How to Help Thyself

Help Apps Help You

The last place some people look for software help is the one nearest at hand: the help system in the app itself. Here's how to make built-in help work for you.

Juggle Windows Like a Pro

How can you arrange to keep a help window and the application it's supposed to assist you with on screen at the same time? The simplest method is to tile the two windows so that they share the display. (A few packages, including Microsoft Office 2000 and XP, do this automatically, though not always very well.) >>TIP To tile the help and application windows yourself, first close all other open windows; then right-click a blank area of Windows' taskbar, and choose Tile Windows Horizontally or Tile Windows Vertically. The two windows will resize so that each occupies half of your display.

Juggle Windows Even Better

Once upon a time, most application help systems provided a slick Stay on Top option that kept the help window in front. Today, few do. >>TIP Try CloudNine Software's TopIt. With this free utility, you can make any window float on top of all others, either for a single Windows session or permanently.

Go By The Bookmark

A gargantuan document such as a help file needs a straightforward bookmark feature. Some apps have just that, but countless others don't--including a profusion of Microsoft products. Try the following workarounds:

>>TIP In programs that use Microsoft's HTML Help--such as Windows 98/Me/2000 and Office 2000/XP--navigate in any help window to the page you'd like to bookmark; then right-click in the page, and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box, select the text in the Address field and press Ctrl -C to copy it (be sure to copy any additional lines that scroll into view as you copy). Open Internet Explorer, click in the Address field, press Ctrl -V to paste the address there, and press Enter. The help page will display in the browser. Choose Favorites, Add to Favorites to file the page in IE just as you would any other bookmark. (Alternatively, you can create a shortcut that launches Help and loads the page in question; see October 2000's Windows Tips for instructions.)

>>TIP If you use Netscape 6.2, right-clicking a Netscape help page reveals a 'Bookmark this Page' option. Great option, if it worked (as it does in version 6.1). There is a way to bookmark help pages in 6.2, though. Almost every help page has one or more 'Return to beginning of section' links. Right-click one and select Open Link in New Window (see FIGURE 1). The Netscape browser will load the page. Now press Ctrl -D to bookmark it, or press Shift- Ctrl -D to store it in any folder (say, one you create called 'Help').

The above tip doesn't work in Netscape Navigator 4.7, but you can still bookmark pages in its NetHelp help system. >>TIP Click the Index icon in NetHelp's right pane, and choose the topic you'd like to bookmark from the list that appears below the icon. Click and drag any link in the right pane out of NetHelp and onto the Bookmarks button on the Navigator toolbar, but don't let go of the mouse button just yet. Hover the link over the Bookmarks button until a menu pops open, and then drop the link into the folder where you want to keep the help page filed. From that point on, when you click this bookmark, Navigator will open NetHelp to the appropriate spot.

Print Your Own Manual

Remember comprehensive software manuals--the kind made out of good, old-fashioned paper? They seem to be as extinct as the late, lamented Australian Buff-Nosed Rat-Kangaroo. But you can fill the void by printing the help files from the applications that you use most often.

Most programs' help systems display their contents arranged by subject in a nested list. Icons that look like little purple books mark major topics. >>TIP To print all the information under one of these topics, right-click the appropriate book icon and select Print. In the resulting dialog box, choose Print the selected heading and all subtopics; then click OK and Print. Office XP applications, like several other programs, put everything in one book, so you can print the whole help system in one step. Others require you to print multiple books separately if you want a hard copy of the entire contents.

Regrettably, this print-a-book technique won't work in Windows XP, in Windows Me, and in other programs that lack a conventional Contents listing. You can still print help pages by topic, though.

Give Clippy the Boot (Really)

When Microsoft was launching Office XP, the company trumpeted that it had fired Clippy (aka Clippit), the loathsome talking paper clip that served as an "Office Assistant" in the suite's help system. Um, not quite. The Office Assistant is usually muzzled by default, but it's just one errant click away from pestering you again. Here's how you can clip Clippy's wings once and for all:

>>TIP In Office XP or 2000, open Control Panel and double-click either Add/Remove Programs or Add or Remove Programs, depending on your version of Windows. In Windows XP, Me, or 2000, select either Microsoft Office or a specific Office program in the 'Currently installed programs' list, and click Change. In Win 98, select the item for Office or a specific app under the Install/Uninstall tab, and click Add/Remove Program. Then follow the wizard to remove the Office Assistant (it may be called 'Clippit'); you'll find it listed under Office Shared Features in the 'Features to install' list. Change its setting to Not Available. (The wizard may ask for the Office CD-ROM, so keep that disc handy.)

>>TIP If you're still using Office 97, Clippy and his cohorts are located in the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Actors folder. The simplest way to quash them is to change the name of that folder--to 'NoActors', for example. From then on, you'll get un-Assisted help.