In my defence, I went on a one day course in Word when I first used the program some 15 years ago. We spent a lot of time covering things like mail merges, which I was never likely to use, but I did learn a lot that was relevant. Most of which I've long since forgotten. It would probably be more helpful to get our resident Word experts to give the team a 30 minute masterclass on most helpful Word techniques – such as shortcuts and tabs.

The other issue is that we're facing complexity in all aspects of our lives. Thirty years ago, the idea that a telephone would come with an instruction manual would have been regarded as crazy. Now our landlines and mobiles come with hefty guides. That's before you consider your car stereo, the DVD player, digital camera…

Small wonder we're burying our heads in the sand.

It is also worth noting that keyboard short cuts are consistent across applications, so that Control-C is always (well almost always…) the Copy command.

My get out clause there is that as long as other members of my team are able to take what I've done and polish it, then all is well.

(also doesn't help that my kit at home is mac – and always has been – while nearly every PR firm known to man uses PCs.)

Its not sad, any more than learning how to sharpen a pencil or tie a shoe lace.

I am now reacting to PR people who say that its technical, its got numbers in it, its not what I came into PR to do and all the pretence that this is about computer programming and quantum physics.

Any engineer can set up a blog or click 'edit' on a wiki or embed a video into PowerPoint and it was never part of their training. So what is the excuse to processional communicators?

If a good part of PR is about communication, then knowing how to use communications tools is part of the job.

I am with you Bruce.

Because most people don't seem to know what is possible, they don't identify a need for help and just muddle through.

Also, because the end product may look okay (printed or as a pdf), they don't realise there are easier and quicker ways to produce documents.

I used to create easy-peasy guides for colleagues – especially showing them keyboard shortcuts.

My personal hate is when someone doesn't know how to force a page break and so uses the "carriage return" (sorry, I am a trained typist starting on manual machines – when you had to calculate how to centre a line).

I think Powerpoint is the worst though when people don't realise the benefits of style sheets. I've spent many an hour working on conferences putting every presentation into a consistent format using a style sheet.

Even when this has been distributed in advance, few seem to know how to use it. Mind you, there are still those who think it is cool to have lines wizz in from off-screen often with a sound-effect.

I'm just giving it some thought as to why – and here goes: I think all these packages have slowly seeped their way into my work life during my 17 year career.

At first they were pretty basic as was my understanding. We didn't even know how long they'd be around.

No one ever trained me – or even suggested I train myself. Just one day I had to do a document using this in and I coped with it the best I could. I suppose I have been coping with it ever since.

Not an excuse, just an explanation. However, you have inspired me. I'll use the Help feature more from now on.

However, somebody, somewhere. Whether it is schools, colleges or employers should be offering proper training in Office applications. People will always claim that they can use these packages. If you want them to use them better than perhaps you ought to offer training.