When you think of number-crunching and spreadsheets, you think of Excel, right? After Word, it’s the most popular program in the Microsoft Office suite. But if technical jargon isn’t your first language, you may have found Excel just a teeny bit frustrating. It can be really hard to pick your way through the many features and make Excel do what you need for it to do.

Once you know how, you can use Excel to

Create fill-in-the-blank forms

Prepare expense reports and invoices

Manage all sorts of data

Keep sales and inventory records

Analyze financial data and create forecasts

Present information in charts and graphs

Excel 2003 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies tames the Excel monster. Nine minibooks break things down into manageable, logical sections covering the basics, worksheet design, formulas and functions, worksheet collaboration, charts and graphics, data management, data analysis, working on the Web, and tweaking Excel with a programming language called Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA. In the friendly, plain-English For Dummies style, this book makes it easy to find what you’re looking for and get instructions for doing what you need to do. You’ll be able to

Find your way around Excel’s menus, toolbars, and dialog boxes, and access online help

Format a professional-looking spreadsheet that presents data the way you choose

Edit an existing spreadsheet without disturbing its design or contents

Build Excel formulas and use built-in functions to produce the calculations you want

Share spreadsheet data with other people and programs, and collect comments

Create great-looking charts and find out how to choose the right format to display your data effectively

Use Excel to maintain large amounts of data, then filter the data to extract the information you need

Publish spreadsheets and charts on the Web in HTML format

Explore ways to customize Excel with VBA

Best of all, it’s easy to find what you need in Excel 2003 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. Before you know it, you’ll discover you’ve developed a friendship with Excel that will make your life easier, boost your business, and impress your friends!