Help and Manual

Help+Manual is a documentation tool that lets users create and edit documents that can be published in a variety of formats all from a single source.

Help+Manual handles the complexities of documentation generation for you. Power users, however, can get under the hood and manipulate topic and layout templates and more. Help+Manual gives you the best of both worlds.

All the tools you need are at your fingertips in a single intuitive environment, and the program handles all the complex, technical aspects of the process for you. Instead of wasting countless hours « programming » your help you can focus all your energy on actually writing your documentation, so that all your working time is productive time.

Help & Manual are available in the following editions:

• Help & Manual Professional: Everything – from HTML Help to Webhelp to iPad publishing, from support for version control systems to translation and localisation tools. TheProfessional Editionalso has built-in multi-user functionality.
• Help & Manual Basic Edition: Includes everything you need to create professional online help, PDF documents and printed user manuals. To make Help+Manual even more affordable we have left out functionality not often needed by individual users, including translation support, version control and multi-user editing.
• Help & Manual Server: Everything – from HTML Help to Webhelp to iPad publishing, from support for version control systems to translation and localisation tools. TheServer Editionalso has built-in multi-user functionality.

Help and Manual – Features

Key Features:

• Multi-User Editing: Multiple users can work on the same project at the same time.
• WYSIWYG XML Editor: Help & Manual is a WYSIWYG XML editor that feels like Word. You don’t need to know anything about XML to work with it.
• Tabbed Editors: Open multiple topics simultaneously in tabs to edit them comfortably side by side.
• Edit XML Sources Directly: Sometimes you might want to modify the underlying XML sources directly.
• Uncompressed XML Data Sources: Help & Manual uses uncompressed XML as project file format. The XML data source can be translated with external translation tools.
• Unicode Support: Full Unicode support, meaning you can create help files in up to 106 languages, including Asian languages.
• Localisation Support: Project synchronisation and the option to save a project in uncompressed XML format make translation with external tools easy.
• RoboHelp Import: Help & Manual directly imports RoboHelp project files.
• Template Support: Use and modify HTML templates for topics pages, layout templates for PDF and print, skins for e-books and browser-based help.
• Export with Skins: Use predefined HTML skins to export your documentation with professionally designed layouts at a mouse click.
• Create User Defined Skins: Customise existing HTML skins or create your own.
• Single Source: Help & Manual creates all output formats (see below) from one single source without post-processing.
• Conditional Output: Include/exclude conditions are supported for chapter, topic and text level. You can customise the export with an unlimited number of user defined builds.
• Text Variables: In addition to include/exclude options on text level, use predefined text variables or create your own.
• Dynamic Cascading Styles: Use text, paragraph and tables styles to format the content. All styles support different media types for screen and printed outputs.
• Integrated Hotspot Editor: Help & Manual has a built-in hotspot editor for graphics with dedicated support for topic links, external links, file links and macros.
• Comments and Bookmarks: Add design time comments anywhere in topics and bookmark topics for later review. Topics also support a topic status, to highlight, filter or sort topics.
• Modular Help: Seamless integration of multiple projects into each other and merged ouput. Runtime merging is optionally possible if supported by the output format.
• Repositories: Create and manage repositories for snippets and styles.
• Version Control: Help & Manual Professional has active support for Microsoft Visual SourceSafe and 100% compatibles, plus direct built-in support for SubVersion.
• Publishing Task: In addition to publishing your project to a single output format, you can also define « publishing tasks » with a list of multiple output formats and versions of your project.

Help and Manual – System Requirements

Supported OS: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP/SP3.

Hardware requirements: 2 GB RAM, up to 350 MB disk space, screen resolution of 1024×768 or higher.