Troubleshooting Help Viewer

This FAQ, originally derived from our book Troubleshooting Mac® OS X, provides solutions for common problems with Help Viewer in:

  • Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard®.
  • Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard®.
  • Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger®.
  • Mac OS X 10.3 Panther®.
  • Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar.

This FAQ is divided into three primary sections:

About Help Viewer

The following facts about Help Viewer are useful in understanding its operation for troubleshooting purposes:

  • Help Viewer is essentially a basic Web browser. In Panther and later releases of Mac OS X, it is based on Web Kit, the same Mac OS X technology employed in Safari™.
  • The help information displayed in Help Viewer is distributed in help books.
  • Help books are written in a subset of the same standards employed in creating Web pages: HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This is described in the Apple Developer Connection document Apple Help Programming Guide.
  • A help book generally contains all of the text and images for a given set of help information. It also includes the searchable index employed when you search for information in Help Viewer. If you are using Tiger, note that the searchable index for a help book is unrelated to the Spotlight index of your startup disk. The searchable index is created by the author of the help book as part of the help-book authoring process.
  • Some help books have Help Viewer check the Internet for updated content, which is downloaded and displayed in lieu of the information in the help book if the Internet-based content is more recent. Help books can also be designed so that some or all of their help information is only available via the Internet.
  • Help books are installed in one of two ways:
    • Directly in the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.
    • Distributed as part of an application's package file and contained within the package of the application for which the help book provides help information.
  • Help books have the extension .help. For example, the file MacHelp.help in the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.
  • Under Mac OS X 10.5 and later:
    • The Help Viewer window floats above all other windows in its own layer.
    • Opening an application's Help still opens Help Viewer, but Help Viewer no longer appears in the Dock or the Application Switcher (Command-Tab).
    • Help Viewer has no a menu bar.
    • Most keyboard shortcuts do not work in Help Viewer. The exception is Command-F (Find) under Snow Leopard for locating text within a help document.
    • An unintended consequence of this is that keyboard shortcuts performed in Help Viewer are executed in the application that had focus before help was opened or before the Help Viewer window was selected. For example, pressing the Command-Q (Quit) keyboard shortcut does not quit Help Viewer but the application that had focus before the Help Viewer window was selected.

More information about Help Viewer in Leopard can be found in the "Help Viewer" chapter of our book Troubleshooting Mac OS X.

Help Viewer troubleshooting techniques

The following troubleshooting techniques are applied in resolving a variety of common problems with Help Viewer. Applying these techniques in the order specified can also form the basis of an approach to troubleshooting Help Viewer should none of the common problems with Help Viewer exactly match the specific issue you are attempting to resolve.

The techniques covered in this section include:

Reset Help Viewer

Most Help Viewer problems are the result of corrupted Help Viewer cache or preferences files. The following steps will resolve such problems. Note that these instructions cover multiple versions of Mac OS X: you may have only some of the files or folders cited for deletion.

  1. Close or quit Help Viewer if it is open:
    1. Users of Mac OS X 10.5 or later should click the red Close button in the upper-left corner of the Help Viewer window.
    2. Users of Mac OS X 10.4 and earlier can press the Command-Q (Quit) keyboard shortcut.
  2. Trash the following files in your Home > Library > Preferences folder, if extant:
    • com.apple.help.plist
    • com.apple.helpui.plist
    • com.apple.helpviewer.plist
  3. Trash the following folders in your Home > Library > Caches folder, if extant:
    1. com.apple.helpui folder
    2. com.apple.helpdata
    3. com.apple.helpd
    4. com.apple.helpviewer
  4. Empty the Trash. Under Snow Leopard, if you receive an alert stating that the Trash cannot be emptied "because the item Cache.db is in use," then:
    1. Terminate the helpd process using Activity Monitor. The helpd (help dameon) is a new process under Snow Leopard that provides various services to Help Viewer.
    2. Empty the Trash.
  5. Test that Help Viewer is now operating normally. If not:
    1. Leopard users: Delete the hidden Help Viewer cache folder. For instructions, see the "Help Viewer" chapter of our book Troubleshooting Mac OS X, Leopard Edition.
    2. Tiger users: Check your account's Login Items for iTunes Helper. If you find iTunes Helper in your account's Login Items:
      1. Select iTunes Helper in the list of Login Items.
      2. Click [-] to remove iTunes Helper from the list of Login Items.
      3. Restart your Mac.
    3. These additional steps are recommended under Tiger as iTunes Helper can cause the problem to recur the second time you launch Help Viewer after performing steps 1-5.

