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#1
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you
accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? -- W |
#2
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Am Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:32 -0700 schrieb W:
It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? try: Alt + F4 Regards Claus Busch -- Win XP PRof SP2 / Vista Ultimate SP2 Office 2003 SP2 /2007 Ultimate SP2 |
#3
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Ctrl + F1 works for me.
-- Jim Cone Portland, Oregon USA http://www.mediafire.com/PrimitiveSoftware (Extras for Excel: Date picker, Clean Data, Classic Menu ...) "W" wrote in message ... It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? -- W |
#4
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
"Claus Busch" wrote in message
... Am Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:32 -0700 schrieb W: It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? try: Alt + F4 That closes Excel. I only want to close the child window that the Help facility lives in. -- W |
#5
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
"Jim Cone" wrote in message
... Ctrl + F1 works for me. -- Jim Cone Portland, Oregon USA http://www.mediafire.com/PrimitiveSoftware (Extras for Excel: Date picker, Clean Data, Classic Menu ...) Wonderful, thank you! -- W "W" wrote in message ... It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? -- W |
#6
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Am Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:41:42 -0700 schrieb W:
That closes Excel. I only want to close the child window that the Help facility lives in. Sorry, I thought shortcuts are the same in every language version. In my german language version Alt + F4 only closes the help window Regards Claus Busch -- Win XP PRof SP2 / Vista Ultimate SP2 Office 2003 SP2 /2007 Ultimate SP2 |
#7
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:32 -0700, W wrote:
It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? Alt-F4, of course. It's the standard Windows "close program" key combination. And yes, I checked it before posting. It closes the help window but not Excel. -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
#8
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:41:42 -0700, W wrote:
"Claus Busch" wrote in message ... Am Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:32 -0700 schrieb W: It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? try: Alt + F4 That closes Excel. I only want to close the child window that the Help facility lives in. When someone offers you a solution, you might at least try it before dismissing it out of hand. In this case, the solution you dismissed out of hand was the correct one. -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
#9
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Stan
Alt + F4 closes Excel in my Windows7 with Excel 2003 or 2007 Gord On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:30:27 -0400, Stan Brown wrote: On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:32 -0700, W wrote: It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? Alt-F4, of course. It's the standard Windows "close program" key combination. And yes, I checked it before posting. It closes the help window but not Excel. |
#10
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Gord Dibben explained :
Stan Alt + F4 closes Excel in my Windows7 with Excel 2003 or 2007 When Help appears in a docked pane (rather than its own window), Ctrl+F1 closes the Help pane while Alt+F4 closes the host app because its window has the focus. When Help appears in its own window, Alt+F4 closes the Help window IF it has the focus. IOW, Alt+F4 closes whichever window has the focus. -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#11
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 07:03:53 -0700, Gord Dibben wrote:
Stan Alt + F4 closes Excel in my Windows7 with Excel 2003 or 2007 Yes, of course it does, when Excel is the currently active window. But when you're in Excel, and you accidentally hit F1 as the OP described, the help window becomes active. It's a separate program, and Alt-F4 closes it and it alone, which is what the OP asked for. Did you post upside down in honor of St. Patrick's Day? -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
#12
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
It happens that Stan Brown formulated :
On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 07:03:53 -0700, Gord Dibben wrote: Stan Alt + F4 closes Excel in my Windows7 with Excel 2003 or 2007 Yes, of course it does, when Excel is the currently active window. But when you're in Excel, and you accidentally hit F1 as the OP described, the help window becomes active. It's a separate program, and Alt-F4 closes it and it alone, which is what the OP asked for. Did you post upside down in honor of St. Patrick's Day? That's version/option dependant. In 2003 and later Help appears in its own 'pane' inside the host app's window and so using Alt+F4 will close the host app, while using Ctrl+F1 will only close the Help 'pane'! -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#13
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Thanks for the update.
My help window is always docked so did not notice the distinction. Apologies to Stan. Gord On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 13:03:00 -0400, GS wrote: Gord Dibben explained : Stan Alt + F4 closes Excel in my Windows7 with Excel 2003 or 2007 When Help appears in a docked pane (rather than its own window), Ctrl+F1 closes the Help pane while Alt+F4 closes the host app because its window has the focus. When Help appears in its own window, Alt+F4 closes the Help window IF it has the focus. IOW, Alt+F4 closes whichever window has the focus. |
#14
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
I have posted upside down for the past 12 years<g
See GS's post and my reply to it. Depends upon whether or not the help window is docked. Gord On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 13:35:46 -0400, Stan Brown wrote: On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 07:03:53 -0700, Gord Dibben wrote: Stan Alt + F4 closes Excel in my Windows7 with Excel 2003 or 2007 Yes, of course it does, when Excel is the currently active window. But when you're in Excel, and you accidentally hit F1 as the OP described, the help window becomes active. It's a separate program, and Alt-F4 closes it and it alone, which is what the OP asked for. Did you post upside down in honor of St. Patrick's Day? |
#15
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:02:37 -0400, GS wrote:
That's version/option dependant. In 2003 and later Help appears in its own 'pane' inside the host app's window I have Excel 2010, and that emphatically does not happen for me. Whether I press F1 or click the little question mark in a circle, I get an independent window titled "Excel help". Maybe there's some option setting that controls where Help appears? But I've just now scanned the Excel 2010 options, and I don't see anything appropriate. -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
#16
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Stan Brown wrote :
On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:02:37 -0400, GS wrote: That's version/option dependant. In 2003 and later Help appears in its own 'pane' inside the host app's window I have Excel 2010, and that emphatically does not happen for me. Whether I press F1 or click the little question mark in a circle, I get an independent window titled "Excel help". Maybe there's some option setting that controls where Help appears? But I've just now scanned the Excel 2010 options, and I don't see anything appropriate. Stan, Thanks for that info. I haven't installed 2010 yet and so can't speak to the behavior. My comments, though, are 'general' in nature as they refer to the behavior difference between a 'docked' window and a 'normal' window. Host apps that allow optional 'docking' of Help windows usually have keyboard shortcuts for doing so, as well as an optional keyboard shortcut for closing it without having to use the mouse. This 'docked' window is no longer an independant 'normal' window running "in-process", but rather has become a "child" window in the host app and thereby has taken on the respective attributes/behaviors of an MDI child to the host (parent) app. In this case, Alt+F4 sends its messages to the host app because it has the focus (when not 'working/editing' in a child window). In Excel 2003, Help displays by default in the 'docked' window known as "Task Pane", which also displays many other things besides help. The keyboard shortcut to 'toggle' display of the TaskPane happens to be Ctrl+F1 regardless of what it is displaying. I'm not saying that this works for all 'docked' windows, ..only where provision has been made for UI interaction via the keyboard for dispaying/closing 'docked' windows. I have other apps that allow docking/undocking as well as hide/unhide windows that are docked. In Excel 2003 the Task Pane is either Visible=True or Visible=False, meaning it's always loaded during runtime. I suspect, then, that unlike Excel 2003 the other versions display Help in a normal window if there's no optional choice how to display it. In this case, then, Help displays in a 'normal' in-process window and so will behave as any other window with focus. -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#17
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
GS
What I see in 2003 is Alt + F4 does not close the help window even when undocked. It is movable when undocked but remains "attached" to the application which closes when Alt + F4 is activated. 2007 help window opens in its own distinct window and Alt + F4 will close it. I guess 2010 is same as 2007. Gord On Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:50:19 -0400, GS wrote: Stan Brown wrote : On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:02:37 -0400, GS wrote: That's version/option dependant. In 2003 and later Help appears in its own 'pane' inside the host app's window I have Excel 2010, and that emphatically does not happen for me. Whether I press F1 or click the little question mark in a circle, I get an independent window titled "Excel help". Maybe there's some option setting that controls where Help appears? But I've just now scanned the Excel 2010 options, and I don't see anything appropriate. Stan, Thanks for that info. I haven't installed 2010 yet and so can't speak to the behavior. My comments, though, are 'general' in nature as they refer to the behavior difference between a 'docked' window and a 'normal' window. Host apps that allow optional 'docking' of Help windows usually have keyboard shortcuts for doing so, as well as an optional keyboard shortcut for closing it without having to use the mouse. This 'docked' window is no longer an independant 'normal' window running "in-process", but rather has become a "child" window in the host app and thereby has taken on the respective attributes/behaviors of an MDI child to the host (parent) app. In this case, Alt+F4 sends its messages to the host app because it has the focus (when not 'working/editing' in a child window). In Excel 2003, Help displays by default in the 'docked' window known as "Task Pane", which also displays many other things besides help. The keyboard shortcut to 'toggle' display of the TaskPane happens to be Ctrl+F1 regardless of what it is displaying. I'm not saying that this works for all 'docked' windows, ..only where provision has been made for UI interaction via the keyboard for dispaying/closing 'docked' windows. I have other apps that allow docking/undocking as well as hide/unhide windows that are docked. In Excel 2003 the Task Pane is either Visible=True or Visible=False, meaning it's always loaded during runtime. I suspect, then, that unlike Excel 2003 the other versions display Help in a normal window if there's no optional choice how to display it. In this case, then, Help displays in a 'normal' in-process window and so will behave as any other window with focus. |
#18
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Gord Dibben was thinking very hard :
GS What I see in 2003 is Alt + F4 does not close the help window even when undocked. It is movable when undocked but remains "attached" to the application which closes when Alt + F4 is activated. 2007 help window opens in its own distinct window and Alt + F4 will close it. I guess 2010 is same as 2007 I get the same behavior. It doesn't matter if the TaskPane is 'docked' or not because it will always be a 'child' of the MS Office host app. IOW, it's not a 'normal' window. You can tell this by the missing sizing buttons in the TitleBar. Note also that TaskPane is listed under ViewToolbars, which further suggests it's a member of the Toolbars collection and as such, do not qualify as independant windows (as would a dialog, for example), and for all appearances behaves much the same as any undocked toolbar. This is not the same as the 'dockable' windows in the VBE, which do have the sizing buttons. However, they do not have independant keyboard shortcuts that hide them (display only is provided for some not all). I have a VB6 app that implements display of 2 different 'panes' in much the same fashion, but use the same keyboard key as the toggle. The difference here is none because Ctrl+F1 is also the toggle for the TaskPane regardless of whether a user hit F1 or not. So the action to be taken is to toggle the display of the control that displays help, which in this case 'appears' confusing due to the association to "F1". Just to further clarify Stan's point.., help files usually open in their stand-alone app window as an "in-process" extension of the host app. Code mechanisms are in place to ensure that help is controlled by the host app for its runtime life, meaning when the host app closes so does any respective help files it opened during runtime. Usually, the host app stores a ref to the help window's handle so it doesn't open multiple instances of it when it happens to be covered by foreground windows or minimized to the tray. The VB6 app I mentioned earlier uses a stand-alone EXE (an ebook, actually) for its Userguide and so the mechanism to make it behave like a normal in-process CHM/HLP had to be included in it's handler routines. Otherwise, it can be used stand-alone same as a CHM/HLP file can be used outside the host app. I also use this method of displaying UserGuides in some of my application-level Excel addins. -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#19
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:54:44 -0400, GS wrote:
I get the same behavior. It doesn't matter if the TaskPane is 'docked' or not because it will always be a 'child' of the MS Office host app. IOW, it's not a 'normal' window. You can tell this by the missing sizing buttons in the TitleBar. Excuse me? Missing sizing buttons? If you're referring to minimize, restore, and close, at the right-hand end of the title bra, I have them in the help window just as I do in the Excel window. "Microsoft Excel" and "Excel Help" are two buttons on the taskbar. As I've posted multiple times, Alt-F4 when the help window has focus closes Help without closing Excel. Again, this is Excel 2010. Just for fun, I tried giving focus to Excel without closing the Help window. When I then hit Alt-F4, Excel and the help window closed. -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
#20
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Stan Brown brought next idea :
On Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:54:44 -0400, GS wrote: I get the same behavior. It doesn't matter if the TaskPane is 'docked' or not because it will always be a 'child' of the MS Office host app. IOW, it's not a 'normal' window. You can tell this by the missing sizing buttons in the TitleBar. Excuse me? Missing sizing buttons? If you're referring to minimize, restore, and close, at the right-hand end of the title bra, I have them in the help window just as I do in the Excel window. That's right! I was referring to the TaskPane in XL2003 which, when undocked, is missing the sizing buttons. If you 'get' the context in which Ctrl+F1 is used then you'll note that it has nothing to do with the context in which Alt+F4 is used as they apply to different conditions. "Microsoft Excel" and "Excel Help" are two buttons on the taskbar. As I've posted multiple times, Alt-F4 when the help window has focus closes Help without closing Excel. Again, this is Excel 2010. Just for fun, I tried giving focus to Excel without closing the Help window. When I then hit Alt-F4, Excel and the help window closed. And so