Microsoft Word - assistance required

PlacidCasual · 4 Jun 2019 at 10:57

Hi Guys

I often find using MS help frustrating as I can't find what I want through lack of correct search term.

Problem: I have a form with titles. The title meanings are often misunderstood, despite being standard. I want to have a help icon that shows a longer plain English description of what is required or f I hover the cursor over the title have the longer description show.

I can do this with comments but it's ugly and the first thing people do is delete them so there is no persistence of this useful info.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[FnG]magnolia · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:02

I got you, fam.

Print the document off and use post it notes to draw attention to the bit that needs highlighting. Hover over the reader's shoulder and whenever they look confused, wave the post it notes in their face, screaming "I'M HELPING I'M HELPING!"

DaleTheWhale · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:04

Would it better to create the form in Excel and use the comments there instead as they're more user friendly?

Yaayuh! · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:11

ThaReaperGuy said:
Would it better to create the form in Excel and use the comments there instead as they're more user friendly?

FYI just in case there's any confusion, Microsoft changed comments and notes with 365 https://support.office.com/en-us/ar...nd-notes-75a51eec-4092-42ab-abf8-7669077b7be3

PlacidCasual · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:11

@ThaReaperGuy Thx, I'll consider that a fall back position. Aesthetically Word with inbuilt tables is a lot prettier. I just don't think it will have Excel style comments as an option.

I'm hoping someone comes up with some clever HTML-esque solution.

PlacidCasual · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:13

@Rossi~ Thx for that, I'll look into that for personal use. In this case my Corporate infrastructure still seems to be using Word 2010 :eek:

InvaderGIR · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:14

Word docs are xml so html won't be much use.

Just use comment things and disable editing.

PlacidCasual · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:19

@InvaderGIR I'm a mechanical engineer, forgive my ignorance. I know it's ironic being on a Computer Forum and all

Diddums · 4 Jun 2019 at 11:24

You tried asking Clippy?

Sheff · 4 Jun 2019 at 15:00

Would a footnote be of any help here? It'll be part of the document so less likely to be deleted, but still allow for easy reading.

h4rm0ny · 4 Jun 2019 at 15:48

If you want this to still be a Word document that you distribute you can sort of do it with Screen Tips.

Create an internal bookmark in the page. That's under the Insert tab. This step is only necessary if you don't have anything you actually want to link to like an explanatory footnote (which would be a good idea).

Once you have something to link to, highlight your image and select Link (again, under the Insert tab. Or just press Ctrl+K). Select an internal link. This part doesn't matter so much - the important part is that you click on ScreenTip to the right of the Edit Hyperlink dialogue. You can see it here:

Whatever you enter for the screentip will be the hover over text on your link.

It will still be a link though, so I recommend creating proper footnotes in the document so it has somewhere sensible to point to, even though people wont need to click it to see the hover-over text.

Hope this helps.

PlacidCasual · 4 Jun 2019 at 16:01

@h4rm0ny Thx, that might be a winner. I'll have a play a little later and see if it does the trick.

Thx to everyone for all the responses.

checjb · 5 Jun 2019 at 10:43

Great tip, H4rmony, that's exactly what I was going to suggest. I use it all the time at work to help deliver comments without getting the way of the actual document itself. You could also use the FIELDS function, PlacidCasual. I also use collapsible sections a lot to hide/unhide explanatory text. Feel free to PM me if you want the tip-sheet I created for my colleagues.