If you are converting from WordPerfect?especially WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, the word processing software that dominated the market a decade or so ago?Word 2003 comes with several features designed to make the transition easier. To access these features, choose Help, WordPerfect Help. The Help for WordPerfect Users dialog box opens (see Figure 34.2). If Help for WordPerfect is not installed, you may be prompted to insert your Office 2003 CD.
The Command Keys scroll box includes a list of WordPerfect for DOS command keys. When you select a command key, Word displays a description of how to accomplish the same task in Word 2003.
Where Word offers additional help for WordPerfect command key submenus, the command key is followed by an ellipsis. You can view the additional information (for all commands except the first three, which are Welcome, Help Details, and Help Options) by clicking Help Text. After you've drilled down to the bottom level of information, you can click Help Text again, and Word displays the help information on top of your editing window so that you can view step-by-step instructions at the same time you perform the task.
If Word has a demo available, and you want to watch the task performed, click Demo (or Demo Now). Word displays your current document and performs the action at your current insertion point. In some cases (see Figure 34.3), Word opens a dialog box and shows you what to do next.
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If WordPerfect Help performs an action you didn't intend, click the Undo button.
Word gives you options about how to use WordPerfect Help, based on how far along you and your users have come in transitioning from WordPerfect and DOS. To use these options, choose Help, WordPerfect Help and choose Options. The Help Options dialog box appears (see Figure 34.4).
Word displays or demonstrates instructions whenever you press a WordPerfect for DOS key combination. If you check the Navigation Keys for WordPerfect Users check box, Word changes the way its Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, and Esc keys behave to match the way they work in WordPerfect for DOS.
Depending on the speed of your computer, you may find that Word's feature demonstrations run too quickly?or too slowly. You can change their speed by choosing Fast, Medium, or Slow from the Demo Speed drop-down box.
NOTE
If you or your users miss WordPerfect's Reveal Codes feature, remember that even though Word doesn't have equivalent formatting codes, you can get detailed information about the formatting associated with any text. Use Word 2003's Reveal Formatting feature.
Click on or select the text you're interested in, and choose Format, Reveal Formatting. Word displays detailed formatting information in the task pane at the right.
For more information about Reveal Formatting, see Chapter 4, "Quick and Effective Formatting Techniques," p. 107.