In excel, when I click the help (?) icon, I get "Sorry, something went wrong. Please check your network connection and try again." My network connection is fine. How do I correct this error?

JLC45's solution worked not only for the Help issue but also added an Action Pen to the Drawing tab in Excel 365 in Windows 11.

Many thanks.

I did a variant of the original answer which seems to work so far.

i.e.: after doing this:

* Open the Excel app> go to File > options> select trust center> select trust center settings> Click on Privacy Option> Click on privacy settings > Check all the connected experiences including "Turn On experiences that download online content" and "Turn on experiences that analyze content" *

Close and reopen Excel

which didn't work, I then unchecked:

Optional diagnostic data

Personalized offers and discounts for Microsoft products

Close and reopen Excel

and help was working again!

This is a sponsored Microsoft community, and you'd think they would monitor it for feedback. This issue has been around in one form or another for a couple of years with no acknowledgement or solution. So, it's not clear if MS pays any attention to their own forums or really cares about customer feedback despite all their PR to the contrary. I have dug pretty deeply over the years to find a way to get through to them but in most cases I have not been successful.

In each of the desktop Office programs there is a Feedback button on the Help menu. There is also a Contact Support button on the same menu. I've used both and have received replies, but not much in the way of real in-depth help. Most of what comes back is pretty standard ... run a diagnostic, reboot, reinstall. Nothing very insightful.

I wish I could be more positive, but this seems to be the current state of play on this issue. There are quite a few people experiencing this problem but not enough to get Microsoft's attention.

The Megaphone leads nowhere. I don't understand how looking at upcoming changes could possibly affect the problem. Maybe I'm on the wrong megaphone but I see nothing about New Experiences. This is an intermittent problem. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. But every time it is annoying.

Hey Microsoft! What do you think the value of the Help feature is? Why am I paying full price for something that doesn't work?

Why is it that I am forced to use language like this in order to get your attention? Fix this problem.

Same problem, in both Excel and Word. The error message appears totally inappropriate to the problem. Now that printed manuals are not (usually) part of software packeges, it is more important than ever that in-program help should work. Why does Microsoft not provide downloadable help files, and why do they ignore all the complaints about basic bugs?

Not sure what to say. It is frustrating for sure. It seems to be a low-level problem. It comes and goes for me. I am seeing it happen more often in Word and Excel now and less so in Outlook. But in any case, the Help function remains unreliable for some people, and it's been that way for over a year or more now.