Datasheet

The major features of the help viewer follow:

 Search box: You can enter specific search text in this box. The viewer

stores a list of your text searches for the current help session. Click the

drop-down arrow on the side of the box to view and select an item from the

list if you want to review a previous search result.

 Search button: Click the Search button (or press Enter) to initiate a search

after you enter the search text in the search box. Click the arrow next to

the search button to define the search scope. By default, if your computer

is connected to the Internet, Excel will display help content from an online

source. If possible, you should use this source as your first choice because

Microsoft updates the contents of online help regularly.

If you are offline when you initiate a search, Excel uses help content inter-

nal to your system. You can force Excel to use internal help content always

by clicking the arrow next to the Search button and choosing Offline Excel

Help from the menu.

Whether online or offline, you can narrow you search scope further by

selecting an appropriate option from the Search button menu.

 Search result window: This window displays the results of your search

request. If you use contextual help or enter text in the search box, the

window displays help information specific to the context of the search. If

you use general help, the window displays a list of general help topics in

the form of titled links. Clicking a link displays a new set of links with more

specific titles. Click the specific link title that best matches your search cri-

terion to display detailed information on the topic.

 Status bar: The left side of the status bar (located at the bottom of the help

viewer) displays the current search scope. The right side of the status bar

displays the connection status. You can click in the connection status area

to switch quickly between viewing online and offline help content.

 Maximize/Restore button: Click this button for a full-screen view of the

help window. Click again to restore the window to its previous size.

 Minimize button: Click this button to hide the help viewer window. Click

the Help button on the Windows taskbar (normally located below the Excel

window) to redisplay the viewer.

 Close button: Click this button to close the help viewer.

 Pin button: By default, Excel keeps the help viewer window on top when

you are working in the application. Use the Pin button to control this

behavior. If you “unpin” the viewer, Excel hides the window automatically if

you click anywhere inside the Excel window.

Soliciting Help

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