Microsoft Word Help F1 (pull-down) not enabled

D

Dale Franklin

Okay everybody, this isn't rocket science; sooner or
later you need to click the HELP menu which then gives
various help options ie: index or search capability
(Office Assistant is disabled). When I click the HELP
menu and select the first item which is MS WORD HELP F1,
the hourglass appears for one SECOND then disappears
(HELP not enabled). So I go exploring the MS Office
folder which contains WINWORD.EXE. That same folder
contains another folder, 1033 which looks like contains a
TON of help files (yellow question-mark icons). It
appears all the help files are present: problem is, the
HELP menu doesn't connect to them.

So I uninstalled and reinstalled using the ADVANCED
button where I selected all options (including HELP) were
to be RUN FROM DISK. Same problem (HELP not enabled).
Second, I uninstalled and reinstalled using RUN ALL FROM
DISK. Same problem (HELP not enabled). Thirdly, I
uninstalled and reinstalled using INSTALL ON 1st USE.
When I clicked the HELP button, it asked for the
installation CD, did a short install and then I was sure
it was the solution. Nope; same problem (HELP not
enabled).

This has plagued me everywhere I work (from company to
company) .. until someone desktop support wizard figures
out what the problem is. This applies not only to WORD,
but to EXCEL, & PowerPoint as well. Now I'm at home and
no desktop support wizard.

Many thanks for your thoughts!
 
T

TF

Dale

I'm not sure of the exact details but I think this may be a Windows 'thing'.
IIRC, help is now all HTML and is a separate Windows facility. Try go to
Start and clicking on Help and Support to see if the Windows Help is
working. My guess is that something hasn't been installed in Windows or that
some security feature has been imposed stopping help from working.



: Okay everybody, this isn't rocket science; sooner or
: later you need to click the HELP menu which then gives
: various help options ie: index or search capability
: (Office Assistant is disabled). When I click the HELP
: menu and select the first item which is MS WORD HELP F1,
: the hourglass appears for one SECOND then disappears
: (HELP not enabled). So I go exploring the MS Office
: folder which contains WINWORD.EXE. That same folder
: contains another folder, 1033 which looks like contains a
: TON of help files (yellow question-mark icons). It
: appears all the help files are present: problem is, the
: HELP menu doesn't connect to them.
:
: So I uninstalled and reinstalled using the ADVANCED
: button where I selected all options (including HELP) were
: to be RUN FROM DISK. Same problem (HELP not enabled).
: Second, I uninstalled and reinstalled using RUN ALL FROM
: DISK. Same problem (HELP not enabled). Thirdly, I
: uninstalled and reinstalled using INSTALL ON 1st USE.
: When I clicked the HELP button, it asked for the
: installation CD, did a short install and then I was sure
: it was the solution. Nope; same problem (HELP not
: enabled).
:
: This has plagued me everywhere I work (from company to
: company) .. until someone desktop support wizard figures
: out what the problem is. This applies not only to WORD,
: but to EXCEL, & PowerPoint as well. Now I'm at home and
: no desktop support wizard.
:
: Many thanks for your thoughts!
:
 
M

ML

Almost exactly the same thing happened to me (clicked on
items in index and they wouldn't go anywhere), except that
I have only used the "repair" option, not totally
uninstalled and reinstalled. But just like you my help
function suddenly stopped working. The repair seemed to
reinstall Word (from original disk) but now I have the
office assistant, not a list of topics. All I can do is
hide the assistant.
 
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