Vista - Office 2007 Help Files Blank!

Hi All,

Whenever I try to access the help (F1) from any of my office applications the help window appears but is blank. Neither my online or offline help are working for any office applications. I get the index displayed but that's all. When I click on an item in the index nothing happens. I'm running Office 2007 SP2 with Vista Ultimate SP2 & IE 8. I'm not logged into http://office.microsoft.com either.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Have you tried the "?" Help icon at the upper right-hand corner of your Word (or other MS Office app) page? That icon takes you to the same screen, and hopefully will access all of the Help info.

At the bottom of the Help section, these three links are offered for additional help: Get online Help, templates, training, and additional content.

Also, try Googling the problem, because there is usually a lot of help from other folks who have had the same problem. When I put in the keywords: "Cannot access Office 2007 Help" I found some interesting responses, including:

Cannot access online help content in office 2007 - MS Office Support (See posts #5 + #6 dated 2/5/08 -- communications from someone from Microsoft in there.)

Access 2007 » Office 2007 & 2010 Help – The New Paperclip

As a last resort, call Microsoft tech support 800 936 4900 or 425 882 8080, for this problem.

Thanks,

I had found those two also. Nothing suggested there seemed to correct the issue either.

Some posters suggest it's an issue with a recently released MS patch but no one seemed to know which one.

Thanks anyway!

Okay, never one to give up, how about this: I think maybe we put in the wrong search request. I did much better with this one: "Office 2007 Help files missing" - office 2007 help files missing - Google Search Try it -- there are tons of responses. And again, if you can't find the answer, try calling Microsoft tech support 800 936 4900 or 425 882 8080, for this problem.

Thanks for the persistance! I had a look at a lot of those searches with no success. I believe the issue to be something blocking the display of the items rather than anything missing with the help files themselves. I've checked firewall etc. too.

I'll keep searching though and post if I find anything.

Thanks again.

OK not really sure how this got fixed but it's fixed!!

Two things happend since last I posted:

1. Automatic download and installation of Update for Internet Explorer 8 for Windows Vista (KB976749)

2. I ran a disk cleanup on my C:\ (right click on C:\ in Windows Explorer) and deleted Tempoary Internet Files, Tempoary Files and Downloaded Files

Not sure which on fixed it but thankfully the issue seems to be resolved!

Thanks to Imperfect1 for your suggestions.