I just had one of the best flights I’ve had so far on the Boeing 787. I’m still relatively new to MSFS. Up until now, I’ve encountered what I assumed to be various bugs in the program, because nothing seemed to go right, especially with the 787. I posted several questions on this forum seeking solutions, and several of you gave me the necessary direction to get back on track. It seems like the majority of posts in this forum involve reports of bugs as well as expressing disappointment in the program. I have to believe that many of these "bugs"would be resolved if Microsoft would simply make available a comprehensive User Manual to all owners of the MSFS software. In the meantime, I will continue to appreciate any help I receive from other members of this forum, and I will make a point of helping those who I am able to.
IMHO this is supposed to be the checkists, that aren’t complete.
As a man that has spent half his adult life in various checklists (Navy)…Pretty please. If someone would publish an official all encompassing (sorry) guide, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Yes, there are thousands of great videos and forums…but one place…that has 75 percent of the content most people are looking for
A user manual for the software, such as the menu options, setting up a plan, using the weather, basic aeronautics, flying a circuit … the basics … etc would be good.
However a user manual for all the aircraft would be huge. I have downloaded some manuals that are running in at hundreds of pages each. The B36 POH that I have is 533 pages, and the G1000 manual for the DA62 is 180 pages. I have found 2 manuals for a simulated B787 that closk in at over 600 pages as well.
For me in the base sim, model the planes accurately, and then I can find and use the real thing. 
Or for payware aircraft, especially study level, I would expect a) to pay a reasonable amount and b) get a good manual for that aircraft.
At the risk of being attacked, I have just been reading the fairly comprehensive online manual for X-Plane11 to try and understand how the MSFS system is supposed to work.
Unfortunately, the MSFS systems seem to operate quite differently to those in X-Plane, and the real world counterparts, but they are at least documented in a way that tells you what is and isn’t working.
And for all those that say we don’t need a manual, or airport maps, or working flight planning, or the ability to set up controls so that what works on a Cessna Skyhawk does not stop the engines on an A320 (Mixture), because there are Youtube videos, because producing all this stuff is too expensive, I say go and download the many hundreds of pages of carefully crafted manuals for the free BMS mod of Falcon 4. They add to the manual that came with the original game. Or take a look at just the manuals for the entirely free DCS World base package. 250 page manual just for the GUI alone, plus 2 free study level aircraft, both with comprehensive manuals, as do all the purchased modules, and even the more complete freeware Addons such as the excellent MB-339.
what he said ^
For £109.99, they can produce a smegging manual.
Even given that they have to create a new manual when features are not yet fixed in place (when will they ever be?), I have asked before, just for the time being translate the pretty good FSX manual & tutorials for this sim. Not a massive ask - Even just making the HTML pages available unchanged as a placeholder for those that do not already have a copy of FSX, and just writing a simple manual for the Sim UI itself would be a start.
Here you go: (Note the links in the upper right for other content originally found in Learning Center)
http://krepelka.com/fsweb/learningcenter/lc_index_lessonsmain.htm
Thanks - good link.
Good luck with that. 3rd party devs are trying to get more info on the SDK just to make more content for the sim and having a hard time accomplishing this task that HELPS the sim selll more.
The flying lessons from the FSX “help” are just a part of the setup - The rest of it details how each instrument works, & at least the basic the operation of said items as well as things such as the autopilot and Garmin sets.
Real world manuals are not always legally available, and rarely describe what is being simulated accurately. Again, there is literally no excuse for not including this information in a modern flight simulation, given that the sim it was based on already has much of the text required.
Take a look at X-Plane, DCS, F4 BMS. All these include detailed manuals on the sim itself, and individual Aircraft pilots manuals, with individual detailed step-by step instruction on how each system and instrument works. Then there are generally Training missions that explain in detail why instruments are being used - like the linked ones above for FSX.
Many are missing the point. Yes, we all know where to find resources on basic flight, etc. and we can find the POH, FCM, etc. for aircraft.
The problem is, we each waste a lot of time trying to figure out what parts of these real world manuals can we expect to be modelled in this sim?
It is kind of ridiculous. A lot of complaints brought up in these forums could be prevented if there was a FM… as replies could be RTFM. There are also a lot of complaints about X or Y not seeming to be working, and the typical answer to that is “its not implemented… you shouldn’t expect a study level aircraft in the base package”
Well, no we don’t expect study level, but we would expect to see something that shows what is and isn’t modelled.
Agree in general with your point re manuals.
But
“and even the more complete freeware Addons such as the excellent MB-339”
Agree it is excellent, though not freeware- I paid for mine!