this is the expected behavior as described in my reply to Gord. What's confusing everyone, IMO, is the incorrect inference that Ctrl+F1 has something to do with displaying Help, when in fact all it does is toggle display of the TaskPane in XL2003 (and I assume other MS Office 2003 apps that use it). I guess I should have qualified that what you report is correct in that Help displays in its own 'normal' window in non-XL2003 versions. I also should have better clarified that no Excel versions make it optional how/where help displays. (But I do have apps that do make it optional and so commented accordingly) I assumed it would be concluded that the determining factor would be 'if the host app provided an option'! My bad for readers would pick up on this without me having to be more explicit in this regard. Summary: In Excel2003: F1 displays help in the TaskPane. (default behavior) Ctrl+F1 toggles visibility of the TaskPane. (default shortcut) Visiblity of the TaskPane is optional on the OptionsView tab. To close help requires closing the TaskPane. Alt+F4 closes Excel. (standard Windows behavior) In all other Excel versions: F1 displays help in its own window; This is an in-process extension to the host app. Alt+F4 closes whichever window has the focus. (This is standard Windows behavior) Closing Excel by any means also closes any instance of help running. -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#21
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t... On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:41:42 -0700, W wrote: "Claus Busch" wrote in message ... Am Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:33:32 -0700 schrieb W: It's very common in Excel that you go to hit F2 to edit a formula, and you accidentally hit F1 which opens up that silly sidebar. You are then forced to switch to mouse to close it. Is there a keystroke to close that help window? try: Alt + F4 That closes Excel. I only want to close the child window that the Help facility lives in. When someone offers you a solution, you might at least try it before dismissing it out of hand. In this case, the solution you dismissed out of hand was the correct one. On my system Alt+F4 shuts down Excel. Of course I tried it before I rejected it. Ctrl+F1 worked perfectly to close the help child window while leaving Excel open. -- W |
#22
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On my system Alt+F4 shuts down Excel. Of course I tried it before I
rejected it. Ctrl+F1 worked perfectly to close the help child window while leaving Excel open. Ctrl+F1 is the keyboard shortcut to hide/show the TaskPane in XL2003. Since the TaskPane is actually a toolbar, it doesn't support the keyboard shortcuts associated with a 'normal' window. That doesn't mean the TaskPane isn't a window.., it's just a window of type 'CommandBar' and so supports behavior associated with a commandbar. All other versions of Excel display help in its own window and so Alt+F4 is the standard Windows keyboard shortcut to close any window that has focus. In XL2003, there is no help window per se, and so Alt+F4 closes Excel because it has the focus. -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#23
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:40:40 -0400, GS wrote:
Ctrl+F1 is the keyboard shortcut to hide/show the TaskPane in XL2003. Since the TaskPane is actually a toolbar, it doesn't support the keyboard shortcuts associated with a 'normal' window. That doesn't mean the TaskPane isn't a window.., it's just a window of type 'CommandBar' and so supports behavior associated with a commandbar. All other versions of Excel display help in its own window and so Alt+F4 is the standard Windows keyboard shortcut to close any window that has focus. In XL2003, there is no help window per se, and so Alt+F4 closes Excel because it has the focus. Thanks for clearing that up. We could have gone back and forth for a while without shedding any light. Just a lesson to everyone to state which version of Excel they're talking about! -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Shikata ga nai... |
#24
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Closing Help Window From Keyboard
Stan Brown used his keyboard to write :
On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:40:40 -0400, GS wrote: Ctrl+F1 is the keyboard shortcut to hide/show the TaskPane in XL2003. Since the TaskPane is actually a toolbar, it doesn't support the keyboard shortcuts associated with a 'normal' window. That doesn't mean the TaskPane isn't a window.., it's just a window of type 'CommandBar' and so supports behavior associated with a commandbar. All other versions of Excel display help in its own window and so Alt+F4 is the standard Windows keyboard shortcut to close any window that has focus. In XL2003, there is no help window per se, and so Alt+F4 closes Excel because it has the focus. Thanks for clearing that up. We could have gone back and forth for a while without shedding any light. Just a lesson to everyone to state which version of Excel they're talking about! Sorry I wasn't able to convey this more clearly earlier on. I knew what you were saying is correct, but after reading Jim's post I knew right away we might be talking about XL2003's TaskPane.<g My bad for not being more explicit... -- Garry Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org ClassicVB Users Regroup! comp.lang.basic.visual.misc microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion |
#25
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Use "Alt + F4". The opened help window will be closed. And also this "Alt + F4" will be used to close other windows too and also to shut down the computer.
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