OFFXP: Mouse Clicks and Keyboard Commands Trigger Beeps, and Office Assistant Is Not Visible (280598)

SYMPTOMS

In any Microsoft Office XP program, you may hear a beep when you click a menu item or anywhere within the document, or if you press a key on the keyboard.

- or -

If you click Show the Office Assistant on the Help menu or press the F1 key, the Office Assistant may not be displayed as expected.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if you are using the utility TopDesk. TopDesk is shipped as a utility in the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit. TopDesk gives you the illusion of having multiple desktops by creating one large screen space, and then showing only one of the desktops at a time. The Office Assistant is normally displayed relative to the bottom-right corner on the screen. Because of the way TopDesk has altered the screen space, the Office Assistant is not visible on the current screen. The beeping behavior occurs when the Office Assistant is displaying a prompt or an error message.

WORKAROUND

Use one of the following methods to force the program to respond as expected.

Method 1: View the Current Prompt

On the taskbar, click TopDesk.
Right-click on any unused screen space in TopDesk.
Click the My Computer icon, and then click the Office program on the taskbar.

The Office Assistant's prompt should be visible in the upper-left corner. If the prompt is not visible, use Method 3.

Method 2: Dismiss the Current Prompt

Press the ESC key to dismiss the current prompt.

Method 3: Use Another Office Program to Reveal the Office Assistant

On the taskbar, click TopDesk.
Start any Office program.
On the standard toolbar, click the Ask a Question drop-down list, type Test, and then press ENTER.
Click any of the Help topics that appear.
On the taskbar, click the Office program that is not responding.

The Office Assistant that appears with the Help topic should show you the current prompt for the non-responding Office program.