A portable electronic apparatus includes guide areas associated one-to-one with preselected keys arranged on a key input section and displays, in each of consecutive operation steps, guidance information representative of items which can be selected by the user in the above guide areas. This successfully guides the user of the apparatus to an adequate operating method without resorting to key names heretofore displayed to show correspondence between operation items and keys. The apparatus is therefore practicable with a minimum display size.