Excel 2003 for Starters: The Missing Manual

The Office Assistant

The Office Assistant is an interesting idea gone horribly wrong—so wrong that Microsoft itself now downplays the feature. The company even went so far as to create a marketing campaign that featured a bitter, lonely Clippy (the most infamous Office Assistant) trying to find new work. The idea behind this ad was that Excel was so easy to use that the Office Assistant no longer had a useful role. A more honest assessment would point out that the Office Assistant never really provided much help at all (aside from a temporary diversion from other spreadsheet chores).

Figure A-4. Browsing Help is a great way to learn about features you may not think of searching for.

If you haven't yet learned about the Office Assistant, all you need to know is that it's an animated character that hovers mother-in-law-like at the side of your window, waiting to offer suggestions or point out glitches as you work. The problem is that not only does the Office Assistant have no real character (it speaks in the same dry computerese as the Excel help files), it also doesn't tell you anything genuinely useful.

If this warning hasn't deterred you, you can display the Office Assistant by choosing Help → Show the Office Assistant. An animated paper clip, named Clippy, (shown in Figure A-5) springs into view. Clicking the light bulb over his head displays a quick blurb of advice.

Figure A-5. Clippy's ...