In-App Help Pane Content (Microsoft 365)

Content Designer and Program Manager | Microsoft

context

Microsoft 365’s in-app help pane gives users quick access to product guides, troubleshooting tips, and task-based support—right inside their favorite apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook.

As a Content Designer and Program Manager, I was responsible for authoring and optimizing over 250+ help articles across Microsoft 365 apps, ensuring that users could find fast, relevant, and clear guidance without leaving the product experience.

Goal: Improve help discoverability, reduce reliance on external support, and enhance user satisfaction through data-driven content improvements.

problem

Microsoft’s help pane served millions of users each month, but faced three major challenges:

  • Content gaps led to unnecessary support tickets and frustration

  • Search queries often surfaced irrelevant or outdated results

  • Engineering teams lacked insight into recurring user pain points

Challenge: Create a content system that delivers relevant answers instantly, scales efficiently, and informs continuous product improvement.

1. Research & Data Analysis

  • Analyzed user query data to uncover top-searched terms and pain points

  • Mapped these queries against existing content to identify knowledge gaps

  • Partnered with machine learning (ML) teams to classify and bucket thousands of search terms for better retrieval accuracy

process

2. Content Strategy & Authoring

  • Authored and optimized 250+ help articles, ensuring clarity, accessibility, and brand consistency

  • Implemented structured content patterns for faster comprehension and self-service resolution

  • Used real user language and search intent data to refine titles, headings, and keywords

3. Optimization & Collaboration

  • Worked closely with engineering and ML teams to improve the predictive search model inside Microsoft 365

  • Provided actionable insights to product teams by surfacing recurring pain points from help pane analytics

  • Continuously iterated based on feedback loops, usage data, and customer satisfaction metrics

“By connecting user query data with ML-driven insights, we turned the Help Pane into a smarter, more intuitive support experience.”

outcome

  • Authored and published 250+ articles across Microsoft 365 apps

  • Reduced support costs by 3% by improving self-service success rates

  • Increased customer satisfaction by 30%, as measured by in-product feedback

  • Enhanced retrieval accuracy and keyword matching in the in-app search model

impact

  • Transformed the Help Pane into an intelligent, user-driven support channel

  • Strengthened collaboration between content, ML, and engineering teams

  • Demonstrated how data-informed UX writing and content strategy can directly improve product satisfaction and reduce operational costs

  • Established a scalable model for integrating user insights into ongoing content development