Simple question about weird behavior of the HELP window in Excel

[PeterSLangston]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Whenever I click on the Excel Help item on the Help menu in Excel,
a help window appears in a fixed position, on top of all other windows, with no CLOSE button...! There are some button across the top, left and right arrows, a HOME button, Search, Contents, Index, etc. but no close button.

I can find no reliable way to make the Help window disappear!

I say "reliable" because sometimes (not always) Command-W will make it disappear; other times Command-W will only make my current Excel file window close.

How can I close the Help window in Excel?

It should be the simplest thing in the world, but...

Thanks for any help you can give me...
Best,
Peter

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

How can I close the Help window in Excel?

It should be the simplest thing in the world, but...

You're right, it should be, but XL04 isn't designed that way, and I
don't know any way of modifying that behavior.

XL08 *is* designed correctly in that respect - if the Help window has
focus, CMD-w will close it.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Peter;

John's right -- the Help window in 2004 is a royal PITA , but I don't
understand why you say "no CLOSE button" & "no reliable way".

The leftmost of the 3 circular "stoplight" buttons above those you describe
at the left end of the Help window's Title Bar dismisses the window. Also,
if you do want to keep the Help window displayed it isn't "fixed" -- you can
use its Title Bar to drag it around & it has the typical sizing control at
its lower right corner. IOW, it's like most any other window except that it
does dominate the foreground.

If these devices aren't appearing or aren't working for you further
examination is warranted so please indicate your exact update levels for
Office & OS X should you need further help.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[PeterSLangston]

J.E. & Bob,
Thanks for your replies, BUT -- I don't think you get what I'm saying.
Once the help window is up, it's up until you exit Excel, and it covers everything under it, which is pretty much everything.
+ There is no "close this window" circular stoplight button.
So you can't close the window.
+ There is no "drag here" Title Bar border...
So you can't move it away.
I'd be happy to append a screen shot of Excel with the help window so you can grasp the concept of a window without a Title Bar, but I can't see how to do that in this forum, so you'll just have to use your imaginations... Without a Title Bar there's no way to dismiss the Help window, so once it's up, Excel is useless! This is not an inconvenience; it's a fatal problem.
Is there any work-around for this?
Best,
Peter
p.s.
If you tell me where to put the sreen shot I'll gladly do it... For the moment you can see it at <http://www.langston.com/XLHelp.jpg>

 

[JE McGimpsey]

J.E. & Bob,
Thanks for your replies, BUT -- I don't think you get what I'm saying.
Once the help window is up, it's up until you exit Excel, and it covers
everything under it, which is pretty much everything.
+ There is no "close this window" circular stoplight button.
So you can't close the window.
+ There is no "drag here" Title Bar border...
So you can't move it away.

Bob got exactly what you were saying - which is why he suggested you
post back. You're Help window's moved off screen with the title bar
inaccessible. Could have happened when screen resolution switched, or
from other causes.

Easiest way to fix it: Close all Office applications. Delete the

com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist

file in the

~:Libraryreferences:Microsoft:

folder (where ~ is your home directory).

Restart XL. The Help window should be reset.

 

[PeterSLangston]

Muchas gracias. That was the simple answer I was looking for. Once it was obvious to you guys that the window didn't have a Title Bar and obvious to me that every Mac window is expected to have a Title Bar, then the question became relatively simple. Thanks for following it through, this forum was very helpful to me...

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Peter;

Very glad it's been corrected. And not to chastise in any way, but it would
have been remedied sooner if you had mentioned in the original message that
the Title Bar wasn't visible & that the help window covered the entire
screen... I'm afraid we can only go by what the user describes, so starting
with the basics is often necessary until the situation is fully disclosed.
I, for one, don't automatically recommend trashing prefs or .plists or
anything else until I'm reasonably sure that it's warranted

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac