2008 Word Help written by sadistic child?

[Bill Weylock]

If that sounds harsh, you should ask me what I REALLY think.

I find it stupefyingly infuriating that there is no longer a manual for Word
written so that someone who might like to learn about a topic could possibly
read it.

I understand why a print version makes no sense. I would prefer digital.

But in what kind of drunken midnight meeting could the current help files be
deemed acceptable?

Here is just one example.

I figured maybe this ³spike² thing would be useful to me since I am going
through a transcript gathering quotes to be inserted into a long report. So
why not read up on it, as I have neglected to do in the past, see how it
really works, and decide whether to use it?

I go into Help (pardon the expression), enter ³spike² as a search term. I
get ³Word keyboard shortcuts.²

Okay, I figure, maybe they¹ll discuss it under the shortcut. Ha!

I get a list of all keyboard shortcut categories. I go to Edit Text and
Objects, scroll down.... (luckily I know a little bit about what spike
is/does, or I would still be looking for it). Sure enough, there is a
keyboard shortcut, and Spike is in blue. So I click on it and get a
definition.

How to use it? Parameters? Where to learn more? Nope.

I go to Autotext. There is nothing.

This is all too familiar.

Luckily I¹ve been using Word so long that I remember the manuals that taught
me how to do basic things. Since the updates have been cynically trivial for
many years, I still know a lot.

But no wonder the traffic in these usenet groups is off the chart! How is
anyone who really wants to learn Word supposed to do that? Word for Dummies?

This is abdication of responsibility. Microsoft owes users a manual that
tells us how to use the bloody program! This drooling happy talk in the help
modules would be tolerable if it eventually would yield answers. But oh boy
am I upset. Maybe you picked up on that?

I feel better, but in all seriousness, this is really not good corporate
behavior. Someone should hold them to account.

In days gone by MS was filled with people who could communicate and who
seemed to enjoy doing so.

Now the websites are a mess, the knowledgebase is a vile sewer of outdated
poorly linked information that seems to think a Mac Word user would be
interested in cute tips for Word 2000, and the online services are a jungle.
Anyone ever try to use Office Live?

What is going on with this company? Can¹t they afford five technical writers
who could probably sort through all of this in about 6 months?

Or do they really not care?

I know that the tech support people care. I know some of them (probably all)
are frustrated with the sad state of the consumer knowledgebase articles and
indexing.

But what will it take to make people with budget spend it on making the
programs easy to understand in all the twists and turns? Don¹t corporate
customers raise H about this???


Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Thoughts of drunken midnight meetings also frequently rush through my
mind. I encourage you to copy and paste your comment into Help | Send
Feedback.

HOWEVER, one huge functional improvement. You can now send
topic-specific feedback on Help. Make sure Online Help is on--and I have
noticed that Offline Help appears to have essentially NOTHING in it, so
you want Offline Help on if possible anyhow.

At the bottom of each topic, there is a "Did this Help" button. Click
Yes, No, or Somewhat, and you can send feedback. For totally missing
topics, I tend to select "No" and then "not what I expected" and then
say "This is the first hit on "spike", yet it says nothing about it.
There needs to be a Help topic that explains the spike."

By the way, where is this spike command? I have a vague recollection of
it, but seem to have lost it in Word 2008.

Daiya

 

[Bill Weylock]

I couldn¹t find it either, but I think there is a shortcut key for pasting.
No information at all on how to use it to copy stuff, how it is stored, good
usage practice ... Do you remember the Word manual for 5.x? It was a marvel.
You could actually read it and understand a topic completely. When they
first went to online documentation, I think it was still pretty good. Now
they seem to think that Office users are air heads or something.

As for feedback, Daiya, I would do it for you. But it¹s unfortunately hard
to imagine that people who let things come to this pass will really care.
It¹s also hard to imagine that people who know how to write technical
documentation would need my help in deciding how to do their jobs. It¹s just
going to take work and money.

I have another peeve coming soon.

Thoughts of drunken midnight meetings also frequently rush through my
mind. I encourage you to copy and paste your comment into Help | Send
Feedback.

HOWEVER, one huge functional improvement. You can now send
topic-specific feedback on Help. Make sure Online Help is on--and I have
noticed that Offline Help appears to have essentially NOTHING in it, so
you want Offline Help on if possible anyhow.

At the bottom of each topic, there is a "Did this Help" button. Click
Yes, No, or Somewhat, and you can send feedback. For totally missing
topics, I tend to select "No" and then "not what I expected" and then
say "This is the first hit on "spike", yet it says nothing about it.
There needs to be a Help topic that explains the spike."

By the way, where is this spike command? I have a vague recollection of
it, but seem to have lost it in Word 2008.

Daiya

Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2

 

[Bill Weylock]

Daiya -

I did it. Changed a few ³they¹s² to ³you¹s² and slammed in there.

I had the idea that I really could use this ³spike² thing, which (apparently
like you) I only vaguely recalled from 2004). But I will live without it.
Thanks for the sympathy.

Thoughts of drunken midnight meetings also frequently rush through my
mind. I encourage you to copy and paste your comment into Help | Send
Feedback.

HOWEVER, one huge functional improvement. You can now send
topic-specific feedback on Help. Make sure Online Help is on--and I have
noticed that Offline Help appears to have essentially NOTHING in it, so
you want Offline Help on if possible anyhow.

At the bottom of each topic, there is a "Did this Help" button. Click
Yes, No, or Somewhat, and you can send feedback. For totally missing
topics, I tend to select "No" and then "not what I expected" and then
say "This is the first hit on "spike", yet it says nothing about it.
There needs to be a Help topic that explains the spike."

By the way, where is this spike command? I have a vague recollection of
it, but seem to have lost it in Word 2008.

Daiya

Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

As for feedback, Daiya, I would do it for you. But it’s unfortunately
hard to imagine that people who let things come to this pass will
really care. It’s also hard to imagine that people who know how to
write technical documentation would need my help in deciding how to do
their jobs.

Well, I don't know. I actually feel that identifying little flaws in
Help by sending topic feedback here and there might produce a to-do list
that will get done, resulting in real if minor improvement (probably
very slowly), but not depending on vision from a leadership about what
Help should be. If that makes sense. So I live in eternal hope--plus,
snapping them topic-specific feedback lets me blow off some steam.

And you aren't telling them how to do their jobs--you are saying "I had
question X, and Help did not answer it". They'll decide where to go from
there. It's entirely possible that there's some crackhead notion out
there that putting too much information in Help overwhelms the end-user.
Again, I think the only way to counteract that is to let them know the
specific moments at which a customer suffered by not having the information.

Daiya

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bill:

The Spike is Command + F3, Command + Shift + F3.

See here:
http://kb.iu.edu/data/aggk.html

Cheers

Daiya -

I did it. Changed a few ³they¹s² to ³you¹s² and slammed in there.

I had the idea that I really could use this ³spike² thing, which (apparently
like you) I only vaguely recalled from 2004). But I will live without it.
Thanks for the sympathy.




Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Bill Weylock]

Does that mean I can¹t complain anymore?

Thanks! Brilliant site!


Best,


- Bill

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Does that mean I can’t complain anymore?

There will always be something new to complain about, with Word.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bill:

Yes!!!

But if ever the Microsoft Office Clipboard finds its way onto the Mac, *I*
will HELP you complain

Cheers

Does that mean I can¹t complain anymore?

Thanks! Brilliant site!


Best,


- Bill

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]