Where is the help file for Excel?

[StarliteLemming]

I know this sounds like a dumb question, but anyone who's been using Office and Excel for decades, like I have, would remember things like context-sensitive help, local help files, hierarchical walkthroughs of every feature in the program. It all seems to have disappeared.

All the "Help" seems to be online, and there's no reference material at all. It's all just badly-written tutorials for absolute beginners. The search term MERGEFORMAT actually manages to deliver zero relevant hits (admittedly, that's Word, but I know I've had the same issues with Excel features).

So, am I missing something, or has Microsoft really just removed all the Help information they used to provide? And if so, how can I get my money back?
Can I install Office XP help files, or something?
(I'm really angry about this. It just makes no sense, for a company that used to have the best manuals in the business -- admittedly that was Word 6.0.)

 

[rlv01]

It's all online now and in theory, pressing 'F1' will get you to the relevant (context sensitive) online help page. In practice it is hit or miss, certainly slower, and often produces unsatisfying results. I find I get better and faster results just googling the feature I am seeking help for. It does raise the question of how to you would use Office on systems that are air-gapped for security. MS makes a "government" version of office 365 to address certain security concerns and I've wondered if there still exists for some versions, the option of local help files.

 

[StarliteLemming]

I think you're being overly generous by calling it, "hit or miss."

Feels like there's a gap in the "market" for someone to take the old help files and update them for the latest version. Somehow, I doubt there'd be many changes.