Help Menu

[Ugljesa Janjic]

Hello,
When I click on ArchiCAD Help menu it takes me to the Graphisoft's Help Center page instead of opening the old light blue help window (see attachment). I don't like this and don't know how to re-call it back. Does anyone know how to do this and what seems to be the problem?
Much obliged,
Ugljesa

[Karl Ottenstein]

See this thread:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=42793&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=desc

There is a workaround. In the ArchiCAD 17 application folder, there is a Help subfolder. If you open the "ArchiCAD Help.htm" file there, it will present the old, local help file. You can drag a shortcut to this file to your desktop (etc) for quicker access.

The old trick of placing a shortcut to this file in the WWWLinks folder doesn't seem to work; at least for me on 10.8, a file:// URL will not open from there...

I suspect that Graphisoft will be continuously updating the online Help Center with new content and links to videos, etc. but that this static Help may not get updated as often. Still, it seems unreasonable for GS to assume that everyone has an active, fast internet connection at all times for using the Help Center, particularly those people in parts of the world who have to pay for data usage. Accessing this in-product Help file should still be directly in the Help menu IMHO.

Cheers,
Karl

[David Maudlin]

Karl:

Thanks for the tip. I agree that the in-product help should still be easily available.

David

[Laszlo Nagy]

This placing of shortcut works for me.
The trick is to create an Internet Shortcut, not a normal shortcut.
The easiest way to go about it is to duplicate one of the existing shortcuts in the WWWLinks folder and modify that so that it points to the Help HTM file (and it doesn't point to the Link file, the shortcut file, that points to the HTM file).
That way it worked for me.

[Stress Co_]

laszlonagy wrote:
This placing of shortcut works for me.
The trick is to create an Internet Shortcut, not a normal shortcut.

Hi Laszlo:
Could you show us the correct text to link to the help file?
I can add the link to the menu... but it does't open the file in my browser.

Note: I'm using "Sublime Text" App to modify the link.

[Karl Ottenstein]

I did what Marc did ... and the edited file is not recognized on Mac OS X. Not sure if this is an AC issue or an OS X issue. Laszlo's experience indicates that it does work for Windows.

[Ugljesa Janjic]

THANK YOU ALL for the help. I placed a shortcut on my desktop and it works. You guys are right about the fact that we don't always have an internet connection available AND it is so much more direct to find an answer in this old "help booklet" than searching through a bunch of online information that is not always relevant.

Thank you again, worked for me.

Ugljesa

[Laszlo Nagy]

Here is my shortcut.
The only difference I see between mine and Marc's is that mine has that "accessible" part at the end.

[Stress Co_]

Thanks Laszlo, still not working (on Mac OS).

I wish GS would have stayed consistent with previous versions,
where ArchiCAD Help linked to the "User Manual".

Put the "Help Center" Link in the WWWLinks folder (where it belongs, IMHO).

[Stress Co_]

Stress wrote:
I wish GS would have stayed consistent with previous versions, where ArchiCAD Help linked to the "User Manual".

New to AC18 is "Archicad Help Center Options".

Allows you to chose whether to have the Help (pull-down menu)> ArchiCAD Help
open the local copy of the "User Manual" or to open online "Help Center".

I've set mine to open the "User Manual" and added a "Help Center" link to the WWWLinks folder.
Gets rid of the Shortcut on the desktop.