O

object

An item, such as a graphic, video or sound file, or worksheet, that can be inserted in a Word document and then selected and modified. In Access, one of the components of an Access database, such as a table, form, or report. In PowerPoint, any element that you can manipulate.

Office Assistant

A tool that answers questions, offers tips, and provides access to the Help system for Microsoft Office 2003 features.

Office Clipboard

A storage area shared by all Office programs where multiple pieces of information from one or more sources are stored.

Office drawings

The specially formatted lines, shapes , WordArt objects, text boxes, and shadowing that can be incorporated into Microsoft Office documents.

Office Online

A clip art gallery that Microsoft maintains on its Web site. To access Office Online, you click the Clip Art on Office Online link at the bottom of the Clip Art task pane.

offline folder

A folder you use to access the contents of a server folder when you are not connected to the network. It is important to update the folder and its corresponding server folder to make the contents of both identical.

offset

The direction and distance in which a shadow falls from an object.

OLE Linking and Embedding

A feature that allows you to insert a file created in one program into a document created in another program.

one-to-many relationship

A relationship formed between two tables in which each record in one table has more than one related record in the other table. See also many-to-many relationship; one- to-one relationship .

one-to-one relationship A relationship formed between two tables in which each record in one table has only one related record in the other table. See also many-to-many relationship; one- to-many relationship .

operator

See arithmetic operator; comparison operator; logical operator.

optimistic locking

Locking a record only for the brief time that Access is saving changes to it.

option button

A control on a form that allows users to select preferred settings.

ordered list

The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) term for a numbered list.

orientation

The direction ”vertical or horizontal ”in which a page is laid out in a printed document.

orphan

The first line of a paragraph printed by itself at the bottom of a page.

Out of Office Assistant

An Outlook feature that helps you manage your Inbox when you re out of the office. The Out of Office Assistant can respond to incoming messages automatically, and it enables you to create rules for managing incoming messages.

Outline view

A view that shows the structure of a document, which consists of headings and body text.

Outline/Slides pane

In PowerPoint, an area in Normal view where you can organize and develop presentation content in text or slide miniature form.

Outlook Rich Text Format (RTF)

A format for Outlook e-mail messages that supports a host of formatting options including text formatting, bullets, numbering, background colors, borders, and shading. Rich Text Format is supported by some Microsoft e-mail clients , including Outlook 97, Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002,and Outlook 2003.