Microsoft Docs

This article is about Microsoft technical documentation library. For the discontinued Microsoft Office document sharing service, see Docs.com.

Microsoft Docs

Type of site	Knowledge base
Available in	Multiple languages
Area served	Worldwide
Owner	Microsoft
URL	docs.microsoft.com at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Optional
Launched	June 2016;8 years ago (2016-06)
Current status	Moved to Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Docs was a library of technical documentation for end users, developers, and IT professionals who work with Microsoft products. The Microsoft Docs website provided technical specifications, conceptual articles, tutorials, guides, API references, code samples and other information related to Microsoft software and web services. Microsoft Docs was introduced in June 2016 as a replacement for the MSDN and TechNet libraries which previously hosted some of these materials. ^{[1] [2]} Microsoft Docs initially contained only .NET documentation. ^[3] The process of migrating the bulk of the MSDN and TechNet libraries' content took approximately two years.

In 2022, Microsoft Docs was made part of the Microsoft Learn site. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Structure and features

The content on Microsoft Docs was organised into groups based on product or technology and steps of working with it: evaluating, getting started, planning, deploying, managing, and troubleshooting, and the navigation panel and product/service pages showed material breakdowns. The service allowed users to download specific docs sections as PDF files for offline use and included an estimated reading time for each article.

Each article was represented as a Markdown file in various GitHub repositories, and most of the documentation content was open-sourced and accepted pull requests. Microsoft released a set of Visual Studio Code extensions, Docs Authoring Pack, to assist in editing Microsoft Docs content. It included the support of Docs-specific markdown features. ^{[7] [3]}

History

Microsoft Docs preview was introduced in June 2016, initially containing .NET documentation. The process of migrating the bulk of MSDN and TechNet libraries' content has taken approximately two years. Key events:

• November 2016: the documentation for Azure, Visual Studio 2017 RC, C++, ASP.NET Core, Entity Framework Core and SQL on Linux was added. ^[8]
• September 2017: the documentation for Office SharePoint, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and BizTalk Server ITPro was migrated from MSDN/TechNet. ^[9]
• February 2018: Microsoft added new feedback system for Docs based on GitHub issues. ^[10]
• September 2018: The launch of Microsoft Learn was announced on Microsoft Docs. ^[11]
• November 2018: OneDrive technical documentation moved from TechNet to Microsoft Docs. ^[12]
• September 2022: The technical documentation from Microsoft Docs was made an item on the Microsoft Learn site. ^[13]

See also

• Microsoft Learn
• Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN)
• Microsoft TechNet

References

1. Price, Mark J. (24 March 2017). C# 7 and .NET Core: Modern Cross-Platform Development. Packt Publishing Ltd. p. 126. ISBN   9781787120266.
2. Allen, Jonathan (4 May 2016). "MSDN/TechNet Being Replaced by Open Source Project docs.microsoft.com". InfoQ. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
3. Sandquist, Jeff (9 January 2022). "Introducing docs.microsoft.com". Microsoft Docs. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
4. "Microsoft Docs moves to new home at Microsoft Learn - OnMSFT.com". 21 September 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
5. jeffsand (27 September 2018). "Introducing Microsoft.com/Learn". learn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
6. Gola, Nishant (26 September 2022). "Microsoft moves its documentation from Docs to Learn". TheWindowsClub News. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
7. Govoni, Sergio (14 September 2018). "Microsoft Docs and Localization Community Platform". SQLblog.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018.
8. "Microsoft Docs November Update". Microsoft.
9. "Microsoft Docs September 2017 release notes". Microsoft.
10. "A New Feedback System Is Coming to docs.microsoft.com". Microsoft.
11. "Introducing Microsoft.com/Learn". Microsoft.
12. João Carrasqueira. Microsoft is moving its OneDrive technical documentation to Microsoft Docs Neowin News
13. Rifkin, Erin. "Build skills that open doors—with Microsoft Learn". Microsoft Learn blog.

External links

• New home of Microsoft Docs on Microsoft Learn
• Docs Authoring Pack