It is always great when people searching for a product can read what other users of that product think about it. So if you are looking for a help authoring tool, you have such a possibility on this page! As usually, if have any comments, questions, or difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you all for your feedback!

Release notes for HelpSmith 3.5.5:

• Fixed compilation issues for HTML Help (CHM) that occurred on some help projects;
• Improved the internal character-encoding engine;
• Fixed issues with using special characters in some Asian languages;
• Better support for PNG images, an updated PNG engine is now used;
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

You can download the latest HelpSmith version here.

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• Support for the new video format MP4 added;
• Fixed an issue with using Asian languages (Chinese, Korean,  Japanese) in the Table of Contents of an HTML Help system (CHM);
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

You can download the latest HelpSmith version using this link.

I have a license(s) for HelpSmith 3.x, how do I get my new license details?

If you have a license(s) for HelpSmith 3.x, simply create a support ticket and provide us your current license information such as Order Ref. Id, Registration Email, or simply send us your current license key. So we will be able to find your existing license(s) information in our customer database and will provide you a new license key.

Important: Please note that for security reasons, we can send your new license details only to the email address you used when registering. Thus, please make sure you have access to the original email address and use it when creating a ticket. This will significantly speed up the upgrading process.

Upgrading from previous HelpSmith versions (2.x and below)

If you have a license(s) for previous releases of HelpSmith (versions 2.x, 1.x), you can upgrade to the latest version with a significant discount. For more details, please visit the Upgrade page.

HelpSmith Updates

As many of you could notice, we often release new updates of the product. Such minor versions usually include small feature updates or fixes of the issues found by the users. Thus, we’ve recently fixed an unexpected problem with using transparent images, and a problem that happened if you accidentally copy/paste a multi-line text into the title field in topic properties. Also, we’ve added a new option for hyperlinks, which is useful on Web Help systems in some cases: now you can open external hyperlinks not only in the topic’s frame or in a new tab or browser window, but also on the topmost frame (that is the new page will fill the entire Web Help system’s window). There are also other improvements that have been made thanks to the feedback from our customers.

Technical Support

Providing quality support services is an important part of our work on a help authoring tool. A while back, we successfully integrated an on-line Help center with our website, which eliminates the problem of undelivered emails and also gives us the possibilities to work with user requests much more efficiently. At the same time, we are still available by email. So if you have questions regarding HelpSmith, please do not hesitate to contact us.

HelpSmith and Windows 7

In addition, we are proud that HelpSmith has successfully passed Microsoft-designed tests for the “Compatible with Windows 7″ logo a while before. This proves that the product is actually designed for and works perfectly on the latest Windows version. Again, we would like to thank all of you for choosing HelpSmith as your help authoring tool and for your feedback that makes it possible for us to provide a great help authoring product used by lots of technical writers and software developers around the world!

Now HelpSmith can automatically convert filenames used in WebHelp into lower case to prevent potential access issues on UNIX-based systems (that have a case-sensitive file system). Also, it can generate SEO friendly URLs, which are based on the topic textual Ids.

In addition, the new version allows you to compile help projects from the command line. This is useful when you want to automate the compilation of your help project, for example, along with creation of your software product builds.

What’s New in HelpSmith 3.4:

• The ability to insert custom HTML code into help topics and topic templates.
• Compilation from the command line is now supported.
• New Web Help option: automatic conversion of file names into lower case (useful on UNIX based systems).
• New Web Help option: SEO friendly URLs (automatically replaces all “_” characters in topic Ids with hyphen characters “-”).
• The ability to reassign Context Ids for all of for a selected range of topics (menu command: Tools|Context Tool).
• Fixed an issue with copying and pasting content containing PNG images.

Links
You can download the latest HelpSmith version using this link.

