# What happened to the help files in Office 2K?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-help-files-in-office-2k/77347>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-help-files-in-office-2k/77347 "2001-08-21T15:13:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-help-files-in-office-2k/77347/1 "2001-08-21T15:13:15Z")

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Is it me, or are the help files in Office 2K severely truncated? In previous versions, selecting _maximize search capabilities_ appeared to give you a very wide range of terms to search on. The index I see now just doesn’t seem to be as comprehensive. Is there a way to rebuild the index so there are more words to search on? Thanks.

(obligatory examples)  
Using MS access, no version of the ‘trim’ command shows up- not Ltrim, Rtrim or even trim.

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**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-help-files-in-office-2k/77347/2 "2001-08-21T15:32:16Z")

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Are you using SR-1 Service Pack 2? I just did a help search and it came up with trim. (BTW, IMHO, new Access help absolutely sucks compared to A97) It’s all part of the A-C’s evil web-based plans…

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-help-files-in-office-2k/77347/3 "2001-08-21T16:03:40Z")

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Office 2000 is so advanced and easy to use that you don’t need help files.

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**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-help-files-in-office-2k/77347/4 "2001-08-21T17:47:55Z")

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Actually, we were just discussing this in my office (only about a half-hour before I saw your post). The consensus is that Office2K help files both suck _and_ blow, at equal volumes, thereby ensuring that no actual help takes place.

I like the part where you (1) follow the “tips prompt” format and it doesn’t work, so you (2) follow the Help format and it doesn’t work, so you (3) copy&paste the example and _it still doesn’t work_!

As far as I’ve been able to figure out, M$ deleted a bunch of the helpfiles, and what’s left is for O97 rather than O2K. Actually, it took several reinstalls on my system to get the helpfiles to exist at all.

And I’ve yet to find a decent resource book on any M$ product. Best bet is to hit the web.

Good luck! And happy coding!