When you next open Help Viewer, you may notice that the Library menu lists Help for only a few applications. This is not a problem. When you next request an application's Help, it will again be listed in the Library menu or Help Center.

Rule out broken help book aliases

Broken aliases to help books can cause a number of Help Viewer problems. Depending on the version of Mac OS X, they may result in "Connection failed" alerts appearing when opening Help Viewer or attempting to open an application's help.

There are two common reasons for broken help book aliases. First, the alias points to a help book that has been deleted; this can occur if the associated software was uninstalled, but the alias to its help book was not removed. Second, the alias points to a help book on another computer on the network and one of the following three conditions is true: the original help book has been deleted from the other computer, the original help book is corrupt, or the other computer is disconnected from the network.

Aliases to help books may be found in one or both of the following two folders:

  • Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.
  • A user's Home > Library > Documentation > Help folder.

Complete instructions for troubleshooting broken help book aliases can be found in the "Help Viewer" chapter of our book Troubleshooting Mac OS X.

Rule out Internet-related issues

If Help Viewer works properly when your Mac is disconnected from the Internet, but fails either intermittently or consistently when your Mac is connected to the Internet, Internet-related issues may be the cause. If you are having problems surfing the Web in addition to using Help Viewer, this is another clue that your Help Viewer problems may be caused by Internet-related issues. Proceed as follows:

  1. Rule out incompatible Internet plug-ins.
    1. If you have installed third-party Internet plug-ins, disable or uninstall these to assure they are not interfering with your Internet connection.
    2. In particular, certain download accelerators — applications that claim to enable faster downloads through your Web browser — have been shown to interfere with Help Viewer. Third-party download accelerators are often implemented using an Internet plug-in.
    3. Internet plug-ins can be found in the following two folders:
      1. Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins folder.
      2. Your Home > Library > Internet Plug-Ins folder.
    4. Note that the Internet plug-ins from the Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins folder shown in the following screen shot do not cause problems with Help Viewer and need not be tested:
    5. Other third-party Internet plug-ins in the two Internet Plug-Ins folders cited above should be tested.
    6. To thoroughly test if an Internet plug-in is affecting Help Viewer:
      1. Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer if it is open.
      2. Quit your Web browser if it is open.
      3. Following the vendor's instructions, disable or uninstall the suspected third-party Internet plug-in. Note that disabling the plug-in may be insufficient: it may need to be uninstalled.
      4. Reset Help Viewer.
      5. Launch Help Viewer and test its operation.
      6. Repeat steps 1-5 until you have tested all third-party Internet plug-ins.
      7. If you find an incompatible Internet plug-in was the cause of the problem, report the problem to the plug-in's vendor.
  2. Rule out third-party Safari add-ons.
    1. As noted earlier, Help Viewer is a basic Web browser that employs the same underlying technology as Safari, specifically Web Kit. Third-party Safari add-ons — particularly applications that add new features to Safari or provide services such as ad blocking — may install modifications to Web Kit that could affect Help Viewer. Rule out third-party Safari add-ons you have installed by either checking for updates, disabling them, or uninstalling them.
    2. While we have no specific evidence to suggest a given Safari add-on may interfere with Help Viewer, it is something to consider given that both Safari and Help Viewer employ Web Kit. If you find a specific Safari add-on was interfering with Help Viewer, report the problem to the developer of the add-on in question and please send us feedback.
  3. Troubleshoot your Internet connection. Follow the advice in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "Solutions for connecting to the Internet, setting up a small network, and troubleshooting."
    1. Rule out VoIP equipment. If you have installed VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) equipment to place telephone calls over your home broadband Internet connection, consider temporarily disabling or removing this equipment from your broadband connection to see if it may be interfering with your Internet connection.
    2. While we have no specific evidence that this equipment could interfere with your broadband connection, and hence Help Viewer, it is something to consider. If you find VoIP equipment interferes with your Internet connection or Help Viewer, please send us feedback.

