XL7: Help Contents and Answer Wizard Tabs May Be Missing

ID: Q139400

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

In the Microsoft Excel Help Topics dialog box, you may only see the Index and Find tabs. Also, if you click Options on the Find tab and then click the Files button in the Find Options dialog box, the Help file for Microsoft Excel version 5.0 may be listed instead of the Help files for version 7.0.

CAUSE

These symptoms occur if you install Microsoft Excel version 5.0 after you install Microsoft Excel version 7.0.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, do the following:

Quit any Microsoft Office programs that are currently running, including the Office Shortcut bar.

In Windows Explorer, open the folder in which you have the Setup program for Microsoft Excel version 7.0 (or the Setup program for Microsoft Office for Windows 95 if this is how you installed Microsoft Excel version 7.0).

On the Start menu, click Run, and delete anything in the Open box.

Drag the Shortcut for Setup from the folder in Step 2 to the Run dialog box.

The full path to the Setup shortcut will appear in the Run dialog box. For example, if you dragged the Office Setup shortcut to the Run dialog box, the command line in the Open box will resemble the following:
```
      c:\msoffice\setup.lnk 
```

Modify the command line in the Open box by adding " /y", without the quotation marks, to the end of the command line. So, for example, the command line would resemble the following:
c:\msoffice\setup.lnk /y
NOTE: Make sure there is a space separating the path to the Setup shortcut and the /y switch.

In the Run dialog box, click run.

This will start the Setup program in maintenance mode.

In the Setup dialog box, click Reinstall.

When Setup is finished, click the OK button.

Your settings for Microsoft Excel version 7.0 Help should now be correct, and you should see all four tabs in the Microsoft Excel Help Topics dialog box.

If the problem returns after applying the above resolution, look in the Excel 7's "Default File Location" directory for a copy of Excel 5.0's mainxl.hlp file. Renaming or moving the file to the Excel 5's directory may solve the problem. You can find the setting for the "Default File Location" under the Tools menu - Options - General Tab.

MORE INFORMATION

The /y setup switch is one of many Office setup switches and is used to rewrite information to the Windows registry.

For more information about Microsoft Office for Windows 95 Setup Switches, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q137391 OFF7: Setup Switches for Office 7.0

Additional query words:

Keywords : xlwin
Version : Win95:7.0
Platform : Win95
Issue type :