Excel Newsgroups Disappeared-Find Excel Help Resources

Excel Newsgroups Disappeared

In the past, I highly recommended the Excel newsgroups as a place to go for help. However, earlier this month, Microsoft shut down their newsgroup servers, where thousands of people every month had gone to post their Excel questions, and the Excel newsgroups disappeared.
[Updated 2020-12-09]

Learning in the Newsgroups

Over the past several years, I spent lots of time in those newsgroups, reading and answering questions. I was able to help people, and learned lots from the questions and answers that were posted there.

The people who visited the newsgroups on a regular basis might have noticed the announcements about the impending shutdown. But most people probably visited the newsgroups only a few times a year, when they needed help. They didn’t see the shutdown coming!

It’s not like going to your favourite store, and finding a “We’ve Moved” sign, with helpful directions to the new location. No, it’s like going to that store, and finding out that the building has magically disappeared overnight. There’s no clue as to what happened, or where to find them.

Where Do You Go Now?

Since the newsgroups disappeared, several people have emailed me, to find out where they went, and where to get Excel help now.

Microsoft Forums

One option is to use the web-based forums that Microsoft has set up:

Answers – https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/excel

Technet — https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/excel/threads

MSDN (Excel Developers) — https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exceldev/threads

MSDN (VBA) — https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/isvvba/threads

NOTE: To post a question or answer in the Microsoft forums, you’ll need to register, and sign in, using a Microsoft account.

More Excel Forums

Here are a few more Excel forums where you can ask questions, and help other people, by answering their questions.

Mr. Excel Forum

Excel Forum

Excel Guru Forum

Chandoo Forum

Public New Servers

If you don’t like web-based forums, you can use a public news server, like https://www.aioe.org/ to access the Excel newsgroups. Even though Microsoft pulled the plug at its end, other servers carry the newsgroups, so there will still be some traffic, although much less than previously.

Google Groups Search

If your search skills are good, you can use Google to find an answer to your Excel questions, with either a general search, or a newsgroup search. If nothing turns up there, Microsoft Support is another good place to search for Excel solutions.

Cry for Help in Twitter

As Twitter becomes more popular, people even post their Excel questions and comments there. Use the hashtag #Excel in your tweet, and someone might reply.

Get Good Results

If you’re posting a questions in one of the forums or newsgroups here are a few suggestions for getting the best results:

  • search the forum first, to see if your question has already been answered
  • some forums have multiple sections for questions — read the overviews, and select the best venue for your question
  • in your question, provide context, such as what version of Excel and operating system, any error messages, etc., and show some sample data, if possible
  • explain what you’ve tried so far, and other suggested solutions that didn’t solve the problem (include links to those suggestions, if possible)
  • check back frequently, to read any replies and answer any follow up questions
  • even if you’re frustrated, stay calm and polite, and remember to thank the people who helped, or tried to help you

Other Microsoft Resources

There are plenty of training resources on the Microsoft site, including some for Office 365.

Microsoft Learn

Excel Video Training

Channel 9 – Excel Essentials Video Course

Your Recommendations

When I posted about finding Excel help last summer, commenters recommended Stackoverflow.com as a good place to get Excel programming help.

You can also ask questions on the Excel-L list:
https://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/excel-l.html .

Where are you finding or providing Excel help these days, now that the Microsoft newsgroup servers have been shut down? Please share your suggestions in the comments.

__________

Excel Newsgroups Disappeared

Excel Newsgroups Disappeared
Excel Newsgroups Disappeared

____________

15 thoughts on “Excel Newsgroups Disappeared-Find Excel Help Resources”

  1. If I can’t find the answer within the first 10 mins. of Google searching I try either the Contextures website, C Pearsons site or if I need a forum I try Ozgrid or MrExcels (the later being well subscribed so plenty of traffic). Finally the Google AddIn for Excel 2007 works well.

  2. I have used Excel newsgroups for many years, the wealth of information and helpful folks was amazing. I cannot believe MS shut this valuable source down. And worst of all, you cannot even search through historical data; all that information gone from view.

    Thanks Debra for some additional forum links! Time to find a new ‘help’ home.

  3. Thanks Debra for all these useful links, I generally to use Excelforum.com to help or get help

  4. Shairal, try the newsgroup search link in the Google Search section of this blog post. You can probably find all the old newsgroup posts there.

    Oli, Rog, Patrick — thanks for the suggestions!

  5. I suppose most people are looking for a no cost solution to their Excel problems. However, for several years now, I have been subscribing to AbleOwl.com from New Zealand.

    I first came across them when attending a seminar in Melbourne, Australia, and got a free subscription for three months.

    They provide an excellent monthly magazine (now emailed to me in PDF format) and unlimited help through their email hotline.

    Questions are always answered within 24 hours and I don’t think they have ever let me down.

    It costs me about A$22 per month, but it’s tax deductible, and without reservation, the best value for money service I have come across.

    Highly recommended.

    Regards,

    David

  6. Dear,

    How can Insert a column after every column in excel,
    Please reply me as early as possible.

    Jagadish.Y

  7. What formula do I use if I want to remove * in front of figures on a spreadsheet where the number of digits vary?
    i.e. ***2.00 – ***20000.00

Comments are closed.