In message of Sun,
16 May 2010 04:13:00 in microsoft.public.excel.newusers, Gary''s Student
writes
Some versions of Excel allow you to enable/disable the Online Help featu

Tools Options General Options Service options clear the show content
and links from Microsoft Office Online


In message of Sun,
16 May 2010 07:10:01 in microsoft.public.excel.newusers, Gary''s Student
writes
Because its web based, sometimes online help is not available.

If this is hte situation, you can always direct your computer to use local
help with the proper setting in Tools Options... General Service Options

Thanks to Gary''s Student for both replies.

I disabled my internet connection to see if I could repeat the problem.
I could not. Perhaps recent pages are cached. I had tried vlookup again.
OTOH, Search was done in Offline Help - not Microsoft Office Online.
I now have tools to probe failures and some understanding.

Unchecking "Tools/Options.../General/Service Options.../Online
Content/Show content and links from Microsoft Office Online" was
effective. Rechecking it did not restore the original states of the
dependent checkboxes. I checked "Search online content when connected"
and "Show Microsoft Office Online featured links" and left unchecked
"Show Template Help automatically when available".
--
Walter Briscoe