    Rule out incompatible Startup or Login Items

    Incompatible Startup or Login Items may interfere with the operation of Help Viewer. Troubleshoot these using the instructions in our "Troubleshooting Startup and Login Items" FAQ. It is recommended that you reset Help Viewer after each test to assure that every test begins with clean set of Help Viewer cache and preferences files.

    Rule out disk, permission, or cache corruption

    Disk, permission, or cache corruption issues may interfere with the operation of Help Viewer. Troubleshoot these using the instructions in our "Resolving disk, permission, and cache corruption" FAQ.

    Check Help Viewer logging

    In Mac OS X 10.5 and earlier, Help Viewer has a "trace" or logging option that permits one to examine all of the activities performed by Help Viewer. This may provide additional troubleshooting information.

    To enable Help Viewer logging:

    1. Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer if it is open.
    2. Launch Terminal, which is located in the Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.
    3. At the Terminal prompt, type the following command exactly as written:
      1. defaults write com.apple.helpviewer HelpViewerDebugging -bool YES
    4. Press Return.
    5. End your Terminal session:
      1. At the Terminal prompt, type exit then press Return.
      2. Quit (Command-Q) Terminal.
    6. Launch Help Viewer, such as by selecting Finder > Help > Mac Help. All Help Viewer actions will be logged in console.log, which you can access via Console. Note that Help Viewer logging will write a prodigious amount of messages to the console.log.

    To disable Help Viewer logging:

    1. Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer if it is open.
    2. Launch Terminal, which is located in the Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.
    3. At the Terminal prompt, type the following command exactly as written:
      1. defaults write com.apple.helpviewer HelpViewerDebugging -bool NO
    4. Press Return.
    5. End your Terminal session:
      1. At the Terminal prompt, type exit then press Return.
      2. Quit (Command-Q) Terminal.

    Reinstall Help Viewer

    Reinstalling Help Viewer is rarely required. It is a solution of last resort should none of the other methods suggested above resolve the problem, or if you are seeing messages such as the following:

    • 2005-02-12 12:02:58.865 Help Viewer[794] Unable to load HelpView nib

    in Console, particularly in the system.log file. Messages such as

    • Unable to load application_name nib

    generally indicate that the application application_name is corrupted and must be reinstalled.

    Note the following:

    • These instructions involve using the shareware application Pacifist. Pacifist has excellent documentation: you should have no difficulties performing this operation after reading Pacifist's documentation.
    • The term Install Discs in these instructions includes retail Mac OS X installation discs, Software Restore and Install discs, and Mac OS X Upgrade discs.
    • The Security Update 2004-05-24 for Panther and Jaguar updated Help Viewer to rectify a security exposure. If you employ Pacifist to reinstall Help Viewer from Mac OS X Install Discs containing either:
      • Mac OS X 10.3.4 Panther or earlier;
      • any version of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar;
    • you again expose your Mac to the security exploits addressed in Security Update 2004-05-24 unless additional steps are taken.

    To properly reinstall Help Viewer, employ the following instructions corresponding to the version of Mac OS X you are using.

    • Reinstalling Help Viewer under Mac OS X 10.4 or later: Reinstall Help Viewer from the appropriate Mac OS X Install Disc using Pacifist.
    • Reinstalling Help Viewer under Panther:
      • If you are using Mac OS X 10.3.5 to Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later, you have two options:
      • If you are using Mac OS X 10.3.4 or earlier, reinstall Help Viewer from your Mac OS X v10.3 Install Discs using Pacifist, then reinstall the Security Update 2004-05-24 for Panther.
    • Reinstalling Help Viewer under Jaguar: Reinstall Help Viewer from your Mac OS X v10.2 Install Discs using Pacifist, then reinstall the Security update 2004-05-24 for Jaguar.

