OFF2000: Office Assistant Not Answering Visual Basic Questions

ID: Q231955

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you ask the Office Assistant a question about Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, you receive one of the following responses:

The Office Assistant cannot currently answer your questions. Run Setup again to make sure all the necessary Help files are correctly installed.
-or-
I don't know what you mean. Please rephrase your question.


CAUSE

This problem will occur if you were not in the Visual Basic Editor when you asked the question.

-or-

The required Help files have not been installed. Both the product Help and Visual Basic Help files are necessary for the Office Assistant to answer Visual Basic questions.


RESOLUTION

If you are not in the Visual Basic Editor, press ALT+F11 to open it and then ask the Office Assistant your question. In Microsoft Access, open a database, and then open a module, before asking the Office Assistant your question.

If the Office Assistant cannot answer your question while you are in the Visual Basic Editor, install the appropriate Help files.

To install the appropriate Help files, follow these steps:

  1. Quit all Office programs. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.


  2. In Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.


  3. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click to select Microsoft <Office 2000 product>

    where <Office 2000 product> is the name of the specific Office product being used. If you are using a standalone version of one of the Office programs, click to select the appropriate product in the list. Click Add/Remove.


  4. In the Setup dialog box, click Add or Remove Features.


  5. In the Microsoft Office 2000: Update Features dialog box, click the plus sign (+) to expand the features list next to the program that requires product Help. If the sign is already a minus sign (-) the features list is already expanded.


  6. Click the symbol next to Help, and then click Run from My Computer in the list that appears.


  7. Click the plus sign (+) next to Office Tools to expand the features list.


  8. Click the symbol next to Visual Basic Help, and then click Run from My Computer on the list that appears.


  9. Click Update Now.



MORE INFORMATION

The Visual Basic Help files are not installed to your hard drive when you select the Install Now (Typical) or Customize installation, but are set to Installed on First Use unless you explicitly select the Help options. This requires the installation media be available to install the Help files the first time you try to access Visual Basic Help.

Additional query words: OFF2000 vbe vba 


Keywords          : 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: May 18, 1999