge and skills to an advanced level and will be a pro at creating Word 2019 documents.

In this section, we will cover the following chapters:

• Chapter 1, Exploring the Interface and Formatting Elements
• Chapter 2, Creating Lists and Constructing Advanced Tables
• Chapter 3, Creating Professional Documents
• Chapter 4, Versions, Restrictions, and Comparisons

Exploring the Interface and Formatting Elements

Welcome to the first chapter of Learn Microsoft Office 2019. This chapter will show you how to create, manipulate, and work with documents using Microsoft Word 2019. You'll learn about the interface layout and the ribbon elements, as well as how to customize the default behavior.

We will look at controlling the font attributes, creating a style to speed up the document formatting process, changing the spacing of paragraphs, and looking at the text alignment options. In addition, you will learn how to use Word 2019 to create, print, and review professional-looking documents.

The following list of topics is covered in this chapter:

• An overview of the interface features
• Creating and opening documents
• Selecting, rearranging, and duplicating text
• Setting the printing options
• Formatting text, styles, and paragraphs

The skills mentioned in this chapter are important for building up your confidence to work on the later chapters of this book.

The various interface features we will talk about span across all of the Microsoft Office suite applications and can be accessed and used using the same method shown for Word 2019.

Technical requirements

To understand the contents of this chapter, you should be able to locate and launch the Microsoft Office 2019 applications from the Windows environment.

To benefit from the contents of this book, it is imperative that you are able to follow along with and work through the examples demonstrated in each chapter. The examples used in this chapter can be accessed from https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Learn-Microsoft-Office-2019.

An overview of the interface features

In this overview, you will learn about the elements of the interface and be able to recognize some new features that have been incorporated into the latest update of the desktop versions of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel 2019.

This topic will focus on all three aforementioned applications. The reason for this is that most of their interface features and explanations are identical. Let's browse through the environment and learn about the different elements that make up Office 2019 applications.

The title bar

The title bar area is located at the very top of each program launched on the Windows environment. This bar displays the name of the file you currently have open. Normally, when you launch Microsoft Word, the blank page displayed is titled Document1. This means that you have not yet saved any elements that have been added to the document.

In the following screenshot, Document7 is printed in the title area as this is the seventh blank document that I have opened (this is the same as using the seventh piece of paper from a notebook):

You need to save the current document to keep its changes. The title bar also houses the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) and the program manipulation icons to the right of it.

The QAT

To the left of the title bar, you will find the QAT. This toolbar contains, by default, the save, undo, and redo icons. You can easily add frequently used icons to the QAT by clicking on the small arrow icon that is always present at the rightmost end of the QAT, as shown:

Icons that already display a checkmark next to them indicate that the icon is already an option on the QAT. You simply have to click on the name of the shortcut that you want to add to the QAT.

You can select the More Commands… option, which opens a dialog box that allows you to search for any additional icons from the comprehensive list of Office 2019 commands. The Show Below the Rib...