Datasheet
Understanding the Excel Help System
With every new release of Office, it seems that Microsoft revamps the Help system. Office
2007 is no exception. The new Help system (officially known as the Help Viewer) is radi-
cally different from the previous one, and in fact uses completely different technology.
A new aspect of Office 2007 is its Supertip feature. When you hover your mouse over
a command on the Ribbon, you see a pop-up description of what that command does.
Figure 24-1 shows an example of a Supertip.
Figure 24-1: A pop-up Supertip describes each Ribbon command.
But the real Help content is found in the Help Viewer window. The following notes help
familiarize you with the Excel 2007 Help system:
•
The Excel 2007 Help system has a single entry point (no more Help menu, with various
options). To display Excel Help, press F1 or click the round question mark icon below
the Excel title bar.
•
The Help content resides in two places: on your hard drive and on a Microsoft Web
server. The lower-right corner of the Help window displays the status in a button: either
Offline (shows content only from your computer) or Connected to Office Online (shows
content from the Web). You can change the status by clicking the button and making your
choice. In some cases, using the Online option gives you more up-to-date information.
•
Connecting to Office Online displays additional content that’s not available when you
choose the Offline option. Specifically, you can search for templates or training materi-
als. Figure 24-2 shows the option in the drop-down Search button list.
Tip 24: Understanding the Excel Help System
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