# Help Tasks

- GettingHelp

- DisplayingHelpTopics

- MovingBetweenTopics

- Index-Search

- CopyingTextFromHelp

- Duplicating a Help Window

- Printing

- Using Help Manager to Browse Desktop Help

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These instructions assume that you are using a mouse. Most tasks can also be done without a mouse. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the Desktop for more information.

## See Also

1. - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

## Getting Help

You can request help in these ways:

- Use the Help Key The F1 key is a Help key. When you press F1, the application you are using displays a help topic most closely related to the component&emdash;a window or dialog box for example&emdash;that is highlighted.

  Your computer may have a dedicated Help key on the keyboard. If so, it may take the place of the F1 key.

- Use the Help Menu Most Common Desktop Environment applications use these main level topics in their Help menu.

  Overview

- Displays an introduction that tells you how to start the application. This is the home topic, or beginning of the application's help volume.

Tasks

- Displays task instructions for using features of the application.

Reference&sigspace;

- Displays reference summaries for components such as menus, windows and dialog boxes, and resources.

On Item

- Changes the pointer to a ? (question mark) and enables you to click an item in an application window. A description of the item you clicked is displayed.

Using Help

- Provides help on using the help windows.

About Application

- Displays the version and copyright for an application.

- Use Help Manager Help Manager is a special help window that lists all of the online help that has been registered on your system.

  To browse the desktop help volumes see ToBrowseDesktopHelp.

## See Also

1. - DisplayingHelpTopics

   - HelpTopicOrganization

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

### To Browse Desktop Help Using Help Manager

Help Manager is a special help window that lists online help that has been registered on your system.

1. Click on the Information Manager subpanel in the Front Panel and choose Help Manager.

   (To look at a sample Help Manager window, click here.)

2. Scroll the window to find the product you are interested in.

3. To open a help volume, choose its title (underlined).

The Help Manager window contains an additional navigation button called Top Level. After browsing different help volumes, you can use Top Level to return to the Help Manager's main screen.

To view more than one topic at a time, Help Manager windows can be duplicated (see ToDuplicateAHelpWindow).

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### See Also

1. - GettingHelp

   - DisplayingHelpTopics

   - Concepts

   - ToDuplicateAHelpWindow

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

#### To Duplicate A Help Window

The New Window command is only available in the Help Manager help window.

1. Choose New Window from the Help Manager File menu.

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   To use the keyboard: Hold the Control key and click mouse button 1 on a topic in the topic tree or a hyperlink.

   &sigspace;

   The current help window is duplicated. You can size the new window and select topics independently of the original window.

2. To remove the window, choose Close from the File menu.

#### See Also

1. - ToBrowseDesktopHelp

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

## Displaying Help Topics

There are two ways to select help topics. You can choose a topic in the help window topic tree or select a hyperlink.

## To Select a Help Topic in the Topic Tree

1. 1. Move the pointer into the topic tree.

   2. Click a title to display the help topic.

      Use the Backtrack button to return to a topic, or select a new title in the topic tree to display a different topic.

   - To scroll the list of titles, drag the vertical scrollbar in the topic tree. Use the horizontal scrollbar to view long title names.

   - To change the number of titles displayed, select the sash control located below the navigation buttons and drag. Release the mouse to set the new size.

## To Select A Help Topic Hyperlink

1. 1. Move the pointer into the topic display area.

   2. Click the underlined text or graphic image.

   For a description of hyperlinks, see Hyperlinks.

## See Also

1. - Hyperlinks

   - Concepts

   - MovingBetweenTopics

   - ToBrowseDesktopHelp

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

## Moving Between Topics

Use the Backtrack, History and Home Topic commands to move back and forth between topics.

- Backtrack

- History

- Home Topic

- ToLocateWhereYouAre

## See Also

1. - DisplayingHelpTopics

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

### To Return to a Previous Topic

The Backtrack command returns to the previous topic. You can revisit each topic you have viewed.

1. Click the Backtrack button. &newline;Or, press Control+B or choose Backtrack from the Navigate menu.

2. Repeat Backtrack to go back as many steps as you need.

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The Backtrack command is available in a pop-up menu in a general help window. To display the popup menu, point to the topic display area, then press mouse button 3.&newline;(On a two-button mouse, press both buttons simultaneously.)

####

### See Also

1. - History

   - MovingBetweenTopics

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

### To List Previous Topics

The History dialog box lists topics and help volumes that you have displayed.

1. Click the History button. &newline;Or, choose History from the Navigate menu.

2. Select the topic title or help volume name that you want to return to. You may have to scroll the list of titles to find the one you're looking for.

3. Repeat step 2 for as many topics as you want to revisit.

4. Click Close when you're done.

####

### See Also

1. - ToReturnToAPreviousTopic

   - ToReturnToTheHomeTopic

   - MovingBetweenTopics

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

### To Return to the Home Topic

The Home Topic command returns to the top-level topic, or the beginning of the help volume.

- Press Control+H or choose Home Topic from the Navigate menu. &newline;Or, select the first title in the topic tree, which is the home topic. You may need to scroll to the top of the list.

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The Home Topic command is available in a pop-up menu in a general help window. To display the popup menu, point to the topic display area, then press mouse button 3.&newline;(On a two-button mouse, press both buttons simultaneously.)

### See Also

1. - ToReturnToAPreviousTopic

   - History

   - ToLocateWhereYouAre

   - MovingBetweenTopics

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

### To Locate Where You Are

Help topics are grouped into a help volume. The name of the current help volume appears below the menu bar.

Each volume has a home topic, or top-level topic, that is the beginning of the help volume. The home topic is the first title in the topic tree. An arrow marks the current topic, which is displayed in the topic display area.

### See Also

1. - DisplayingHelpTopics

   - ToReturnToAPreviousTopic

   - History

   - MovingBetweenTopics

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

## Copying Text From Help

You can copy text from a help topic and paste it into other applications such as a word processor or terminal window.

1. Select the text you want to copy:

   Using a Mouse

   1. Click at the beginning of the text.

   2. Drag to the end of the text and release the mouse button.

   Using the Keyboard to Select an Entire Topic

   1. Use the Tab key to move the highlight to the topic display area.

   2. Press Control+/.&newline;To deselect the topic, press Control+\.

2. Choose Copy from the Edit menu.&newline;

3. Click the pointer in the window where you want to add the text.

4. Choose Paste from the application's Edit menu.

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Most applications support copy and paste using this method, but some may not. If not, use this method:

1. Select the text you want to copy.

2. Click the pointer in the window where you want to copy the text.

3. Click mouse button 2.

   &sigspace;

   Use this method to copy text from quick help windows, which do not have an Edit menu.

## See Also

1. - MovingBetweenTopics

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

## Using a Help Index

A Help index is a list of important words and phrases in a help volume. Each index entry has one or more help topics that you can display.

1. To open the index, click the Index button in the help window.

2. Choose the help volume or volumes you want included in the Index:

   Current Volume&sigspace;

3. Displays the index of the current volume only.

All Volumes

- Displays indices for all help volumes.

Selected

- Displays an index for each of the help volumes you select from a dialog box that is displayed (see Volume-Select).

- Choose whether to view the entire Index or to search for specific entries.

  - To browse the entire index, select Complete Index. All index entries are displayed.

  - To search for a word or phrase:

    - Select Entries with, and type the word or phrase you want to find.

      Searches are not case sensitive. To make advanced searches for multiple words or patterns, you can use regular expressions in the search.

    - Press Return or click the Start Search button.

      Index entries that contain the search string are displayed.

- Click an index entry in the list.

  The corresponding help topic is displayed.

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  ### Index entries use these prefixes:

  A (-) indicates all the entries are displayed. To contract a list, click the item. The (-) changes to a (+).

  A (+) indicates an entry can be expanded. For example, +2 indicates there are two more entries. Click the item to display the additional choices. The (+) changes to a (-).

- Click Close when you are done.

## See Also

1. - IndexSearchDlg

   - Volume-Select

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic

## Printing A Help Topic

You can print an individual topic, a Table of Contents and Index, or an entire help volume. Printed topics are text-only.

1. Choose Print from the File menu. &newline;( In a Quick Help window, click the Print button.)

   - Optional. Enter the number of copies to print (default is 1) and press Return.

   - Optional. Click the paper size button to display your choices.&newline;

     Letter

   - 8.5 x 11 in

Legal

- 8.5 x 14 in

Executive

- 7.25 x 10.5 in

A4

- 210 x 297 mm

B5

- 182 x 257 mm

- Choose the topic or topics to print.

  - Current Topic &emdash;&sigspace; prints only the displayed topic (the default)

  - Current and Subtopics &emdash;&sigspace; prints the current topic and any subtopics it contains

  - Table of Contents and Index &emdash;&sigspace; prints the Table of Contents and Index of the help volume

  - Entire Volume &emdash;&sigspace; prints all topics in the help volume, the Table of Contents and Index

- Click Print.

## See Also

1. - Quick-Help

   - Tasks

   - Table-Of-Contents

   - Home Topic