    Resolving common problems with Help Viewer

    Help Viewer quits on launch

    Causes
    1. Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache.
    2. Third-party help books that are incompatible with Mac OS X 10.3 or later.
    3. Palm™ Desktop version 4.0.
    4. Other corrupted or incompatible help books.
    Solutions
    1. Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache: Reset Help Viewer.
    2. Third-party help books that are incompatible with Mac OS X 10.3 or later:
      1. Several third-party help books have been reported to be incompatible with Help Viewer in Mac OS X 10.3 or later, specifically:
        1. Virex7.help
        2. DataDirect Help.help
      2. If such files are installed on your Mac, Help Viewer will quit on launch. Third-party Help files can be saved in the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder. Default help books in this folder that are bundled with Mac OS X — depending on your installation — include:
        • AirPort.help
        • AppleScript.help
        • Bluetooth.help
        • iPodHelp.help
        • MacHelp.help
        • OSXHIGuidelines (an alias to a folder related to Xcode® Tools help)
        • VoiceOver.help
        • X422MFPHelp.help (related to a Lexmark® printer).
      1. Drag other files from this folder to the Desktop and Help Viewer should work properly.
      2. You can then determine which file is causing the problem using process-of-elimination as follows:
        1. Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer.
        2. Return one of the third-party .help files to the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.
        3. Launch Help Viewer.
          1. If Help Viewer launches, repeat steps 1-3 until it fails.
          2. If Help Viewer fails to launch, the last .help file you returned to the Help folder is causing the problem:
            1. Remove and isolate the last .help file added in step 2.
            2. Contact the vendor of the application associated with the problem .help file.
        4. Repeat steps 1-3 until all the removed .help files have been tested.
    3. Palm Desktop version 4.0: If you are using Palm™ Desktop version 4.0, upgrade to Palm Desktop version 4.1 or later. The help book in Palm Desktop version 4.0 was formatted incorrectly for Help Viewer, causing Help Viewer to quit on launch. See the AppleCare Knowledge Base document "Mac OS X: Mac Help Unexpectedly Quits After Installing Palm Desktop 4.0."
    4. Other corrupted or incompatible help books: While some third-party applications may install their related help book in the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder, others are bundled within the application package of the application for which they provide help. You can check Console for clues to determine if such a bundled help book is causing problems.
    5. For example, the following message — appearing in either the console.log or system.log —indicates that the searchable index bundled with help book for the application Roxio© Toast is corrupted:
      1. 2005-11-20 13:25:29.020 Help Viewer[484] -[IdxSearchController openIndices:] caught a VTWIN exception. Bad index file is /Applications/Toast Titanium.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Toast Help/Toast Help idx
    6. Since the help book in such cases is bundled within the application's package, one must:
      1. Uninstall, then reinstall the affected application noted in the Console message.
      2. Reset Help Viewer.

    Help Viewer quits unexpectedly under Mac OS X 10.3 or later

    Symptom

    Under Tiger or Panther, Help Viewer quits unexpectedly when selecting a link to Help information. The link may be one returned as the result of a search, or a link within a specific Help document. Additional symptoms include:

    • A message similar to the following displays in the console.log in Console:
    • Help Viewer[836] *** -[NSCFString characterAtIndex:]: Range or index out of bounds
    • Safari™ will not load Web pages and displays a message similar to the following in the console.log in Console:
    • Safari[841] *** -[NSCFString characterAtIndex:]: Range or index out of bounds
    Cause
    1. Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache.
    2. Fonts.
    Solutions
    1. Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache: Reset Help Viewer.
    2. Fonts:
      • If Help Viewer worked previously and you recently installed new software, the software you installed may have also installed incompatible or corrupted fonts. Review the documentation of the software you installed and remove any fonts it installed.
        • Under Tiger, Font Book includes a new feature to check for corrupted fonts. See the AppleCare Knowledge Base document "Font Book 2.0 Help: Checking for damaged fonts."
        • Under Panther and Jaguar, process-of-elimination may be used to identify the problematic fonts.
      • If you used Font Book to disable System-related fonts, or resolved duplicate fonts incorrectly, you may have disabled fonts required by Help Viewer. See our "Undoing Font Book" FAQ for instructions on resolving issues that may have been caused by using Font Book incorrectly.
      • See the “Troubleshooting font problems” section of the “Fonts” chapter of Troubleshooting Mac® OS X for comprehensive advice on troubleshooting font-related problems.

