Microsoft KB Archive/162656

= "Preparing Help File for First Use" Continues to Appear =

Article ID: 162656

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95a
 * Microsoft Office 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office 95a
 * Microsoft Office 95b
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q162656



SYMPTOMS
Each time you run Help, you receive the following message

Preparing Help file for first use

and the Help Topics dialog box appears.



CAUSE
Microsoft Windows 95 displays this message when it builds the Help topics (.gid) file that is based on the Help contents and index (.cnt) file. If the topics file or the contents and index file is missing or damaged, Windows 95 displays the message.



RESOLUTION
To work around this behavior, use the following steps:


 * 1) Use the list of files in the "More Information" section of this article to help you find the topics and contents and index files for the appropriate Help file. The files listed will be stored where ever the Office programs are stored. This could be on a server or locally depending on the type of install you chose during the setup program.

Rename the files by changing the file extension to .old.

For more information about how to perform this task in Windows, see your Windows printed documentation or Windows Help.
 * 1) Run the Setup program. When you are prompted, click Reinstall and continue running Setup. This replaces the files you renamed.



MORE INFORMATION
  Program               Main Help file(s)   Index file      Topics File -

Microsoft Access 97 Acdef80.hlp        Acdef80.cnt     Acdef80.gid Acmain80.hlp       Acmain80.cnt    Acmain80.gid Acnew80.hlp        Acnew80.cnt     Acnew80.gid Acspc80.hlp        Acspc80.cnt     Acspc80.gid Acvba80.hlp        Acvba80.cnt     Acvba80.gid

Microsoft Access 7.0 Msaccdef.hlp       Msaccdef.cnt    Msaccdef.gid Msaccess.hlp       Msaccess.cnt    Msaccess.gid Msjtrclr.hlp       Msjtrclr.cnt    Msjtrclr.gid Vba_acc.hlp        Vba_acc.cnt     Vba_acc.gid Vbaaccsp.hlp       Vbaaccsp.cnt    Vbaaccsp.gid

Microsoft Excel 97 Xlmain8.hlp        Xlmain8.cnt     Xlmain8.gid Vbaxl8.hlp         Vbaxl8.cnt      Vbaxl8.gid

Microsoft Excel 7.0 Mainxl.hlp         Mainxl.cnt      Mainxl.gid Vba_xl.hlp         Vba_xl.cnt      Vba_xl.gid

Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Ppmain8.hlp        Ppmain8.cnt     Ppmain8.gid Vbappt8.hlp        Vbappt8.cnt     Vbappt8.gid

Microsoft PowerPoint 7.0 Powerpnt.hlp       Powerpnt.cnt    Powerpnt.gid

Microsoft Word 97 Wdmain8.hlp        Wdmain8.cnt     Wdmain8.gid Vbawrd8.hlp        Vbawrd8.cnt     Vbawrd8.gid

Microsoft Word 7.0 Winword.hlp        Winword.cnt     Winword.gid Wrdbasic.hlp       Wrdbasic.cnt    Wrdbasic.gid

Additional query words: 7.00a 7.00b 8.00 97

Keywords: KB162656

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