Microsoft bricks Help features in MS-Office 2019? Seriously?

I rarely use Help, but Office 2019 is still relatively unexplored for me... so when I needed to do something I hadn't before, I clicked on the Help option.

Imagine my surprise when I found that when they ended support in Oct 2025 they actually deleted the on-line Help data. Gone. The only Help you can get is help on how to upgrade to a newer version of Office.

Wow. I've always preferred local Help files, but I can see the advantage to a company putting them on-line in terms of updates for changes, etc. However, I never expected that they'd kill it when they ended support. That's just downright nasty.

I'm not an MS basher by any means, but this certainly doesn't make me like them more.

File > Options > General > Privacy Settings

Are these checked?:

Let office download online content

Enable connected experiences

I don't see that in Office Pro Plus 2019. I see the same thing in Office Pro Plus 2021.



BTW, I have 2 x Office Pro Plus 2019 and 3 x Office Pro Plus 2021 licenses. Office 2021 support will end in October 2026 so it will have the same problem.

In any case I rarely use Office online support so it won't be missed much. I usually search online for help or use my old Office 2010 books because some things haven't changed in a long time.

Shutting down Office online support for perpetual licenses is apparently on purpose. They must think if they annoy us enough we will give up and subscribe to Microsoft 365.

MisterEd said:

In any case I rarely use Office online support so it won't be missed much. I usually search online for help or use my old Office 2010 books because some things haven't changed in a long time.

Click to expand...

I usually just DuckDuckGo the problem and see what turns up. I've gone back as far as Office 2003 doing lookups.

If they make it too draconian then I'll do a full switch to LibreOffice, which is actually getting better and better.

MisterEd said:

Shutting down Office online support for perpetual licenses is apparently on purpose. They must think if they annoy us enough we will give up and subscribe to Microsoft 365.

Click to expand...

Well there ya go...

cheaterslick said:

I usually just DuckDuckGo the problem and see what turns up. I've gone back as far as Office 2003 doing lookups.

If they make it too draconian then I'll do a full switch to LibreOffice, which is actually getting better and better.



Well there ya go...

Click to expand...

The problem as always for all these Office clones is that there's no embedded email client -- for all its "old fashioned look" etc Outlook does what it does easily, simply, no probs with IMAP,POP3,EXCHANGE etc or numbers of accounts allowed. Other paid email clients hare usually a bit fussier, are going increasingly for the dreaded subscription model and if they have any free features are removing pretty well any of the worth while ones.

Thunderbird is "Semi-acceptable" as a freebie but it has quirks and is complicated to set up properly for multiple accounts and different email servers.

The nearest decent outlook clone (free) I've seen but it's a total dog to get working -- but worthwhile in the end is to use KMAIL on any Linux live distro (or VM) with the KDE GUI.

Libre Office or equivalents are fine for all the other things unless you are an "EXCEL" power user. With Copilot Excel is really good these days even with Office 2019 and as for help with office - the DUCKDUCKGO suggestion is a good one.

There's also loads of free publications online on how to use all features of the various releases of Ms office. Apart from EXCEL not much really in the way of new features since Office 2010 - at least not for around 90% of typical Office users. Even with EXCEL you can "replicate" - although far lengthier and complicated some of the newer great features such as better Pivot table handling and "What If" scenarios / calculations.

cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

The problem as always for all these Office clones is that there's no embedded email client -- for all its "old fashioned look" etc Outlook does what it does easily, simply, no probs with IMAP,POP3,EXCHANGE etc or numbers of accounts allowed. Other paid email clients hare usually a bit fussier, are going increasingly for the dreaded subscription model and if they have any free features are removing pretty well any of the worth while ones.

Click to expand...

I never use Outlook so this isn't a problem. MS should never have a monopoly towards email access, anyway.

jimbo45 said:

Thunderbird is "Semi-acceptable" as a freebie but it has quirks and is complicated to set up properly for multiple accounts and different email servers.

Click to expand...

I've been using it for 10 years now. One of the few programs I donate to. It's a lot easier to set up now then it used to be.

jimbo45 said:

The nearest decent outlook clone (free) I've seen but it's a total dog to get working -- but worthwhile in the end is to use KMAIL on any Linux live distro (or VM) with the KDE GUI.

Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks!

jimbo45 said:

Libre Office or equivalents are fine for all the other things unless you are an "EXCEL" power user. With Copilot Excel is really good these days even with Office 2019 and as for help with office - the DUCKDUCKGO suggestion is a good one.

Click to expand...

DuckDuckGo is really the only solution for me. I'm still using old versions of Office on Windows 10 and those old "Help" links to those old versions of Office have been long dead. I've just accepted that and it goes with the territory.

And no, I'm not paying a subscription and updating everytime an new version of Office comes out. They can take a hike...

These days, the only thing I need is a good Office writer and LibreOffice Writer works just as well for me. Lots of improvements to make it more Office-like without the burden of Microsoft's crap that goes with it. But I sill use old versions of Office whenever I feel like it, though. As long as they still work then I'll still use them.

cheaterslick said:

I never use Outlook so this isn't a problem. MS should never have a monopoly towards email access, anyway.



I've been using it for 10 years now. One of the few programs I donate to. It's a lot easier to set up now then it used to be.



Good to know, thanks!



DuckDuckGo is really the only solution for me. I'm still using old versions of Office on Windows 10 and those old "Help" links to those old versions of Office have been long dead. I've just accepted that and it goes with the territory.

And no, I'm not paying a subscription and updating everytime an new version of Office comes out. They can take a hike...

These days, the only thing I need is a good Office writer and LibreOffice Writer works just as well for me. Lots of improvements to make it more Office-like without the burden of Microsoft's crap that goes with it. But I sill use old versions of Office whenever I feel like it, though. As long as they still work then I'll still use them.

