McGraw Hill - How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Access 2003

Ask the Office Assistant

If you want a little variety, you can activate the Office Assistant by choosing Help | Show the

Office Assistant. When the assistant appears, click on the character to open a balloon asking

“What would you like to do." Type your question in the balloon and click Search. This functions

much like typing your question in the Ask a Question box. You’ll see a list of relevant topics in

the same Search Results task pane as before and you can choose one to open the Help window.

If you have not installed the Office Assistant, you will see a dialog box asking whether you

want to install it now. Click Yes and you will be prompted to insert the Microsoft Office CD.

To remove the Office Assistant from the screen, choose Help | Hide Office Assistant or

right-click the character and choose Hide from the shortcut menu. If you get tired of the paper

clip, you can choose from six other characters. See Chapter 13 for information about customizing

the Office Assistant and other features of the Access workplace.

Ask What’s This.

Most of the Access dialog boxes include the What’s This. tool, which gives you quick and short

information about a specific element or choice in the box. Activating the What’s This. help

feature is a two-step process. First, click the . button in the dialog box title bar. The mouse

pointer changes to an arrow accompanied by a question mark. Then, click the element you want

to know more about.

To return the mouse pointer to its normal state without openingWhat’s This., press

ESC

Get Help with What You’re Doing

Without opening the Help window, Access gives you many hints and clues while you’re working.

The status bar offers information about the current activity or position of the cursor. Many design

windows include hint boxes that tell you about aspects of the design. Other windows and dialog

boxes include samples or previews of the selections made.

For example, when you are working in the table Design window, status bar information tells

you how to move around the Design view and get help. The hint box on the right describes what

should appear in the Field Name column.

CHAPTER 1: Get Acquainted with Access 2003

HowTo-Tght (8) / How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office Access 2003 / Andersen / 222938-1 / Chapter 1

P:\010Comp\HowTo8\938-1\ch01.vp

Thursday, August 07, 2003 6:26:43 PM

Color profile: Generic CMYK printer profile

Composite Default screen