    Help Viewer displays a blank window

    Symptom

    You launch Help Viewer but, instead of displaying the default Help information, the window is blank.

    Causes
    1. Known issue in Mac OS X 10.4 through 10.4.5.
    2. Under all versions of Mac OS X:
      • Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache.
      • Internet-related issues.
      • Incompatible Startup or Login Items.
      • Missing MacHelp.help file.
    Solutions
    1. If you are using Tiger, specifically Mac OS X versions 10.4 to 10.4.5, update to Mac OS X 10.4.6 or later, then reset Help Viewer.
    2. Perform the following steps in the specified order:
      1. Reset Help Viewer.
      2. Rule out Internet-related issues.
      3. Rule out incompatible Startup or Login Items.
      4. Verify the MacHelp.help file is extant:
        1. The MacHelp.help file is the default help book opened when you select Finder > Help > Mac Help. It is saved in the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.
        2. This file may actually be missing, i.e. you accidentally deleted it, or it may appear to be missing due to directory corruption on your Mac OS X startup disk.
          1. Check the Trash to see if it contains MacHelp.help. If so, drag MacHelp.help back to the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.
          2. Assure the reason for the missing MacHelp.help file is not caused by directory corruption. Run at least Steps 1-3 of the Procedure in our "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ.
          3. If MacHelp.help is truly gone from your Mac, do the following:
            • Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer if it is open.
            • Reinstall the MacHelp.help file from your Mac OS X Install Disc using the shareware application Pacifist. Pacifist has excellent documentation: you should have no difficulties performing this operation after reading Pacifist's documentation.
      5. If none of the above resolve the issue, check Help Viewer logging for additional clues.

    Help Viewer displays Jaguar help instead of Tiger or Panther help

    Symptom

    Launching Help Viewer displays Jaguar help information instead of Tiger or Panther help information.

    Causes
    1.

    You installed Tiger or Panther over Jaguar using one of the following methods:

    • Upgrade.
    • Archive and Install with the Preserve Users and Network Settings option.

    The Help Viewer cache contains help information from when you last used Help Viewer under Jaguar. Help documents are cached to speed access to frequently-used help information. However, installing Tiger or Panther using either the Upgrade or Archive and Install methods does not alter your cache files since these are saved in your user account.

    2.

    You restored software, other than Mac OS X, from Software Restore discs containing Mac OS X 10.2.x Jaguar using a procedure such as that described in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document "Using Restore Discs with Mac OS X 10.2 or later."

    If your computer shipped with a version of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar, your Software Restore discs also contain Jaguar. If you restore software from the Software Restore discs, such as the bundled applications, the MacHelp.help file from Tiger or Panther will be replaced with that from Jaguar on the Restore discs. This is to reinstall the Help corresponding to the software you restored from the Software Restore discs. The MacHelp.help file resides in the Macintosh HD > Library > Documentation > Help folder.

    Solutions
    1. If you installed Tiger or Panther over Jaguar via an Upgrade or Archive and Install, reset Help Viewer.
    2. If you restored software from Software Restore discs containing Jaguar:
      1. Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer if it is open.
      2. Reinstall the MacHelp.help file from your Tiger or Panther Mac OS X v10.x Install Disc using the shareware application Pacifist. Pacifist has excellent documentation: you should have no difficulties performing this operation after reading Pacifist's documentation.
      3. Reset Help Viewer.
      4. Launch Help Viewer. You should now have help for the version of Mac OS X you are using.

    Help for an application is not displayed if Help Viewer is already displaying help for another application.