Click to expand...

Don't forget the Internet Archive to get ISO's of earlier versions of Office etc.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Don't forget the Internet Archive to get ISO's of earlier versions of Office etc.

Click to expand...

Any good links you would recommend?

If you just need an email client you can download the free Outlook for Windows app from the Microsoft Store.

BTW, what good are links to ISOs of earlier versions of Office? They will run in a reduced mode unless they are activated with a valid key. That is you can open files but you can't edit them.

dacrone said:

File > Options > General > Privacy Settings

Are these checked?:

Let office download online content

Enable connected experiences

Click to expand...

I don't have the option... my screen looks like what @MisterEd posted.

Would there be a way to backtrack to an ISO and get the content from there? Was HELP ever downloadable to the local machine?

jimbo45 said:

Thunderbird is "Semi-acceptable" as a freebie but it has quirks and is complicated to set up properly for multiple accounts and different email servers...

Click to expand...

Really? I have like 4 accounts setup in Thunderbird... I'm no expert, IT or something knowledgeable at least... What's so complicated about setting up an account? Unless you mean things like making it check all folders for new mail always, which then yes, it needs an advanced toggle lol (Yeah, they need an option for that for normal users like me...)

DarkShadowMD said:

Really? I have like 4 accounts setup in Thunderbird... I'm no expert, IT or something knowledgeable at least... What's so complicated about setting up an account? Unless you mean things like making it check all folders for new mail always, which then yes, it needs an advanced toggle lol (Yeah, they need an option for that for normal users like me...)

Click to expand...

Well it used to be a pain in the ass a few years back, having to look up all those individual IMAP, POP3, EXCHANGE numbers for hotmail, outlook, yahoo, gmail etc... and then entering each one of them in manually. - - - Jeez, I remember those days.

But newer versions now just automate all that so it's a lot simpler. Only need your email address / user name and password now and T-bird just looks them all up for you. Real smooth. Good times.

DarkShadowMD said:

Really? I have like 4 accounts setup in Thunderbird... I'm no expert, IT or something knowledgeable at least... What's so complicated about setting up an account? Unless you mean things like making it check all folders for new mail always, which then yes, it needs an advanced toggle lol (Yeah, they need an option for that for normal users like me...)

Click to expand...

You’re 100% correct. I just setup 5 gmail accounts on Thunderbird on a Mac Mini and had absolutely no problems whatsoever. As a matter of fact I set up multiple filters/rules for each account and they worked flawlessly unlike Outlook which never worked right in all the years I was using it.

@Levitate11: On the Microsoft support forum: Offline Help in Office 2019

In the response it stated, "Offline help was there till Office 2013. Starting Office 2016, Offline help has been taken off.".

If true then that means we are out of luck

SoFine409 said:

You’re 100% correct. I just setup 5 gmail accounts on Thunderbird on a Mac Mini and had absolutely no problems whatsoever. As a matter of fact I set up multiple filters/rules for each account and they worked flawlessly unlike Outlook which never worked right in all the years I was using it.

Click to expand...

The REAL problem is if you have different inbound and outbound mail servers with different user account and password on each. Automated stuff works fine for a lot but doesn't work for different mail servers !!!!!!

For bog standard situations with typical type email addresses then no prob. My post was on when you have those situations where automated setup doesn't work or not applicable. !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

MisterEd said:

In the response it stated, "Offline help was there till Office 2013. Starting Office 2016, Offline help has been taken off.".

If true then that means we are out of luck

Click to expand...

But do note that many current Office online Help pages apply to Office 2019 & even Office 2016 as well as current versions.
Applicability is given in the Applies to section under article titles.
e.g. Repair an Office application - MSSupport


My understanding is that Office versions since Office 2013 have just added hardly-ever-useful capabilities [without removing old capabilities] so your working assumption can always be that current Office online Help articles are worth consulting for older versions.
https://support.microsoft.com/office


All the best,
Denis
Still an Office Pro 2007 user - it has built-in Help files

I found out years ago with even earlier versions of Office. All the on-line help is gone, but an Internet search normally turns up what I need.

you can download the offline 2013 chm help files. i'm sure someone on reddit or github has compiled the 2019/2016 for offline haha. just have to dig around for the chm files for those years (they would've had to rip them from online help pages and compiled them)

jimbo45 said:

The REAL problem is if you have different inbound and outbound mail servers with different user account and password on each. Automated stuff works fine for a lot but doesn't work for different mail servers !!!!!!

Click to expand...

I didn't have much problem with that. I was amazed at how fast and how simple it had gotten from just a few years earlier.

I had to delete some of my accounts from my old T-bird profile due to some protocol changes MS implemented for Outlook. And yahoo also made some changes, largely to confirm some of my old information that had been sitting stagnant for years.

When I went to add them back in, it was so simple. I thought I had to manually put all that info back in again. Instead, it just looked up the IMAP, POP3 etc numbers for me all by itself and put them in there. It took a couple of minutes for T-bird to collect all that folder information and populate the folders and wha-la!, I'm back in business.

And here I thought it was gonna be a time consuming process. What a relief - Wheew...

jimbo45 said:

For bog standard situations with typical type email addresses then no prob. My post was on when you have those situations where automated setup doesn't work or not applicable. !!!!

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

Well I'm not sure what kind of a set-up you had but I'd guess for the vast majority of users out there, I'd say it was simple enough for them, as it was as simple enough for me.

The only hiccup I later had was when MS had implemented that app password that I had to set up through Outlook's OWA web page and transpose it to T-bird. That's not the same thing as my log-in password. That was a something new type of 2FA authentication that MS had implemented and it wasn't T-bird's fault.

One thing I will emphasize is that anytime you make any changes, back up your Thunderbird profile: