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Hot spots are places in a Help file where you can single-click to jump to another part of the file, or to display a popup window. Text hotspots are usually indicated by color and underlining. You can easily find graphical or text hot spots in Windows Help files by pressing Ctrl+Tab. All the hot spots on the screen you are looking at will appear with their colors reversed.
You don't have to use the mouse to select a text or graphical hot spot in a Windows Help file. If you are displaying a Help screen, press Shift+Tab and the program will highlight one hot spot. Press Enter if you wish to active the hot spot. Otherwise press Shift+Tab again and you will shift to the next hot spot.
To save the contents of a single Windows Help file topic in another format, select Edit/Copy. A dialog box will appear, allowing you to select which text you want to place on the clipboard. Then you need to open another application (your word processor, Windows Write or Notepad) and paste in the text from the clipboard. Save the text in the format you want.
Don't make yourself crazy trying to copy graphics or the content of pop-ups or secondary windows to the clipboard from a Windows Help file. It can't be done by Help alone. Some Windows Help file authors will place a "copy" button in their secondary windows, allowing you to copy the text to the clipboard. However, Windows Help never copies either pop-ups or graphics to the clipboard.
You can copy out Windows Help graphics, but it takes some work, because Windows Help itself does not support this function. When the graphic you wish to copy is on the screen, push the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard. Open the Windows Paintbrush applet. Select Edit/Paste. Then save the .BMP file.
You can annotate any help file with your own tips, tricks or experiences. Select Edit/Annotate. Type your annotation into the dialog box, or paste in material from the clipboard. When you select Save, your annotation will be saved and your help file will be marked with an image of a paper clip. This is your visual indication that there is an annotation. Single-click on the paper clip to read the annotation.
Secondary windows are windows that pop up on top of the main window in Windows Help. If the author of your help file didn't insert a close button, you can close a secondary window by double-clicking on the horizontal bar in the upper left-hand corner of the window, to the left of the title bar. Windows Help also includes pop-ups; these can be dispatched with a single mouse click or by pressing any key.
If you want a paper copy of a help screen, select File/Print Topic. Windows Help will print the topic you are looking at along with all its graphics.
Don't get lost while navigating through Windows Help. Like Hansel and Gretel, leave breadcrumbs behind to help you find your way. If you find a place you may want to revisit quickly in the future, select Bookmark/Define. A dialog box will then offer you the choice of naming the bookmark or accepting the name of the help topic by default. Once you create a bookmark, it appears under the Bookmark menu every time you open the help file.
Share your bookmarks and annotations with someone else who has the same help file. If you have created any bookmarks, you will find a WINHELP.BMK file in the Windows directory. Send it to someone with the same help file and they will have your bookmarks. Erase it and your bookmarks go away.
Windows Help file annotations appear in the Windows directory in files with the extension .ANN and the same filename as the help file. Thus, annotations for WTHELP.HLP appear in WTHELP.ANN in the Windows. If you send the .ANN file to someone with the same help file, they can read your annotations. If you erase it, you destroy all of your annotations.
You can keep Windows Help on top of the application you are using, making it easier to follow along in the help file while performing a procedure. In WinHelp, select Help/Always On Top. This is a checkmark menu item; selecting it alternately turns the function on and off. Once you turn it on, you can return to your application and WinHelp will stay on top. You will probably need to resize and relocate the WinHelp window so you can see what you are doing.
If you click on the help button of an application, WinHelp sometimes displays the message, "Help File Not Found." Select File/Open and look through the directories on your disk to see if you can find a .HLP file with a name similar to the application you are using. If possible, edit the .INI file or change the startup parameters of your application so it can find the help file automatically next time.
Why is there a problem printing from help files on CD-ROMs? Unlike most applications, Windows Help doesn't load a whole file into memory at once; it loads only what it needs. Many computers use the same hardware interrupt for the printer and the CD-ROM. This is a problem only when you're trying to print from a Windows Help file on a CD-ROM. You can print from a help file on a CD-ROM by opening the Control Panel, selecting Printers, clicking on the Connect button and checking the Fast Printing Direct To Port checkbox.
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