Linking the Answer Wizard to the Web

Expanding Help on the Web

You can use the new Help on the Web feature to extend the Answer Wizard by providing additional or updated information for users whose queries are not satisfied by the Help topics returned by the Answer Wizard.

For example, suppose that one of your users asks the Office Assistant, “Why isn’t my Exchange server responding?” Unless you’ve created custom Help content, the Answer Wizard returns a list of Help topics about Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook. But the final link returned by the Answer Wizard reads None of the above, look for more help on the Web.

Clicking this link connects users to a feedback form, which they can use to comment about their search. When they submit the feedback form, they are redirected to the Microsoft Office Update Web site, and their search is automatically repeated on the latest Office content. They find a list of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles about Exchange Server and Outlook, as well as information about typical server issues.

At the same time, their comments are collected and sent to Microsoft, where support engineers evaluate the data and use it to improve both Answer Wizard Help topics and the Office Update Web site.

If you want users to connect to information on your intranet instead (or if your users don’t have access to the World Wide Web), you can customize the Help on the Web link to point to one of the sites on your intranet. For example, users might ask about the server that runs Microsoft Exchange Server and then click None of the above, look for more help on the Web. You can redirect their search to the intranet site, where you have a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Exchange Server, including any current server issues.

To redirect the Help on the Web link, you just change the destination URL. You can also customize the text in the Office Assistant and some of the text in the Help topic pane. If you prefer not to use the Help on the Web feature at all, you can disable the link.

Depending on how creative you want to get and how many development resources are available to you, you can create Active Server Pages (ASP) pages that make the Help on the Web feature even more useful to your organization. The following examples show you a few of the many ways you can customize Help on the Web to suit your needs.

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Directing users to a static page on your intranet site

If you don’t want to create a custom ASP page, you can create a static Web page instead. For example, create a Web page that has a list of FAQs and a telephone number or e-mail address that users can use to contact your organization’s support staff.

To implement this solution, all you have to do is create the Web page, delete the text in the Help pane, and supply the static Web page address as the destination URL.

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Using queries to create or expand your custom Help files

If you aren’t yet prepared to create a complete custom search system for your users, but you don’t want to lose their questions, you can collect their comments without directing them to a Web site. You can keep track of the kinds of questions your users are asking and implement a method for handling them later.

If you’ve already created custom Help and Answer Wizard files for your organization, tracking users’ queries and comments can help you find ways to expand your custom Help. By using their queries, you can research and write more topics and Answer Wizard questions for your custom Help file, as well as supplement the online Help system that comes with Office 2000.

To implement this solution, create an ASP page that logs users’ queries and comments. Change the text in the Office Assistant to “Send us comments about your search,” and change the text in the Help pane to inform them that their comments will be sent to you. Change the feedback URL to point to your ASP page, and you’re done.

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Continuing users’ searches on your intranet site

You can set up Help on the Web so that it searches your intranet rather than Microsoft.com for more information. You can also collect users’ feedback for your own use, rather than sending it to Microsoft.

To send users to your Web site, create an ASP page to capture users’ questions and search your organization’s Web site. Change the text in the Office Assistant and text in the Help topic pane to tell users where their questions are being sent and where their browsers are being redirected. Update the feedback URL to point to your ASP page.

Users can search your site for the latest information about internal tools. You can also collect comments about Office 2000 and send them on to Microsoft if and when you choose.

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Sending questions to your support staff

You can use a custom ASP page and some of your coding experience to set up a complex system for handling user questions. For example, you can have users fill in the feedback form with all of their pertinent questions and comments and route the form to your support staff.

Then you can redirect your users to an ASP page with FAQs or provide a link to a Web site that they can use to search for more information. If they still can’t find the answer, your support staff has had time to receive the query, research the answer, and supply a solution to the problem.

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See also

You can create custom Help content and integrate it with the Office Help system, including the Answer Wizard. For more information, see Creating Your Own Help Topics.

You can disable Help on the Web and other entry points to the Web from Office 2000. For more information about locking down entry points to the Web, see Disabling Built-in Connections to the Web.