MS Office Assistant question

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Level 1

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MS Office Assistant question

I'm new to Macs and have just bought a new 20"IMac with MS Office on it. As a long time Windows user, I am used to being able to change the "Office Assistant" as with the Windows ersion of Office you have several "assistants "to choose from. On the Mac, you can bring up the Office Assistant and click on "options" then on "Gallery" and it says you can click "next" or "back" to select a different Assistant, but the buttons are ghosted and you can not select anything. I talked to the Apple tech suport and they said this is something for Microsoft to answer.......... I don't want to go there. Anyone have any ideas how to get this option to work???? Thanks.

IMAC 20 in 2GHz intel Core Duo, 1 GB DDR2 Ram, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Mar 31, 2006 1:07 PM

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Answer 1

Lee Jr

Level 2

150 points

Mar 31, 2006 4:36 PM in response to rickpat

Hi RickPat & Welcome.

If your just using the MS Office Test Drive it may not have any additional Assistants. Sorry.

If you installed Office from a CD insert the CD into your drive. Double click the Value Pack folder. Double click the Value Pack installer icon and select the Assistants check box to install all the assistants. To select individual Assistants click the triangle next to the Assistants option then select the Assistants you want.

I like Scribbles myself. My cats get a little jealous though, consider yourself warned;).

BTW if your currently running MS Office trial version and decide to buy the full version make sure that you run the Remove Office BEFORE you install the full version. You can do this by: Macintosh HD/ Applications/ MS Office Trial/ Additional Items/ Remove Office. Then restart your Mac. Some versions it may be: Macintosh HD/ Applications/ MS Office Trial/ Remove Office. This will save on conflicts between the two versions. Microsoft.

Be sure to run Permissions repair before and after any software update, upgrade, and/ or install. Macintosh HD/ Utilities/ Disk Utility / Select HD and click repair permissions.

For more on conscientious Mac Maintenance (Thanks Ronda Wilson for the links):

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=971817

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Answer 2

rickpat Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 1, 2006 9:33 AM in response to Lee Jr

Lee Jr,
Wow, thanks for the speedy reply. I did purchase MS Office with my new IMac and the store experts installed it for me before I picked up my machine. I did try to install anything that was on the CD that was not already installed but still I have no selections for the Assistant, but I did not see the value pack folder, so I will give that a try. I'll post in a few hours and let you know how I make out.
Thanks, Rick

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Answer 3

rickpat Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 1, 2006 10:38 AM in response to Lee Jr

LeeJr,
Well, I tried everything and still no selections for a different Assistant. I even went as far as calling Microsoft and talking to their Office for Mac experts. The answer I got is " There are no other selections for office Assistant as part of Office 2004 for Mac. There are choices in Office 98 and 2001 for the Mac , but for 2004 , the only choice is "Max" . If you can get a copy of those assistants from an older version, they would wok with your version 2004. " So........ looks like I am out of luck, unless there is some place to find those files.
Looks like we both learned something on this one. Thanks for your help.
Rick

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Answer 4

rickpat Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 1, 2006 1:40 PM in response to Lee Jr

Lee Jr,
here is the reply I got from Microsoft.

Hello Rick;

It was my pleasure to work with you on your Microsoft Office issue. Based on our conversation, I will archive your case at this time. If you find that your issue has not been fully resolved, please notify me as soon as possible and I will reactivate the case: SRX060401601053

Here is a summary of the key points of the case for your records.
When trying to change the Office Assistant you found that no other characters were available
We suggested find a copy of either Microsoft Office 98 or 2001 and install the Office assistants from these versions of Microsoft Office. You can also apparently install the office assistant from Microsoft Office X.

I hope that you were delighted with the service provided to you. Thank you for using Microsoft Customer Support Services,

Peter
Microsoft Technical Support

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Answer 5

Lee Jr

Level 2

150 points

Apr 1, 2006 7:02 PM in response to rickpat

Hi RickPat,
Sorry so late in getting back to you. If you find someone with an older version then you could copy the Assistants that you want and put them in your assistants folder. Mac HD/ Applications/ MS Office/ Office/ Assistants.

That little box thing is annoying to say the least. I'll take a 2 dimensional cat any day.

Tell Microsoft you'ld be delighted with their service if they email you some Assistants. You never know they just might email you them.

Good luck,
Lee

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