- Help & Manual
Infobox Software
Name = Help & Manual 5
license = Proprietary
operating system =Microsoft Windows
platform = PC
programming language = Delphi
latest release version = 5
developer =EC Software
genre =IDE Help & Manual is a Windows-based
help authoring tool published by EC Software, a company based inAustria .Like many help authoring tools, Help & Manual allows the writer to create a single source text which it then converts to a number of target formats. In this case, the author creates the source text using an editor built in to the Help & Manual program. The text, along with the user's settings for the project, are stored in
XML files. Version 5.0 of Help & Manual was released June 2008. Help & Manual currently supports the following output formats:*
PDF
* WinHelp
* Compressed HTML
*HTML Web Page
*Visual Studio Help
*Rich Text Format (Microsoft Word)
*eBook (Windows executable containing an embedded viewer)
* Round-trip XML for external translation and re-import (own XML schema)
* Printed manualsVersion 4.x of Help & Manual also supports
Unicode for creating help in all international languages, including Asian languages like Chinese, Japanese and Thai but excluding right-to-left languages.Version 5.x of Help & Manual contains a completely redesigned Ribbon interface, and permits multiple users to collaborate and work on a single help project at the same time.
The program comes bundled with several tools, including a screenshot capture tool, a graphics program with functions for editing and enhancing screenshots, a help context tool for managing, importing and exporting help context numbers, a "print manual designer" for creating and editing layout templates for PDF files and printed manuals and a reporting tool for generating and exporting project reports.
Prices range from USD $399 to $599 for new licenses, and $139 to $199 for upgrades. Upon request, EC Software offers educational discounts and cross-upgrade discounts for users switching from other major help authoring tools (
RoboHelp ,Madcap Flare ,AuthorIT , andDoc2Help ).Version history
* 3.x - used RTF-based source files with a .HM3 extension.
* 4.x - usesXML -based source files with a .HMX extension
* 5.x - uses XML-based source files with a .HMXP extensionExternal links
* [http://www.ec-software.com/hmpage.htm Help & Manual home page]
* [http://helpman.it-authoring.com/ Help & Manual user forum]
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