D.P. T-Shot Reference Blog

I’d like to think that I’m pretty good at using Microsoft Office. I’ve been using it for years, at work and at home, so over that time I’ve tried to learn more about its different functions. I make use of keyboard short cuts, for instance. And I’m able to dig deep and make use of some of the functionality of the suite which isn’t always readily apparent from the surface. That’s why it pains me so much whenever I come across a problem with this software, which I just can’t seem to solve.

For instance, in the past I’ve had some really annoying Outlook Express problems. Actually, this piece of software isn’t one that I would normally designate as part of the Microsoft Office suite, but I think it’s close enough so that I can make my point. I think I was trying to set it up with a particular account. It seemed like it should be a fairly straightforward process. I was even able to find some step by step instructions on line. So I performed all the tasks which needed to be done, and yet the account still wouldn’t work. I still couldn’t access my email. I think I might have lost days to that particular problem. And in the end, I just basically gave up and moved on.

While I’m a big fan of MS Office, I still think that there’s a lot of room for improvement. For instance, I feel that more PowerPoint instructions should be made available in the help file. There’s so much that can be done with that one piece of software, so it pains me when I see some really awful presentations given, in some really professional environments. No one should have to have difficulty with that software. No one should have to make do with a sloppy looking presentation. I’m thinking that more information and tutorials built in could help change that.