This is an outstanding learning and reference book for practitioners who work (or desire to work) in Microsoft Office programming. Having reviewed three other books of the same genre in the past few years, I can state with certainty that this is the best of them. It is comprehensive, easy to read, and provides excellent examples of Visual Basic code for multiple programming tasks. It covers programming for Word, Excel, Outlook, and InfoPath. It provides information on basic tasks, and also discusses the programming of such advanced topics as Windows forms, the Action Pane, smart tags, data programming, server data scenarios, code security, and Extensible Markup Language (XML). The extensive experience of the authors, in working with Office at Microsoft, shows in their in-depth coverage of the many topics covered in the book.

This is not a book for beginners: it assumes readers have a broad knowledge of programming, primarily in Visual Basic. It would also not be usable as a text for college-level courses, because of the lack of end-of-chapter questions and assignments. Although the book uses Visual Basic 2005, it uses is Office 2003. I highly recommend this book for programmers who want to upgrade to VB.NET, or who want to extend their knowledge in programming Office applications.