Corrections and additions to Support Microsoft com Listing of All Functions

Brass Contributor

Who or to which department should I address this to?

 

I really don't think it would be appropriate to make separate discussions on each one although, in my view, some are extremely important.

 

I have completed a review of the alpha listing of all Excel Functions

 

I have about 50 corrections and additions and comments

This is an important "go to" resource and I believe it is important that it should be authoritative.

 

9 Replies
Hi @Norman_Harker,

Thank you so much for putting a list as such! Please share it with me here or send me a direct message and I will make sure it goes to the right team to review and make corrections as appropriate.

Warm regards,

@cuong 

 

I've now completed my review of the Support.Microsoft.com list of all functions.

I attach the file with corrections and notes.

I shall be putting this up for comment in my LinkedIn group in the near future as there are quite a few descriptions on the various statistics functions that I would like to have competent statisticians look at.

I must admit to being surprised at some of the errors.

Thanks for your attention.

Thank you, @Norman_Harker. I've shared your list with the team.

Have a great weekend!

Cuong (MSFT)
Thanks! Some of those bloopers bring ridicule about a great product. And many of the changes are just questions of fact that are wrong. Wrong classification! Wrong year of introduction!

In my view, confirmed by its placement of the link to the list in (e.g.) https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/excel the list of All Functions is one of the most important places that users go to for Help. If that is riddled with errors, you've shot yourselves in both feet before you start.

Next, I'll be drilling down to Help on individual functions where I know of many more errors and omissions. I've given up pointing them out one by one on the link in each page - even the most obvious bloopers are ignored.

Rather than put the least skilled, knowledgeable and competent, members of the Microsoft team on creating the Help resources Microsoft should put their best ones. Just ask users what they think about the Help pages on Functions! And many of the web sources are equally bad or worse with many just vehicles for getting mugs to pay for over-priced and over-rated courses that I'd only recommend to an ex-wife.

Less emphasis on making it look pretty and more on getting the material both helpful and correct.

Rant over! Normal service will now be resumed!

Have a great weekend! Keep yourself, your family and your friends safe.
Norman

@cuong 

 

3 Months after reporting most of the bloopers in the Microsoft Support list of all functions. You shared the list with the team but the result of your action is zero.

 

Nothing has been changed.

 

How can this be escalated to someone who can actually do something.

The 7870 members of the LinkedIn Group that I manage are fortunate that they have a more reliable source than Microsoft.

@Norman_Harker thanks for the follow up.  Let me check with the team on the status of updates.  Appreciate your staying on top of it.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Thanks! After correcting the bloopers in the All Functions listing, I've drilled down to the help file for each function where there are also a large number of patent errors, most of which have been there for ages. For example, the formula given for RRI is wrong (missing parentheses) and so is the formula for MIRR (a complete mystery because I don't believe there is an explicit solution).

A good 4th July long weekend.

Aussies are very lucky you declared independence because that led to the establishment of Australia as a replacement colony for dumping English convicts.

@Norman_Harker Thank you! I heard from the doc team over the weekend. They are working through your feedback - thank you. At the same time, they are focused on updating over a thousand support articles for the next perpetual release of Office LTSC - see Upcoming commercial preview of Microsoft Office LTSC | Microsoft 365 Blog for more info on this release.

 

We really do appreciate your feedback. Please keep them coming. We are working through them.