Getting Help


Quattro Pro comes with an extensive Help system. You can use the traditional Help system or you can use the CorelTUTOR to show you examples of some specific tasks. Or, you can let the PerfectExpert walk you through creating and working in a notebook. And, if you run into a problem for which you cannot find an answer in the Help system, you can visit the Corel website for technical support. Using the Knowledge Base, you can find the answers to many of your questions, or you can visit the newsgroups and ask others for help.

Using the Help System

You can use the Help system to search for help in one of four ways:

  • Search the way you would search a book's table of contents

  • Search the way you would search a book's index

  • Search for Help topics using a key word or phrase

  • Search the Corel Knowledge Base using a keyword

The first three methods search the Help file that Quattro Pro places on your computer when you install the program, and the fourth method searches the Corel Knowledge Base located on the Corel website on the Internet.

Using the Contents Tab

To open the Help file that ships with Quattro Pro, open the Help menu and click Help Topics. The Contents tab of the Help Topics window appears (see Figure 1.12). Preceding each entry on this tab, you see either a book icon or a page icon containing a question mark.

Figure 1.12. Using the Contents tab, you can search for help using the concepts you use when you search the table of contents of a book.


When you click the plus sign (+) beside a book icon, as I did in Figure 1.12, the icon changes from a closed book to an open book. You'll see either additional closed books or entries preceded by page icons containing question marksor a combination of book icons and page icons.

When you click a book icon or a page icon containing a question mark, Quattro Pro displays the help information associated with that topic.

Working in the Help Topic Window

If you click a book icon, Quattro Pro Help displays general help on the topic. At the bottom of the information, you'll find a How to button that you can click; Quattro Pro displays a window of related topics that correspond to the page icon topics. Click one and then click the Display button. The topic appears in the Quattro Pro Help window (see Figure 1.13).

Figure 1.13. You can find additional related help using the How To button.


Or, you can simply click a page icon to display the help information related to it.

In the window containing the Help information of a page icon, you'll see a Related Topics button at the bottom that behaves just like the How To button behaves, giving you access to more related help topics.

Using the Index

From the Index tab (open the Help menu and click Help Topics; in the window that appears, click the Index tab), you can search the Quattro Pro Help file using the same techniques that you use when you search the index of a book. In a book, you turn to the back and look up topics organized in alphabetical order. On the Index tab (see Figure 1.14), you type the first few letters of the topic for which you want information, and Quattro Pro scrolls in the list of topics to display the ones that begin with the letters you typed.

Figure 1.14. Type a few letters of the topic on which you want help, and Quattro Pro shows you topics that begin with the letters you typed.


When you find a topic that interests you, double-click it, or select it and click the Display button. Quattro Pro displays the Help topic. At this point, Help behaves the same way I described in the preceding section, "Working in the Help Topic Window"; you can read the topic, click the How To button at the bottom and view related topics, and, if you select a related topic, click the Related Topics button in the bottom of that window to view more related topics.

Using the Search Tab

The Search tab and the Index tab work similarly; on the Search tab, however, you'll have better luck if you type more than just a few letters of the topic on which you want help. Open the Help menu and click Help Topics; in the window that appears, click the Search tab.

At the top of the tab (see Figure 1.15), type the phrase on which you want help and click the List Topics button; Quattro Pro displays topics.

Figure 1.15. Search for Help topics by typing a phrase on which you want help.


Scroll through the topics that appear; when you see one that you think will help you, double-click it or select it and click the Display button. Quattro Pro displays the Help topic. For details on working with the Help topic, see the section "Working in the Help Topic Window" earlier in this chapter.

Tip

If you think you're going to need a Help topic frequently, display it. Then, click the Favorites tab and click the Add button. To return to the topic later, reopen Help, click the Favorites tab, and double-click the topic in the list of favorite topics you have saved.


Using the Corel Knowledge Base

When you use the Corel Knowledge Base, you search the Corel Knowledge Base on the Internet. Open the Help menu, click Help Topics and, in the dialog box that appears, click the Support button (see Figure 1.16).

Figure 1.16. Use the Support button to search Corel's website for help.


Type the phrase on which you want help, select the product and, if appropriate, the subproduct, and click the Search button; in a few moments, the Corel website lists the topics that match the phrase you typed (see Figure 1.17).

Figure 1.17. The topics that match the keywords you typed appear.


Click a topic to read about it, and use the Back button to return to the list of topics. When you're ready to return to Quattro Pro, you can close the Help window or you can click the Restore button and the Show button to restore the Help window to its original appearance.

Tip

To effectively use the Corel Knowledge Base, I suggest that you also click the Hide button to hide the left pane of the window. Then, enlarge the Help window by maximizing it; see Chapter 2, "Working with Windows," for details on maximizing a window.


Using the CorelTUTOR

The CorelTUTOR provides a series of tutorials that you can run to learn how to perform specific actions. Open the Help menu and click CorelTUTOR, and the Help Topics dialog box appears. Click the Contents tab, and you see the available tutorials (see Figure 1.18).

Figure 1.18. Quattro Pro contains nine tutorials and a glossary that helps you with specific tasks.


Click a tutorial and information appears in the Help Topics window (see Figure 1.19). You can work through the topic by scrolling down; when you reach the bottom of the window, you see arrows pointing right and left. To proceed to the next tutorial, click the right-pointing arrow.

Figure 1.19. Tutorial information appears in the Help topics window.


PerfectExpert

The PerfectExpert is another form of tutor available in Quattro Pro; you can let the PerfectExpert lead you through the construction of a notebook.

Open the Help menu and click PerfectExpert; the Perfect Expert Tutor Window appears on the left side of the Quattro Pro window (see Figure 1.20).

Figure 1.20. Use the PerfectExpert to let Quattro Pro walk you through setting up a notebook.


You can type in the notebook and, when you need help with a particular action, click the appropriate button on the PerfectExpert. The PerfectExpert will either take the action suggested by the button or display another list of buttons from which you choose an action. The PerfectExpert is particularly useful when you don't use Quattro Pro often enough to really learn it. If you plan to work with the program frequently, you should focus on learning to use the commands on the menus and toolbars.

Corel on the Web

At the Corel website, you can use the Corel Knowledge Base (see "Using the Corel Knowledge Base" earlier in this chapter for details) or you can visit the newsgroups, a community of users who share a similar interest in Quattro Pro, and read or post questions to which you need answers.

Open the Help menu, point to Corel on the Web, and click Technical Support. The Corel website appears, where you can click the appropriate link to get the type of help you want.




Absolute Beginner's Guide to Quattro Pro X3
Absolute Beginners Guide to Quattro Pro X3
ISBN: 0789734265
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 128
Authors: Elaine Marmel

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