Editing Office Assistant (section)

{{Short description|Assistive tool for Microsoft Office}}
[[File:Clippy-letter.PNG|thumb|''Clippit'', the default Office Assistant, as seen in Microsoft Office 2000 through 2003]]

The '''Office Assistant''' is a discontinued [[intelligent user interface]] for [[Microsoft Office]] that assisted users by way of an interactive [[animated character]] which [[user interface|interfaced]] with the Office help content. It was included in [[Microsoft Office]], in [[Microsoft Publisher]], [[Microsoft Project]], and [[Microsoft FrontPage]]. It had a wide selection of characters to choose from, with the most well-known being a  [[paperclip]] called '''Clippit'''<ref name="dickinson">{{cite web |title=Microsoft's Office Assistant |url=http://lis.dickinson.edu/Technology/Training/Tutorials/MsOffice/assistant.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212204645/http://lis.dickinson.edu/Technology/Training/Tutorials/MsOffice/assistant.htm |archive-date=2007-02-12 |access-date=2007-05-08 |publisher=Dickinson College |quote=Clippit, the default Office Assistant}}</ref><ref name="clippitshomepage">{{cite web |title=Microsoft Clippy |url=http://www.microsoft.com/office/clippy/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010811130237/http://www.microsoft.com/office/clippy/ |archive-date=2001-08-11 |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref> (commonly referred to by the public as '''Clippy'''). The Office Assistant and particularly Clippit have been the subject of numerous criticisms and parodies.