Making the Help Window Easier to Read
One problem with the Help window is that it may appear too small to read comfortably. To get around this problem, you have two choices:
- Resize the Help window.
- Expand the size of the text inside the Help window.
Resizing the Help window
You can resize the Help window just like any other window by clicking one of the following icons in the upper-right corner:
Minimize:
Shrinks the Help window to an icon on the Windows taskbar
Maximize:
Expands the Help window to fill the entire screen
Restore Down:
Shrinks a maximized window to a smaller window that you can move and resize
Enlarging the text in the Help Window
In addition to, or as an alternative to, resizing the Help window, you can enlarge the text inside the Help window to make it larger (or smaller) so you can read it easier or so you can cram more text within the limited confines of the Help window. To change the size of the text inside the Help window, follow these steps:
- Click the Help icon or press F1 to open the Help window.
- Click the Change Font Size icon. A pull-down menu appears.
- Choose an option, such as Smaller or Largest. The Help window text changes in size.
Keeping the Help window visible at all times
Word 2007 offers a Keep on Top icon that you can choose to keep the Help window visible while letting you use the Word 2007 program underneath. That way you can read and follow the instructions in the Help window while using your program at the same time.
If you turn the Keep on Top feature off, the Help window will appear, but, the moment you click in your Word 2007 program underneath, the Help window disappears from sight.
To turn the Keep on Top feature on (or off), click the Keep on Top icon in the Help window.
Printing the text in the Help window
Sometimes you may find the step-by-step instructions in the Help window so useful that you may want to reference them again. Rather than open the Help window each time, you can print the step-by-step instructions so you will always have them at your fingertips when you need them.
To print the text displayed in the Help window, follow these steps:
- Click the Help icon or press F1 to open the Help window.
- Make sure your printer is connected to your computer and turned on.
- Click the Print icon. The Print dialog box appears and choose any options in the Print dialog box (such as choosing a printer to use), and then click OK to print the current contents of the Help window.
Viewing the Table of Contents
One problem with searching through the Help window is that you can easily lose track of which subcategory or category led you to view the current contents of the Help window. To avoid this confusion, you can expand the Help window to display two panes. The left pane displays a table of contents while the right pane displays additional information.
To view the Table of Contents, follow these steps:
- Click the Help icon or press F1 to open the Help window and click the Show Table of Contents icon. The Help window expands into two panes.
- Click a Help topic (which appears with a closed book icon in the left margin). A list of subcategories (closed book icon) or Help topics (question mark icon) appears. You may need to click one or more additional subcategory icons until you see a list of Help topics.
- Click a Help topic. The right pane of the Help window displays step-by-step instructions.
- (Optional) Click the Hide Table of Contents icon.
If you leave the Table of Contents pane visible, the next time you open the Help window, you will see the table of contents in the left pane. - Click the Close box to make the Help window go away.