I purchased the download version and unlike the boxed version, contains no manual. Where can one obtain a copy of the MSFS manual?
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There is no “MSFS manual.” You will have to find all information on flying aircraft, understanding systems, and navigating the simulator online.
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Then what is the “Manual” that is shipped with the boxed version?
Well, I wouldn’t know I don’t have the box version. Perhaps it is a guide on how to properly install the simulator. I heavily doubt they wrote a whole documentation on how to use each aircraft.
Perhaps a concise, truthful, and informative wiki page will eventually be made for MSFS.
There is plenty online available at no cost. Skyvector website has sectional maps and a search of how to read them won’t take long…just for starters.
It’s some info about installation, short descriptions of the main menus and the activities shipping with the sim, a three page step by step example flight in a Cessna 172 and some basic descriptions of all the airplanes.
And the extra book coming with the boxed premium edition is just descriptions for the extra airplanes (slightly more detailed than those in the standard manual) and extra airports.
That’s it. The times where sims came with printed 500 page manuals that contained half a groundschool worth of information are long gone unfortunately…
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If you want anything approaching an FS2020 manual, then you will have to buy a copy of FSX, and read the extensive manual that comes as HTM documentation. Then figure out what FSX controls & so on work in MSFS2020.
I think this notion that the user has to figure it out for themselves, watch Youtube, read user made wikis, and so on, with no hint during pre-purchase, that there would be no documentation, at all, is pretty misleading.
Why didn’t they at least create an edited copy of the quite good FSX manual?
The times when the 500 page manual including half a groundschool of information are certainly not gone. Falcon4 BMS manuals are exhaustive, DCS Manuals, for the sim and each individual aircraft, are comprehensive, Xplane manual not small by any means, FSX as mentioned, covers almost everything, including proper full 45 minute checkrides. I could go on, but the point is made.
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I don’t need a manual… I’m married and my wife knows everything! 
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Good one
Ok I get it, no one here wants noobs to learn.
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I see on Amazon that used copies of FSX are still being sold, claimed to be in good condition. If one were to buy it as a DVD boxed product, can it still be installed and activated on Windows 10? Would the Gold Edition be the one to get? I read somewhere that the Microsoft version of FSX can no longer be activated and that one should buy the Steam version - that still works - but then that wouldn’t come with the manual, would it?, and how about DLC? (I’m not a Steam user and my last version of FS was about 2000 or so.). I’d be interested in my own copy of FSX for anything that I could import into FS 2020.
The boxed version did not come with a paper manual. All of the documentation and lessons are accessed from within the game. They are .html files stored in a subfolder named “FSWeb” within the install folder. It’s possible that this folder is accessible directly from the DVD’s, but someone else would have to confirm that. Even if it is, the files aren’t really built to work well outside of the ingame training section. The embedded links won’t take you to the correct places.
FSX: Steam Edition has often gone on sale for $5 during the various sales they hold throughout the year. No clue whether or not it’ll be in the next one, but even at its current price of $25, it’s worth it just to get access to the training documents and flights. They start out a little like the 8 lesson flights in 2020 do, teaching you the absolute basics, but they then continue on teaching you how to navigate via VOR and do ILS landings and fly the airliners, etc.
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I know that may sound a bit disheartening but theoretically you can download manuals for most of the planes directly from the vendors. For example there is a pdf for the TBM 930. It has 700 pages though, but the information is from the most professional source.
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That’s the point really. I see this sim as a way to get many new people into the genre, which atm seems to be filled with old farts like me.
Many of us have some real world experience, countless hours on sims, and lots of time & money invested in the hobby, so we don’t always remember that someone new needs all the information in one place to get them going. Attention spans are not what they used to be 
My reason for mentioning FSX, is purely because it is a pretty good example of full documentation for that particular sim, and I can’t understand why that information is not being used in this sim. All the instruments, aircraft, and procedures, including lengthy written texts on flight lessons are documented there. You can dip in or go full “student”. without leaving the sim at all. Then and as mentioned above, it can sometimes be had very cheaply when on sale, especially on Steam, which is a also a release of a latest version including later patches. You also easily can get a refund if it isn’t what you want. It does install on Windows 10 - there are still a lot of people using it. Some hoops may need to be jumped through. YMMV
On a side note: I had another trawl through the labyrinthine install folders of MSFS2020 yesterday, and saw what looked like traces of extra documentation - regarding Airline flying - is this get-at-able in-game? Perhaps it was deleted. It seems unlikely that unfinished code would end up in the install.
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