The stupid paperclip

[Jason]

I just wanted to let you animators, programmers, and
database fools that built that useless "help" program.
That it's done nothing but annoy the crap out of me since
I discovered it. It's never helped me, it pop's up at
pointless times, and when I do need it, it dosn't answer
my question. WAY TO SPEND THE MONEY MICROSOFT!!!!

 

[Mark Tangard]

Jason,

Most of us here agree with you. You should be aware that
if you want to send a message to Microsoft, you won't reach
them here. MS staff members post hardly ever post here.

BTW, you can banish the paperclip by locating the folder
on your PC named "Actors" and renaming it to something
else. ("HasBeens" is a perennial favorite.)

 

[Curious George]

Actually, I find Word's help function to be very helpful. Clippy and his
colleagues can easily be banished so that you never have to see them again,
if you don't want to.

I also find these newsgroups to be very helpful, and don't appreciate when
someone wastes my time to spew venom. RTM and get on with your life.

Curious George

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

See http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/TameAssistant.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[sf]

Jason,

Most of us here agree with you. You should be aware that
if you want to send a message to Microsoft, you won't reach
them here. MS staff members post hardly ever post here.

BTW, you can banish the paperclip by locating the folder
on your PC named "Actors" and renaming it to something
else. ("HasBeens" is a perennial favorite.)

Please give me more detailed instructions... I've turned it
off before, but can't get "help" unless it's turned on.

Hate it, hate it, hate it!

TIA

 

[sf]

See http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/TameAssistant.htm

My problem is that I don't ever, ever, ever want to see him.
I can hide him, sure... but I have to summon him up if I
want "help".

"To place the bottle at the back of the bottom drawer of the
old chest of drawers in the garage, next to three dead
spiders and an empty can of WD40

In Control Panel, double-click the 'Add/Remove Programs'
icon. Click the 'Install/Uninstall' tab, and select
'Microsoft Office 97' or . 'Microsoft Office 2000'.

Click 'Add/Remove...'. Insert the Office 97 CD and click
'OK'.

Click 'Add/Remove...' and clear the 'Office Assistant' check
box.

Click 'Continue' and 'OK'. "

Does that mean there is no HELP at all or no Help Assistant?
Does it work this way in later versions of Office?

 

[Mark Tangard]

As I recall in Office 97 all you have to do when he comes up
is right-click him, click Options, and then UN-check the box
that says "Use the Office Assistant." At that point pressing
F1 or clicking Help-> MS Word Help opens up no-paperclip help.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Getting rid of the Office Assistant just allows you to access Help directly.
When you press F1, you get the Help index instead of Clippie.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[sf]

As I recall in Office 97 all you have to do when he comes up
is right-click him, click Options, and then UN-check the box
that says "Use the Office Assistant." At that point pressing
F1 or clicking Help-> MS Word Help opens up no-paperclip help.

Nope. That just hides him. When you do a more drastic
measure to try to get rid of it, you can't get "help" until
you summon the "genie".... in my experience.

 

[sf]

Getting rid of the Office Assistant just allows you to access Help directly.
When you press F1, you get the Help index instead of Clippie.

So, it's got to by F1 and you can't just click "help"?
I don't use F keys.

 

[Mark Tangard]

Of course you can "just click Help." But if you look at the
menu that drops down when you do that, you'll see you must
click again to reach the helpfiles. I should think that just
whacking the F1 key once (tough to miss since on most KBs it's
located at the end of a bank of keys) would be preferable to
pointing at a menu, clicking it, and then clicking one of its
choices, but if you'd rather do those three Therbligs than one,
there's nothing to stopping you.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In Word 97 all that is required is to rename the Actors folder. I myself
used OverActors, but others used Ham Actors, Bad Actors, etc.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[sf]

Of course you can "just click Help." But if you look at the
menu that drops down when you do that, you'll see you must
click again to reach the helpfiles. I should think that just
whacking the F1 key once (tough to miss since on most KBs it's
located at the end of a bank of keys) would be preferable to
pointing at a menu, clicking it, and then clicking one of its
choices, but if you'd rather do those three Therbligs than one,
there's nothing to stopping you.

I'm not an old Word Perfect user.... well, actually yes I am
(but I wasn't very good at it) and I absolutely HATED using
F keys for anything. Give me a drop down menu and I'm
happy.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

I'm not an old Word Perfect user.... well, actually yes I am
(but I wasn't very good at it) and I absolutely HATED using
F keys for anything. Give me a drop down menu and I'm
happy.

Well, actually, you can add the Help icon to the toolbar, and "just click"
only one thing.

 

[sf]

Well, actually, you can add the Help icon to the toolbar, and "just click"
only one thing.

Help icon?

 

[Mark Tangard]

He means:

- Click Tools­> Customize
- With the Customize box still open, click the Help menu.
- Drag the 'MS Word Help" menu item to a spot on the toolbar.
- Close the Customize dialog

 

[sf]

He means:

- Click Tools­> Customize
- With the Customize box still open, click the Help menu.
- Drag the 'MS Word Help" menu item to a spot on the toolbar.
- Close the Customize dialog

If that means no "Clippy" or "kitten" or "dog".... I'm all
over it, because they are particularly annoying on the XP at
work.

 

[Mark Tangard]

Why not try it out first and whine about it after, if needed?
It's not like anyone here is try to force the Assistant upon
you or has any power to affect the design.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

If that means no "Clippy" or "kitten" or "dog".... I'm all
over it, because they are particularly annoying on the XP at
work.

No, you still have to turn the assistant off somehow, putting Help on the
toolbar just saves you the three clicks that Mark was saying were the
alternative to hitting F1 (that's all I was responding to).

But in fact, (being nitpicky here I just realized what I (she) meant was
adding the little picture with a ? on it to the toolbar, not the actual menu
item, which would be Tools | Customize, Commands tab, select Window and Help
in left column, find Help icon, drag it to toolbar. Or just drag it off the
Standard Toolbar. As I suggested before, sf, I really think playing around
in the Tools | Customize dialog would lead you to a lot of things you would
find useful, and it's simpler than writing macros.

DM

 

[Mark Tangard]

If you drag directly from the menu to the toolbar (which you
can do, and which is often easier than using the Command list)
you *do* get the little '?' button, not the actual menu text.

MT