ANSWER WIZARD DROP-DOWN CONTROL

An answer wizard drop-down menu for providing users quick and efficient access to help utilities, including help files and wizards provided by a software application, is provided. An answer wizard drop-down edit control and interface is located in a conspicuous, but non-obstructive location on a software application graphical interface. An edit control allows a user to enter a question regarding some desired functionality of the application. In response to the user's question, the user is presented with a list of potential answers to the question in a drop-down menu. If the user finds an acceptable answer to her question in the list of potential answers, the user selects the acceptable answer, and an appropriate help file application is launched to provide the user assistance with the functionality about which the user has questions. Each question so asked by the user is saved in a list of most recently used items. The next time the user needs assistance, the user may open the list of most recently used items to obtain a list of the most recent questions previously asked by the user. The user may then, if desired, select one of the previously asked questions and initiate another search on the selected question to obtain the list of potential answers. The user may then select a new or previously viewed answer to return to the help file application.