Appendix A. Appendix Getting Help

A. Appendix Getting Help

• Getting Help from PowerPoint

• Getting Help from Microsoft

• Getting Help from the PowerPoint Community

In A Lot Of Ways, Powerpoint 2007 Is Easier To Work With than its predecessorsafter you get the hang of it. (And after you've had a chance to read this book, of course.) But sooner or later, you're going to run into a snag and need some helpand getting you that help is what this appendix is all about.

Help with PowerPoint starts right there in the program's window and extends into the far reaches of the Internet. There are descriptive screen tips that pop up when you mouse over the item in question, help screens stored on your computer and on Microsoft's Web site, and a vast community of PowerPoint experts on message boards and Web sites.

NOSTALGIA CORNER
Goodbye, Clippy

And good riddance, some would add. Earlier versions of Microsoft Office programs, including PowerPoint, included a contextual help system known as the Office Assistant , an animated character that lived in a small onscreen window, offering hints as you worked. You could also click it to type in the topic you needed help with.

No matter which incarnation you choseClippit the paper clip, Dot the bouncing ball, or any of the other cartoon choicesthe Office Assistant always seemed to be watching what you were doing with a smug look on its face. And before you could type in your search phrase, you had to wait while it furrowed its cartoon brows or wagged it cartoon tail (a delay that probably drew a chuckle the first time you saw it, but that made you want to commit cartoonicide by the thirty-fifth time.).

In Office 2007, Microsoft wisely pulled the Office Assistant for good. In its place, Microsoft designed a contextual help system in the form of expanded screen tips, which include direct links to PowerPoint's Help window.