in my 365 software the Help function is blocked. How do I access HELP in Word or Excel?

This Office Help error is commonly caused by connected experiences being turned off in Office privacy settings. Help in Word and Excel uses online services, so if those settings are disabled, F1 and Help can show: "Your organization's administrator turned off the service required to use this feature."

Try this in Word or Excel:

1. Open Word or Excel.
2. Go to File > Options.
3. Select General.
4. In the Privacy section, open Privacy Settings.
5. Turn on Enable optional connected experiences.
6. If shown, also turn on the setting to enable experiences that download online content.
7. Save the changes and restart the Office app.

An alternate path mentioned for newer builds is:

1. Open Word or Excel.
2. Go to File > Account > Account Privacy > Manage Settings.
3. Turn on optional connected experiences.
4. Close all Office apps and reopen them.

If those settings are already enabled, the accepted guidance in similar cases is to check whether any of these were changed:

• Local Group Policy
• Privacy-hardening tools
• Firewall or DNS filtering rules that may block Microsoft services

If needed, run an Office repair:

1. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
2. Select Microsoft Office 2024 and choose Modify.
3. Try Quick Repair first.
4. If that does not help, try Online Repair.

If the feature is being restricted by policy, that behavior is expected and the documented resolution is to contact IT support or the administrator responsible for the policy.

Help can also be opened from within Office by:

• typing in the Tell me what you want to do box and choosing Get Help for the search phrase
• going to File and selecting the ? help button
• pressing F1

References:

• Where is the product help in Office?
• Understanding feature restrictions
• How to enable help featrue in Office 365 - Microsoft Q&A
• Error message that says "Your Administrator has turned off the service required to use this feature" when I try to use Help in Word - Microsoft Q&A
• How to Fix Office Help "Turned Off" - Microsoft Q&A
• the help command isn't available. Your organization's administrator turned off the service required to use this feature. - Microsoft Q&A
• How to activate the help function in word and excel - Microsoft Q&A