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

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

"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

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

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...

"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

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

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

"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

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...

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.

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

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.

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...

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

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...

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?

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.