> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://nolongerset.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # KnowledgeBase Mausoleum - URL: https://nolongerset.com/microsoft-knowledgebase-mausoleum/ - Published: 2021-04-01T01:34:24.000Z - Updated: 2026-05-08T12:45:35.000Z - Description: Looking for that long-lost KnowledgeBase article from 2003 but only finding a 404 error? This website brings dead KB articles back to life. - Author: Mike Wolfe - Tags: Tools, #Import 2026-05-20 02:59 **TL;DR**: *Click the link below to search for retired Microsoft Knowledgebase articles no longer hosted on microsoft.com.* [**Microsoft KB Archive Search**](https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/search) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/eb/d7/ebd732c1-5f03-4f07-b386-5d08557e15c9/content/images/2021/04/image-2.png)](https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/search) --- Microsoft Access has been around a looong time. It's also maintained strong backwards compatibility. As a result, there are some great articles written more than a decade ago that are still relevant today. Some of those great articles are Microsoft KnowledgeBase articles. But nothing is more frustrating than chasing down some obscure bug, finding a link to a KnowledgeBase article with the promised solution, clicking on the link to said article and seeing a 404 error instead. This [xkcd comic](https://xkcd.com/979/) captures my emotions splendidly: ![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/wisdom_of_the_ancients.png) There's an [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/979/) comic for everything. ### Microsoft KnowledgeBase Graveyard I had this exact experience again today. In researching an article I was writing, I came across this page at Microsoft: [Excel COM add-ins and Automation add-ins](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/excel-com-add-ins-and-automation-add-ins-91f5ff06-0c9c-b98e-06e9-3657964eec72). At the bottom of the article, the following text appears: > For more information about Automation Add-Ins, see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: > > [285337](http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/285337) HOWTO: Create a Visual Basic Automation Add-in for Excel Worksheet Functions Yes! That's the exact information I am looking for. C'mon internet, take me to that article! But when I clicked that link, I was greeted with this unpleasant surprise: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/eb/d7/ebd732c1-5f03-4f07-b386-5d08557e15c9/content/images/2021/04/image.png) Why Microsoft? Why would you spend so much time and money developing documentation and then just...throw it away? After several seconds of shaking my monitor like an angry stick figure, I googled `microsoft knowledgebase 285337`. *Aside: I write "googled" with a lower-case "G" as I'm using it to mean a generic web search. I actually used DuckDuckGo for my search. One might say I "DuckDuckGo'ed" or, perhaps, I "DuckDuckWent." Either way, I DuckDuckCelebrated when I saw the results:* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/eb/d7/ebd732c1-5f03-4f07-b386-5d08557e15c9/content/images/2021/04/image-1.png) It's alive! It's aliiiive! Sure enough, when I clicked on the above link, it took me ~~right to that glorious KB content I yearned for~~ ... actually, it took me to the wrong KB article (note in the above screenshot that the KB number in the search bar and the link are mismatched). However, I was able to search on my KB number from within the PKI Solutions site and that did take me where I wanted to go: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/eb/d7/ebd732c1-5f03-4f07-b386-5d08557e15c9/content/images/2021/04/image-3.png) I found you! I thought I had lost you forever! ## Mausoleum of Knowledge > "A *mausoleum* is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people." -[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum) Mausoleums are half-monument, half-burial chamber. I like the metaphor for a website dedicated to lovingly keeping alive the memory of the vast Microsoft KnowledgeBase archive. I've never heard of [PKI Solutions](https://www.pkisolutions.com/about/) before, but I'm sure glad they took on this project. [**Microsoft KB Archive Search**](https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/search) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/eb/d7/ebd732c1-5f03-4f07-b386-5d08557e15c9/content/images/2021/04/image-2.png)](https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/search) *Image by* [*krissybdesigns*](https://pixabay.com/users/krissybdesigns-5194014/?utm%5Fsource=link-attribution&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=image&utm%5Fcontent=3706817) *from* [*Pixabay*](https://pixabay.com/?utm%5Fsource=link-attribution&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=image&utm%5Fcontent=3706817) **UPDATE* \[2025-05-15\]: Added links to screenshots to go to the* [*Microsoft KB Archive Search website*](https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/search)*.*