Help Files
How to Create Technical Manuals and Help Files with Dr.Explain
How to Create Technical Manuals and Help Files with Dr.Explain I heard about Dr.Explain only recently. It’s a great layout and text editor for creating all kinds of technical manuals and help files. Especially for dedicated MS Word users, it offers a wealth of options, including the ability to capture automatically-annotated screenshots that even RoboHelp…
Read MoreHow to Display the Contents Tab (TOC) in a Compiled Robohelp HTML Help File
Follow the directions in this post to display the Contents Tab (TOC) in a compiled Robohelp HTML Help File. If you compile a Robohelp .CHM (pronounced “chum”) HTML help file and do NOT see your CONTENTS tab (TOC) anywhere, don’t panic. There is actually a very simple reason why the CONTENTS tab does not display: you have…
Read MoreHow to Insert a Table into a RoboHelp Topic
Inserting a well-designed table into a RoboHelp topic is child’s play, thanks to the list of great template options made available by Adobe. 1. Click your cursor in a topic where you’d like to insert a table. 2. Select Table > Insert > Table from the menu to select the Insert Table dialog box: You…
Read MoreHow to Create a RoboHelp Project — A Beginner’s Tutorial
A. Introduction This Adobe RoboHelp HTML 10 tutorial shows the basic steps required to create a RoboHelp project. (Robohelp comes in two flavors: Robohelp for Word, and Robohelp HTML). In this tutorial, we will use RoboHelp 8 HTML and generate a help file, starting from a “Blank Project”. NOTE: Robohelp is a deep program with…
Read More"Should I use an Index for my help file or technical document?"
You should always use an index for all long documents and help files, especially if they are in print format. “How long?” There are no hard and fast rules for that. It’s up to your personal judgment and/or what your client/manager asks for. It depends on the “document specs” or “documentation plan” as well as…
Read MoreWhat Should Today's Ideal Help (User Assistance) Format Look Like?
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Alan Porter of WebWorks help authoring software has released a new white paper titled “Delivering Help for Today’s Web” which can be ordered from aporter@webworks.com Porter raises a number of important issues that I’ve also been thinking about for some time. It’s true that yesterday’s static help file system is losing…
Read MoreA Free Help File Software: HelpNDoc
© 2010 Ugur Akinci My readers know my fondness for Adobe RoboHelp for creating help files. But for those who cannot afford RoboHelp there are some free alternatives out there like HelpNDoc; free at least for personal use. If you need to use these programs commercially you may need to pay a small licensing fee,…
Read MoreA Basic "RoboHelp 8 for Word" Tutorial
© 2010 Ugur Akinci A. Introduction This introductory Adobe RoboHelp tutorial shows the basic steps required to create a RoboHelp 8 for Word project. (Robohelp comes in two basic flavors: Robohelp for Word, and plain Robohelp HTML). In this tutorial, we will use RoboHelp 8 for Word and generate a Help file in Winhelp 2000…
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