Microsoft Knowledge Base Email Alertz

(839132) - Describes an issue that occurs when you start an Office 2003 program on a computer that also has Office XP programs installed. You receive an error message about the Office Assistant.

Search KbAlertz

Advanced Search

Receive Microsoft Knowledge Base articles by E-Mail?

Every night we scan the Microsoft Knowledge Base. If technologies you're interested in are updated, we'll send you an e-mail. You only get one e-mail a day, and only when new articles are added.

Click here to create a
FREE account
Already have an account?
[Click here to Login]











Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

This article contents is Microsoft Copyrighted material.
©2005-©2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks

Article ID: 839132 - Last Review: May 15, 2006 - Revision: 4.2

"There are no Office Assistant character files present" error message when you start an Office XP program

SYMPTOMS

When you start a Microsoft Office XP program for the second (or subsequent) time, you may receive the following error message:
There are no Office Assistant character files present on the system. Please run Setup in maintenance mode and install at least one character.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when all the following conditions are true:
  • You have both Microsoft Office XP programs and Microsoft Office 2003 programs installed on the same computer.
  • You start an Office 2003 program first.
  • The Office Assistant is active in the Office 2003 program.
  • You start, and then quit an Office XP program.
  • You start an Office XP program a second (or subsequent) time.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

REFERENCES

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
828956  (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=828956/ ) Running multiple versions of Microsoft Office with Office 2003

APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Publisher 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition for Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition
  • Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
Keywords: 
kbqfe kbhotfixserver kberrmsg kbfix kbbug KB839132
       

Community Feedback System

Very often, it takes hours to solve a problem. Very often, you've looked high and low, and have tried a lot of solutions. When you finally found it, chances are, it was because someone else helped you. Here's your chance to give back. Use our community feedback tool to let others know what worked for you and what didn't.

Please also understand that the community feedback system is not warranted to be correct, it's simply a system that we've built to let people try and help each other. If something in a feedback response doesn't make sense to you, or you're not comfortable making changes that the feedback talks about (like registry edits), please consult a professional.

Thank you for using kbAlertz.com Feedback System.

-- Scott Cate

Fred M Reported as Irrelevant  
Written: 9/8/2004 5:07 AM
There's an easy quickfix or workaround to this problem. If you don't use the office assitant, then you can disable it entirely. Just start one office tool (for example Word XP) and select "Show the Office Assistant" from the Help menu if it isn't already visible. Then right click the assistant and select "Options...". Then uncheck "Use the Office Assistant". That'll make the assistant to keep away in all other office tools, until you select "Show the Office Assistant" again. If you'd rather use the assistant, then you need to start an Office XP tool first. It'll then be able to access the Assistant. After that, you can just start the Office 2003 tools and the Assistant will be available to that as well. Hopes this helps.

Chris Reported as Irrelevant  
Written: 5/24/2005 12:30 PM
Thanks for the help! It wasn't that big of a deal but after a few days got very annoying. But your quick fix worked. Thanks

Anonymous User Report As Irrelevant  
Written: 1/31/2006 11:47 AM
THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!!!!!! IT WORKED!!

Joel Report As Irrelevant  
Written: 3/11/2006 1:58 AM
Thanks - you solved my problem. I have Outlook running in the background, and every time I opened Word I got the error message. I unchecked Use Office Assistant in Outlook and my problem has disappeared. Thanks

Jim Report As Irrelevant  
Written: 6/7/2006 12:22 PM
Doesn't work. The same error pops up when I try to open the assistent. Any other suggestions?

Nand Report As Irrelevant  
Written: 8/23/2006 1:51 AM
Thanks Fred !!! disabled the option and there isn't any error message anymore...

Larry - lmunsey NOSPAM-AT-NOSPAM bellsouth.net Report As Irrelevant  
Written: 1/1/2007 3:01 PM
I am unable to disable asst.