W
Wai
I would like to express some of my feeling about Office
Help in Office XP.
I find Office XP more difficult to find relevant
information than in previous Office (eg Office 97).
I could say Office XP help is the worst among other
versions of Office.
Several good functions are no longer available in the
latest Office XP.
Heavily criticise on Office XP help!!!!!!!
- Why no "tip" button in Office Assistant
In Office 97, I can simply click on the Office Assistant
to view a tip at leisure.
Now if you wish to view a tip, the only thing you can do
is to wait for the Office Assistant to "bulb".
Also after you viewed the bulb, it will vanish into the
thin air and so you cannot revise the bulb.
Previously, we can click backward to revise them.
Now...
- No whole-text search with highlighting
Unlike the search in WINDOWS XP or previous Office Help,
no search for the text is available in Office help.
Let me explain it with the search of Windows XP.
For example, if you wish to know more about files, you
can simply type "file" in
"Windows XP Help and Support Centre"
It then provide 3 kinds of search results.
1. provide their suggested topics which is relevant
to "file"
2. provide a full-scan of the word "file" on all the help
documents in Wins XP.
Wins XP will try to list all the help documents which
contain the word "file"
Also it will highlight the word "file" in the help
documents for your convenience.
3. Search in Microsoft Knowledge Base
Now what Office Help searcher provide is just 1 & 3,
without 2 which is vital to us!!
For example, if I wish to know the use of "Ctrl+Q" in
Office, I will type "Ctrl+Q" and perform a full scan on
whole text.
However it is no longer available!! Very troublesome!!
If my memory serves me right, previous Office 97 did have
whoel-text search.
Why disable it in the latest version!!!!!!
- no sub-searching within a help document
Some help documents are lengthy.
It is better if we can search within ONE specific help
document or a series of help documents.
A search within document(s) is highly demanded!!!
- no note nor bookmark can be added within a help document
Some help documents offerred by Microsoft can do!
But not for Office Help.
Search for *.hlp for an sample of it.
(Microsoft Windows Help 5.1.2600.1106)
- no real, well-structured index
There is a so-called index in Office XP. But it is not
what we want.
The index is not a normal index of what we prefer.
An idex should be an alphabetical list of names and
topics along with links where they appears in any help
documents
But the index here is somewhat any kind of topic
suggestions (no relevant topics can often be found using
it).
We would like to have an index of Help documents, which
is presented alphabetically.
Search for *.hlp for an sample of it.
(Microsoft Windows Help 5.1.2600.1106)
- no related help topics
After reading a help document, one may wish to know more
about it.
Thus they may turn to other related topics too.
In Office XP, no related help topic is displayed.
That's not a good idea!!
PS: it is true one can try to find some related help
topics from the tree-built help files.
You can just read other help docs in the folder.
But some related information/topics may not be within the
folder (which is sorted by its nature, not its relevancy).
So related help topics are still on demand.
- no explanation of sub-options by ScreenTips
Eg: line-spacing, "multiple pages" in page setup
Very often, ScreenTips (by left-click and then
select "What's this?") even not try to explain what the
options mean/use.
Office assume all users understand something by common
sense.
Don't think you can find answers in Office Help files.
It is usually not.
- no glossary!? (so c-k "nonbreaking space?")
Why not make a glossary in a help file?
So people can know what they mean.
You can hardly search a menaing of it by simply typing
the name in the searcher.
The searcher never provide you such kind sof answers.
An alphabetically-structured glossary will be highly
appreciated.
Help in Office XP.
I find Office XP more difficult to find relevant
information than in previous Office (eg Office 97).
I could say Office XP help is the worst among other
versions of Office.
Several good functions are no longer available in the
latest Office XP.
Heavily criticise on Office XP help!!!!!!!
- Why no "tip" button in Office Assistant
In Office 97, I can simply click on the Office Assistant
to view a tip at leisure.
Now if you wish to view a tip, the only thing you can do
is to wait for the Office Assistant to "bulb".
Also after you viewed the bulb, it will vanish into the
thin air and so you cannot revise the bulb.
Previously, we can click backward to revise them.
Now...
- No whole-text search with highlighting
Unlike the search in WINDOWS XP or previous Office Help,
no search for the text is available in Office help.
Let me explain it with the search of Windows XP.
For example, if you wish to know more about files, you
can simply type "file" in
"Windows XP Help and Support Centre"
It then provide 3 kinds of search results.
1. provide their suggested topics which is relevant
to "file"
2. provide a full-scan of the word "file" on all the help
documents in Wins XP.
Wins XP will try to list all the help documents which
contain the word "file"
Also it will highlight the word "file" in the help
documents for your convenience.
3. Search in Microsoft Knowledge Base
Now what Office Help searcher provide is just 1 & 3,
without 2 which is vital to us!!
For example, if I wish to know the use of "Ctrl+Q" in
Office, I will type "Ctrl+Q" and perform a full scan on
whole text.
However it is no longer available!! Very troublesome!!
If my memory serves me right, previous Office 97 did have
whoel-text search.
Why disable it in the latest version!!!!!!
- no sub-searching within a help document
Some help documents are lengthy.
It is better if we can search within ONE specific help
document or a series of help documents.
A search within document(s) is highly demanded!!!
- no note nor bookmark can be added within a help document
Some help documents offerred by Microsoft can do!
But not for Office Help.
Search for *.hlp for an sample of it.
(Microsoft Windows Help 5.1.2600.1106)
- no real, well-structured index
There is a so-called index in Office XP. But it is not
what we want.
The index is not a normal index of what we prefer.
An idex should be an alphabetical list of names and
topics along with links where they appears in any help
documents
But the index here is somewhat any kind of topic
suggestions (no relevant topics can often be found using
it).
We would like to have an index of Help documents, which
is presented alphabetically.
Search for *.hlp for an sample of it.
(Microsoft Windows Help 5.1.2600.1106)
- no related help topics
After reading a help document, one may wish to know more
about it.
Thus they may turn to other related topics too.
In Office XP, no related help topic is displayed.
That's not a good idea!!
PS: it is true one can try to find some related help
topics from the tree-built help files.
You can just read other help docs in the folder.
But some related information/topics may not be within the
folder (which is sorted by its nature, not its relevancy).
So related help topics are still on demand.
- no explanation of sub-options by ScreenTips
Eg: line-spacing, "multiple pages" in page setup
Very often, ScreenTips (by left-click and then
select "What's this?") even not try to explain what the
options mean/use.
Office assume all users understand something by common
sense.
Don't think you can find answers in Office Help files.
It is usually not.
- no glossary!? (so c-k "nonbreaking space?")
Why not make a glossary in a help file?
So people can know what they mean.
You can hardly search a menaing of it by simply typing
the name in the searcher.
The searcher never provide you such kind sof answers.
An alphabetically-structured glossary will be highly
appreciated.