I've found the best way to pickup something is to actually do it while I'm reading. Too often you do not see pictures in the manual to illustrate a point, command, etc. Too often the writer is not actually capable of providing a good written description. In fact it appears many manuals are written by people who are indeed not using the program when they are writing about it. Perhaps that explains why so many manuals are useless. You wouldn't find so many mistakes if the author was actually "writing and doing" at the same time. A good tutorial author will do just that. If you use an "on-screen" manual, you have a couple choices. You can shrink each screen so you can see both at the same time. Or you can click back and forth between the manual and the program. I don't like either of those choices. Yes, that is a personal preference.