Microsoft KB Archive/199766

= OFF2000: Controlling How and When the Office Assistant Appears =

Article ID: 199766

Article Last Modified on 11/24/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q199766





SUMMARY
When you run any of the programs included with Microsoft Office 2000 and you use a lower screen resolution (640 x 480 for example), or if you have many windows open, or if your screen is very cluttered, you may find that the Office Assistant is too obtrusive. This article describes how to control how and when the Office Assistant appears.



MORE INFORMATION
All of the programs in Microsoft Office 2000 include the Office Assistant; it is available to help you with questions or problems with Office programs. To ask the Office Assistant a question, click its character and then type your question. If the Office Assistant is not visible, click Show the Office Assistant on the Help menu.

The Office Assistant is always visible by default. To make the Office Assistant appear only when you have a question, follow these steps:  Right-click the Office Assistant and on the shortcut menu, click Options.  On the Options tab, there are a number of check boxes; make your choices as appropriate. The functionality of each check box is described below:   Check box              Functionality ---

Use the Office        If selected, enables the Office Assistant Assistant             wizard. If not selected, disables the Office Assistant.

Respond to F1 key     If selected, pressing F1 displays the Office Assistant and prompts for a question. If                         not selected, pressing F1 displays the Help Topics for the current program.

Help with wizards     If selected, the Office Assistant asks if you want help whenever you use a wizard. Display alerts        If selected, all alerts are shown in "word                          bubbles" by the Office Assistant. If not selected, alerts are shown in normal dialog boxes.

Search for both       If selected, searches for both programming and product and           product Help topics while you work with Visual programming help      Basic for Applications in your program. when programming

Move when in the way  If selected, the Office Assistant moves away from the cursor when you are typing. If not selected, the Office Assistant may hide or                         obscure what you are trying to edit.

Guess help topics     If selected, the Office Assistant guesses the help topics you want to see based on                         your actions.

Make Sounds           If selected, turns on sounds for the Office Assistant.

Using features more    If selected, shows tips for features you may not effectively            know and suggestions on how to better use features you know.

Using the mouse more   If selected, shows tips about how to use the effectively            mouse to get your work done more quickly.

Keyboard shortcuts     If selected, shows the shortcut keys you can use to get your work done quickly.

Only show high         If selected, shows only tips that are considered priority tips          important, such as those that alert you to                           time-saving features. Show the Tip of the    If selected, shows a Tip of the Day when an   Day at startup          Office program starts as an easy way to get familiar with features.  Click OK.

If you want the Office Assistant to display only when you need to ask a question, clear the "Help with wizards", "Display alerts", and "Guess help topics" check boxes. Make sure that the "Respond to F1 key" check box is selected. When you press F1, the Office Assistant appears and prompts you for a question. You can also display the Office Assistant by clicking Show the Office Assistant on the Help menu.

To make the Office Assistant disappear, you can either:
 * Click Hide the Office Assistant on the Help menu.

-or-


 * Right-click the Office Assistant, and then click Hide.

Keywords: kbinfo KB199766

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