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So you’re working in your Microsoft® Office program, maybe adding the finishing touches to a presentation, creating a chart, or sending an e-mail message, and you have a question about how to accomplish your task. What do you do? Where do you go first? Who can help? Before you call on your neighbor, co-worker, granddaughter, brother-in-law, friend or acquaintance for help, check out the helpful resources you have at your fingertips.

What's new about getting help in Office?

From within any Office 2003 program, you can search for help on Microsoft Office Online, a Web site that offers many additional resources to help you get your work done in Office. Content on this site is updated regularly and relies on feedback from you and others who use Office to address specific requests and issues. You can visit Microsoft Office Online directly from within your Web browser, or use the links provided in various task panes (task pane: A window within an Office program that provides commonly used commands. Its location and small size allow you to use these commands while still working on your files.) and menus in your Office program to find helpful articles, templates, online training, and more. With this variety of help available to you from within your Office program, there are also a number of ways to find it.

Just type your question

The quick place to go is the Type a question for help box, located at the top right of your program, on the menu bar. Type your question. A very specific search with 2-7 words will return the most accurate results. The results of your search are returned in the Search Results task pane in order of relevance. The most likely answer to your question appears first in the list. You can identify the type of content visually by the icon that appears next to the title. For example, a blue circle with a white question mark inside appears next to a Help topic title.

Click the link in the Search Results task pane that is the most likely answer to the qustion you typed in the Type a question for help box or the Search box.

When you click a link in the Search Results task pane, the content opens in the Help window (if the content is a Help topic or a Web article), in the Template Preview window (if the content is a template), or in your Web browser (browser: Software that interprets HTML files, formats them into Web pages, and displays them. A Web browser, such as Windows Internet Explorer, can follow hyperlinks, transfer files, and play sound or video files that are embedded in Web pages.) (if the content is a Web page.)

You can also browse the available help topics by clicking the Table of Contents link in the <Program Name> Help task pane (click Microsoft <Program Name> Help on the Help menu.) Click the appropriate links (books) until you find the topic you are after.

Choose where you want to search and what you want to search for

For more control over the type of help you want to search for, you can use the Search Results task pane. The Search Results task pane opens when you search from the Type a question for help box or the Search box (<Program Name> Help task pane.) You can also open the Search Results task pane directly by clicking the Other Task Panes list at the top of the task pane, and then clicking Search Results in the list of task panes.

Use the Search scope drop-down list in the Search Results task pane to restrict the type of search results you want. For example, to return templates only, select Templates in the Search scope drop-down list.

About Microsoft Office Online

Microsoft is constantly adding new and updated information to Microsoft Office Online in response to customer feedback. The search index on Office Online is also updated periodically to help you find what you're looking for. To access all of the Help topics, templates, training, articles, and clip art available on Microsoft Office Online, you must have access to the Internet.

Benefits of working with an Internet connection

When you work online (with an Internet connection), you have access to Help topics, templates, training, articles, and clip art from Microsoft Office Online to help you as you work in Office. These resources are available from the Search Results task pane when you search for content, as well as from links in various other task panes in your Office program. Additional resources available to you when you have an Internet connection are:

• Links to Microsoft Office Online   Direct links to Microsoft Office Online, and to Assistance, Training, and Templates on Microsoft Office Online.
• Template Help  Specific help for templates that you download.
• Office featured links  A dynamic list of hyperlinks that provides you with up-to-date information from Microsoft Office Online that will help you increase your productivity with Office and provide you with the answers to questions frequently asked about Office. These links appear on the Getting Started and the <Program Name> Help task panes.

