Friday, November 18, 2005
The first place to go for help in Excel is the Ask a Question box that appears on the right side of the Excel Menu bar. This combo box is your ever-present key to accessing the Answer Wizard, a component of the Excel Help system that tries to respond intelligently to your queries by suggesting related help topics to which you may want to refer.
Although it's called the Ask a Question box, you really don't have to ask a formal question; entering a phrase with key terms will usually do just as well. For example, instead of typing out the formal question, "How do I get my spreadsheet headings to print on every page of my report?" you can simply enter the keyword phrase "print headings."
To use the Ask a Question box to consult the Answer Wizard, follow three easy steps:
Click the Ask a Question box to select whatever text it currently contains.
When you first use the Ask a Question box, it contains the phrase, "Type a question for help." When you click anywhere in this box, Excel selects all of the text in the box so that whatever you begin typing in the box replaces this original text.
Type the keywords or a keyword phrase describing the topic that you want help with in the Ask a Question box.
Whatever you type in the Ask a Question box replaces the original text it contains.
Press Enter to display a pop-up list of possible help topics.
Simply click the topic to open the Help window and display information on one of the help topics listed in the Ask a Question box's pop-up menu. If none of the topics suggested by the Answer Wizard seem to fit the bill, click the See More button at the bottom of the list. If these further topics don't offer a good match, click the Ask a Question box and try using other keywords or more descriptive phrases.
Although it's called the Ask a Question box, you really don't have to ask a formal question; entering a phrase with key terms will usually do just as well. For example, instead of typing out the formal question, "How do I get my spreadsheet headings to print on every page of my report?" you can simply enter the keyword phrase "print headings."
To use the Ask a Question box to consult the Answer Wizard, follow three easy steps:
Click the Ask a Question box to select whatever text it currently contains.
When you first use the Ask a Question box, it contains the phrase, "Type a question for help." When you click anywhere in this box, Excel selects all of the text in the box so that whatever you begin typing in the box replaces this original text.
Type the keywords or a keyword phrase describing the topic that you want help with in the Ask a Question box.
Whatever you type in the Ask a Question box replaces the original text it contains.
Press Enter to display a pop-up list of possible help topics.
Simply click the topic to open the Help window and display information on one of the help topics listed in the Ask a Question box's pop-up menu. If none of the topics suggested by the Answer Wizard seem to fit the bill, click the See More button at the bottom of the list. If these further topics don't offer a good match, click the Ask a Question box and try using other keywords or more descriptive phrases.