Below is the full list of changes made in HelpSmith 3.3:

New Features and Improvements:

• Improved Unicode support: all text controls now allow you to type text in multiple languages simultaneously.
• Added the possibility to use video clips: Flash (SWF), QuickTime, and other formats are supported.
• Web Help running from the local machine is now compatible with recent versions of Google Chrome.
• Improved the Search feature in Web Help: the found keywords are now highlighted in topic text.
• Two options added: “Force UTF-8 for URls” and “Force UTF-8 for mailto links”.
• Better security of Web Help.
• The names of user variables are now Unicode.

Minor bug fixes:

• It is now possible to use national characters in the names of video files.
• The code page set for an individual topic was ignored and the similar project option was used instead.
• The Table of Contents did not display Unicode characters in case if the project used an ANSI code page.
• Fixed an issue with using transparent PNG images.
• Fixed minor issues with resizing some tables.
• Fixed an issue with using the Greek language in the Table of Contents of an HTML Help system.

Links
You can download the latest HelpSmith version using this link.

The problem occurred because Internet Explorer considers such a web help system to be located in a non-restrictive Internet Zone. According to the Microsoft’s documentation, it is recommended to insert a Mark of the Web to all web pages which will be viewed from a CD, local computer, and also for web pages that include frames, in order to map the web pages to a more restrictive Internet Zone.

The Insert Mark of the Web option in HelpSmith is turned on by default, so your users will not have to click on the warning bar in Internet Explorer every time they need to access the help system. You may leave the option checked when you upload a Web Help system to your web server: in this case the help system will always run in a restrictive Internet Zone; however, the Mark of the Web in its pages does not conflict with the official documentation either.

You can download the latest HelpSmith version by clicking this link.

New Possibilities

• A completely new spell checking engine and dictionaries for different languages are now available.
• A new customizable Project Merge feature with support for different Merge Modes, making it possible to import help topics, topic templates, and other elements from other help projects. This new functionality is useful for collaborative working on a single help system, for translation purposes, and for creating libraries of help topics and topic templates.
• The Tools|Export Context Numbers feature now supports C# and VB.NET formats.

Improvements

• The File|Import feature now restores the original folder structure and filenames of the graphical files, which are used in the imported HTML files. Also, imported PNG files now do not lose the extension.
• A number of improvements made to the Ruler tool: better working with different measurements; now the Ruler allows you to change a specific indent without changing the indents and tab stop positions, which are not the same for all of the selected paragraphs; other minor improvements made.
• The Media Repository window now displays icons for different file types.
• In Windows 7, the HelpSmith’s Task-Bar Button now displays the progress during the compilation of a help project.
• The Find window is now available at the Keyword Properties dialog-box similarly to the Browse for Topic(Template) dialog-box.
• The Find and Replace dialog-box now remembers search entries in case of an unsuccessful search.
• The Hyperlink, Contents Item, and Help Window dialog-boxes now save previously used URL addresses.
• The Contents Item Properties dialog-box now allows you to set an item icon as the default choice for a new contents item addition.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed problems with printing help topics from the HTML Help Viewer and from a browser program (for a Web Help system).
• Fixed a number of issues related to Bulleted and Numbered lists: incorrect behavior of the counter for multi-level lists; the tool-bar buttons Numbering and Bullets now use settings from the last selected item on the appropriate Tab at the Bullets and Numbering dialog-box, which makes it possible to configure the buttons; a new user interface for the Customize Level dialog-box, which also fixes an issue with setting a correct alignment mode due to using absolute positions; other minor fixes made.
• The buttons Decrease Indent/Increase Indent did not change the Level attribute of the selected paragraphs and did not move the tab stop which is used for the alignment of a Bulleted or Numbered list.
• The Paragraph Properties dialog-box now does not have an issue with setting the Indentation as Hanging. Now it uses absolute positions and allows you to select the Indentation mode similarly to Microsoft Word.
• Fixed a minor issue related to Tab Stops behavior in the HelpSmith’s word processor.

Links
You can download the latest HelpSmith version using this link.