About getting help while you work

To quickly access Help, use the Ask a Question box on the menu bar. You can type questions in this box to quickly find the answers you need.

Note   Not all languages support the Ask a Question box.

Help topics

The Office Assistant automatically provides Help topics and tips on tasks you perform as you work — before you even ask a question. For example, when you write a letter in Microsoft Word, the Assistant can automatically display topics for helping you create and format a letter.

You can customize the Assistant, and decide if you want it to automatically display tips, messages, and alerts, make sounds, move when it's in the way, and guess a Help topic that it thinks you may need.

You can also type a question and the Assistant will display a list of possible matching topics.

Office Assistant tips

The Assistant also displays tips on how to use the features in the Microsoft Office programs more effectively. The light bulb next to the Assistant displays the tip when it's clicked.

Note   In some Microsoft Office XP programs, the Assistant tips are turned off by default.

The different Office Assistants

You can also select a different Assistant that appeals to you and matches the way you work. You can decide how you want the Assistant to work for you. For example, if you prefer using the keyboard to using the mouse, you can have the Assistant display tips on shortcut keys. Because the Assistant is shared by all Office programs, any options you change will apply to the Assistant in your other Office programs as well.

Giving feedback and getting help on the Web

If the correct topic doesn't appear in the Office Assistant balloon, you have the option to click None of the above, look for more help on the Web at the bottom of the list of topics. This displays suggestions on how to phrase a question to the Assistant or how to narrow your search by using keywords. If you still can't find the information you want, you can send feedback to improve future versions of Help and be automatically connected to the Microsoft Office Web site to search for help there.

Note   Not all languages support the Office Assistant.

You can turn the Office Assistant completely off. If you do, Help will be accessed through the Help window.

Using Help

You can access Help in the Help window in several ways:

• View the Table of Contents.
• Type a question in the Answer Wizard about your Microsoft Office program.
• Search for specific words or phrases, or choose from a list of keywords in the Index.

• If you still can't find the Help you want, you can look for more help on the Web.

Note   Not all languages support all features of Help.

The appearance of the Help window

You can change the appearance of the Help topics in the Help window by changing the settings for the font and background color. You can override any or all of the settings, which is useful if you have limited vision.

The Help window shares the same settings for font colors, typefaces, and background colors as the settings for the Web browser that's installed on your computer. Keep in mind that if you change the font and background color of the Help topics in the Help window, the change will also affect the font and background color when you view a Web page in browser.

If you aren't sure what a specific command or button does, or if you want to know more about an option in a dialog box, you can get help through ScreenTips. ScreenTips show information about different elements on the screen.

ScreenTips can be accessed three ways:

• For help with a menu command, toolbar button, or screen region, on the Help menu, click What's This? and then click the area for which you want help.
• For help with a dialog box option, click the question mark in the dialog box, and then click the option.
• To see the name of a toolbar button, rest the pointer over the button; the name appears.

You can connect to the Microsoft Office Web site and other Microsoft Web sites directly from any Microsoft Office program by using the Office on the Web command on the Help menu. For example, you can access technical resources and download free product enhancements — all without leaving the Office program you're working in.

Also, if you find a Help topic that begins with "Web:", the Office Web article will appear in your Help window, and you will have the option to open it in a larger browser window.