Content that is only available online

When you search for help in your Office program, the following content on Microsoft Office Online is only available when you are working online:

• Assistance  Up-to-date information in the form of how-to articles, conceptual topics, columns, and tips to answer your questions about using Office 2003 programs to get your work done. (Help topics are available when you work offline, however more content is available when you work online.)
• Templates  Predesigned templates including calendars, business cards, invoices, resumes, newsletters, marketing materials and much more to download and use with your Office programs.
• Training  Training courses to learn more about using Office 2003 programs to get your work done. Training courses cover feature or activity areas in Office and allow you to discover features and learn best practices for using the products. Courses are short (20-50 minutes), self-paced, and include graphics, animation, audio, and practice sessions for hands-on experience.
• Clip Art and Media  Clip art, sounds, animations, photos to download and use with Office 2003. (Clip art, sounds, animations, and photos are available when you work offline, however a greater selection is available when you work online.)
• Office Marketplace  Third-party products and services that work with Office 2003.

Show all the help you want, and only the help you want

So, now that you know the benefits of searching online, check each of the following items to return all the online content available to you when you search:

• Internet connection  If you have an Internet account through an Internet service provider (ISP), make sure you are connected.
• Online content settings  To check your online content settings, do the following:
  1. On the Help menu, click Microsoft <Program Name> Help to display the <Program Name> Help task pane.
  2. Under See also in the task pane, click Online Content Settings.
  3. In the Service Options dialog box, make sure the Show content and links from Microsoft Office Online check box is selected, and select any additional online content check boxes you want.
• Search scope   If you have an Internet connection and are showing online content, you can expand your search scope to include templates, training, clip art, and other online content, by clicking Microsoft Office Online in the Search list in the Search Results task pane.

However, if you are overwhelmed by the number or types of answers you receive, you can limit the amount or type of content returned by doing one of the following:

Limit your search scope

• To return offline Help topics only, click Offline Help in the Search list in the Search Results task pane.
• To return online Help topics and Web articles only, click Assistance in the Search list in the Search Results task pane.

The search scope will always return to the default (Microsoft Office Online if you have an Internet connection) when you start your Office program. To change the default to search offline Help topics, do the following:

Show offline content

To set your preferences for using Microsoft Office Online content, do the following:

1. On the Help menu, click Microsoft <Program Name> Help to display the <Program Name> Help task pane.
2. Under See also in the task pane, click Online Content Settings.
3. In the Service Options dialog box, do one or more of the following:
   • To show offline Help topics first when searching, clear the Search online content when connected check box.
   • To show offline Help topics only and to turn off all links to Microsoft Office Online, clear the Show content and links from Microsoft Office Online check box.

 Note    These settings apply to all of your Office programs, however they will not take effect in any open Office program until you restart the program.

Tips for better search results

The following list may help when you can't find the answer you're looking for:

• Check your spelling.
• Type a few more search words. A very specific search with 2-7 words will return the most accurate results.
• Rephrase your question. The search engine is regularly updated based on the terms people use in a search but may not recognize the terms you are using yet.
• Make sure you are connected to the Internet and then perform your search again. Searching online provides you with a greater selection and variety of content to help you get your work done in Office. To search online, select Microsoft Office Online in the Search scope drop-down list. If the Microsoft Office Online scope is not available, click Online Content Settings in the <Program Name> Help task pane, and then select the Show content and links from Microsoft Office Online check box.
• Select a specific scope in the Search scope drop-down list. For example, if you are only looking for templates, select Templates in the Search scope drop-down list.
• (online only) If you see a result that is close to what you are looking for, you can click a category link for that result to get a list of similar results. For example, click the category link Help>Managing Files to return a list of articles with information about working with files.
• (online only) If you don't see a result that is close to what you are looking for, you can ask your question in an Office Community. Click Get answers from other users in the Other places to look section in the Search Results task pane to search for topics in an Office discussion group (discussion group: A place on the Internet where people interact by posting and reading messages about topics that are of interest to them and the rest of a community.) that will answer your question.

Examples of good searches

how do I set a background image

training on excel macros

create a time sheet

Examples of searches that may not return the results you want

document (too generic)

someone@example.com (not a question)