Clippy, the cartoon paper clip that was once used in Microsoft Word, has returned to Microsoft Office as part of an April Fools’ Day joke.
Users reported seeing Clippy, which provided “help” in Word, on Tuesday, April 1.
When users log into Office.com accounts and open a document in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word, Clippy appears.
“Clippy has been there for Microsoft Office users since Office 97 – but with support for Office 2003 and Windows XP ending on 8 April, it’s time for everyone’s favourite office assistant to take on a new role,” Microsoft said in a press release.
It described Clippy as “Microsoft’s latest innovation.”
“We live in a world where new technologies arrive daily – it can be a struggle just to keep up. But what if there was a way to just … attach … new innovations to our lives? To usher in this new era of attachments, Microsoft is turning to an old friend with some new tricks up his sleeve,” the blog reads.
“Microsoft announced the date for the end of Windows XP support back in 2007, so I’ve had a lot of time to plan my next move,” the release says, attributing a quote to Clippy. “And now I’m excited to finally announce the next chapter in my life. I’m going back to basics and doing what paper clips like me are born to do: Attach things to other things.”
