Knowledge Base

WD97: Cannot Use "What's This?" in Text Boxes

Article ID: 165566

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q165566

SYMPTOMS

You cannot use the "What's This?" feature in a text box.

NOTE: This behavior is different from Microsoft Word 6.x and 7.x for Windows 95.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, convert your text box to a frame, and then use the "What's This?" feature.

To convert a text box to a frame:

Click the text box to show the handles around the edges of the text box.
On the Format menu, click Text Box.
On the Text Box tab, click "Convert to Frame."

NOTE: After you convert your text box to a frame, you can't convert the frame back to a text box.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Word displays text as it will look when printed and doesn't use formatting codes to indicate formatting. To easily check document formatting, Word provides a tool for viewing how text is formatted, called "What's This?"

To check the formats of a particular character or paragraph, click "What's This?" on the Help menu (or press SHIFT+F1). When the insertion point becomes a question mark, click the text you want to check. When you finish checking your text, press ESC.

For more information about "What's This?", click the Office Assistant, type "How do I check format settings," click Search, and then click to view "About viewing format settings."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Microsoft Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

120802 Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office Program or Component

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