office 2003 help file problem

K

Keith G Hicks

How can I turn off the Online help? I prefer to use the offline help. The
only way I know to do this is to invoke help, do a search, stop it and then
set to offline. But this does not stick for the next time. I want it OFF
altogether. The offlline help is more accurate.

Keith
 
K

Keith G Hicks

E

Echo S

Keith G Hicks said:
How can I turn off the Online help? I prefer to use the offline help. The
only way I know to do this is to invoke help, do a search, stop it and then
set to offline. But this does not stick for the next time. I want it OFF
altogether. The offlline help is more accurate.
Click to expand...

Open an Office 2003 program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, whatever) and go to
Tools/Options.

You're looking for a button that says "service options." In Word, it's on
the General tab. Click that button and deselect the stuff listed for Online
Content.
 
B

Bob I

In application Press F1, then click on "Online Content Settings".

OR

Click Help, click Microsoft Office "applicationname" Help, Click Online
Content Settings.

Adjust to taste
 
B

Beth Melton

Hi Keith,

I see you have an answer to your question but I have a suggestion
along with a comment and a question. :)

Suggestion: Set Help to automatically search Office line content first
and then you can manually search Online content if you want. This way
you can have the best of both worlds. :) The Search Results will
display Offiline topics but there will also be a link at the top of
the pane that reads: "For additional and updated content, search
Microsoft Office Online". If you use the link you'll then search
Online help.

Here's how to set Help to automatically Search Offline Help First:
1. On the Help menu, click Customer Feedback Options
2. Select the Online Content category
3. Turn ON: Show Content and links from Microsoft Office Online
4. Turn OFF: Search online content when connected

For more on taming Online Content take a look at this article:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=480

Comment: Online Help content provides a means to obtain updated
content with corrections and additional information so I'm not sure
what you mean by "the offline help is more accurate". Do you mean
you've found errors in the Online content that do not appear in the
Offline Help topic? Or do you mean searching Online content returns
too many search results, such as templates, assistance, and training?

Also, if you want some examples of how Offline content has been
updated then here's an article that may be of interest to you:
"Is Sending Feedback to Microsoft Worth the Effort?"
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=493

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
K

Keith G Hicks

Thanks for the tip. Much apprecated.

Accruacy issue: When I'm in MS Access and I search on something like
"DatePart", when in Online mode it comes up with all sorts of nonsense that
does not apply. I just want the syntax of the function. Offline help gives
me that right at the top.

In addition, I really (and Im sure many would agree) don't understand why MS
keeps fouling up the help for MS Access. It was good in Access 97. Really
bad in Access 2000 and from what I can see in 03 it's even worse. The help
system in MS SQL BOL is great. I really wish MS would go back to that type
of format for the help. It would be a big improvement. It's so easy to find
answers in that system. It seems the more clever MS gets with the help
systems the hard it is to find what you need.

Hi Keith,

I see you have an answer to your question but I have a suggestion
along with a comment and a question. :)

Suggestion: Set Help to automatically search Office line content first
and then you can manually search Online content if you want. This way
you can have the best of both worlds. :) The Search Results will
display Offiline topics but there will also be a link at the top of
the pane that reads: "For additional and updated content, search
Microsoft Office Online". If you use the link you'll then search
Online help.

Here's how to set Help to automatically Search Offline Help First:
1. On the Help menu, click Customer Feedback Options
2. Select the Online Content category
3. Turn ON: Show Content and links from Microsoft Office Online
4. Turn OFF: Search online content when connected

For more on taming Online Content take a look at this article:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=480

Comment: Online Help content provides a means to obtain updated
content with corrections and additional information so I'm not sure
what you mean by "the offline help is more accurate". Do you mean
you've found errors in the Online content that do not appear in the
Offline Help topic? Or do you mean searching Online content returns
too many search results, such as templates, assistance, and training?

Also, if you want some examples of how Offline content has been
updated then here's an article that may be of interest to you:
"Is Sending Feedback to Microsoft Worth the Effort?"
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=493

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
B

Beth Melton

Thanks for taking the time to provide some additional details on the
Help issue.

I know exactly what you are referring to and the Search Results order
it is currently one of the biggest complaints. Your example is a
*great* information, btw. One I can pass along to Microsoft since this
is something they can look into and perhaps correct. (I know they've
had problems with search and are continuing to refine the search
results.)

To expand further for others who may be reading this thread, the issue
is: Searching for "DatePart", without the quotes, in online Help
doesn't include the "DatePart Function" topic in the Search Results
but if you search offline Help it is one of the first topics listed.

FWIW, the concept, incorporating the ability to update Help, is a
feature we've been requesting for years. But they still have some work
to do before we'll ever be happy with it! The MVPs have been providing
feedback on Office 2003 Help for over a year now and I can tell you
Microsoft *is* listening. Now, whether they implement our
requests/concerns remains to be seen. But I do think we'll see some
changes in this area in Office 12 since quite a bit of our feedback
involves redesigning the whole thing. <grin>

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
S

scc r&p

I agree that the help was better offline. You can also pass along that the
index feature was nice on help to be able to search alphabetically and SEE
keywords. Now I can just hope I have the term right, while before, I could
tell as I was typing the word whether or not it was going to work.
 
D

djrose2

Thank you all for the information on how to turn off online help. In the
program I looked for it a long time.

I also miss the Index feature.
 

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