    Symptom

    You will see this problem after applying the Security Update 2004-05-24 and perform the following steps:

    1. Help Viewer is open and displaying the help for application A.
    2. You switch to application B and then attempt to open its help using its Help choice in the menu bar.
    3. Help Viewer becomes the front-most application, but still displays help for application A.
    Cause

    This is a known bug with Help Viewer after applying the Security Update 2004-05-24 for Panther or Jaguar. The Security Update 2004-05-24 replaced the Help Viewer application to resolve a security exposure. However, this change also disabled the ability of Help Viewer to switch between help book. This bug has been fixed with an update to Help Viewer distributed in the Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update.

    Solution

    Update to Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later. If you cannot yet update to Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later, you can use either of the following two workarounds:

    • Select the appropriate Help library from the Library menu in Help Viewer under Panther, or the Help Center under Jaguar.
    • Quit (Command-Q) Help Viewer, then select Help in the desired application.

    Help Viewer is slow to launch or display help under Mac OS X 10.3 or later

    Symptoms
    1. Help Viewer is slow to launch or display help under Tiger or Panther.
    2. Help Viewer is slow in displaying help information after applying the Security Update 2004-05-24 for Panther. In some cases, help information is not displayed.
    Causes
    1. Cache corruption.
    2. This is a known bug with Help Viewer after applying the Security Update 2004-05-24 for Panther. The Security Update 2004-05-24 replaced the Help Viewer application to resolve a security exposure. However, this change also disabled the ability of Help Viewer to switch between help books, which can inhibit the display of the selected help information. The library-switching bug has been fixed with an update to Help Viewer distributed in the Mac OS X 10.3.5 Update. However, an existing Help Viewer cache file can inhibit performance.
    Solution
    1. If you are using Panther and have not done so already, update to Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later to obtain the latest version of Help Viewer.
    2. Reset Help Viewer.
    3. Restart your Mac.

    You may still notice a slight delay in Help Viewer performance displaying the help information the first time you launch Help Viewer after performing these steps. This is due to the building of a new Help Viewer cache. Help Viewer performance will improve in subsequent launches of the specific help information.

    Help Viewer is slow to launch or when searching under Jaguar

    Symptom

    Help Viewer displays the "Spinning Beach Ball of Death" when you either launch it or search for Help information under Jaguar.

    Causes
    • If you are connected to a network, Help Viewer checks for the latest Help information on the Apple® Web site when it is first opened and when searching for Help. This will happen even if your Mac is on a network that is not connected to the Internet.
    • If you have used Help infrequently, or if you have a slow Internet connection, the "spinning beach ball of death" may appear.
    Solutions

    There is no Help Viewer preference to prevent Help Viewer from checking the Internet if you are connected to a network. However, there are at least two workarounds.

    1. See the advice in AppleCare Knowledge Base document "Mac OS X 10.2: Mac Help Is Slow, Displays Spinning Disc Pointer."
    2. Use the shareware application Little Snitch to prevent Help Viewer from attempting to access the Internet. Little Snitch will alert you when any application attempts to connect to the Internet. You can define rules to block such attempts in future, enabling you to block Help Viewer from accessing the Internet.

    Help Viewer links do not work

    Symptom

    When you click on a link in a help document, the display does not change to the linked document. In particular, this may happen in help for FileMaker® Pro and AppleWorks®.

    Causes
    • Under Jaguar, change in the default font sized used by Help Viewer.
    • Known issue in Mac OS X 10.4 through 10.4.5.
    • Under all versions of Mac OS X:
      • Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache.
      • Internet-related issues.
      • Incompatible Startup or Login Items.
    Solutions

    Help Viewer does not display a search field under Mac OS X 10.3 or earlier

    Causes
    • The Help Viewer toolbar is not displayed.
    • The Ask a Question field has been removed from the Help Viewer tool bar.
    Solutions
    1. To display the toolbar for Help Viewer, click the elliptical button at the far right in the title bar of the Help Viewer window.
    2. If the Ask a Question field is missing from the Help Viewer toolbar, add it back as follows:
      1. Control-click the Help Viewer toolbar.
      2. Select Customize Toolbar from the context menu. A sheet opens listing tools which can be placed on the toolbar.
      3. Drag the Ask a Question tool to the toolbar and drop it in the location of your choice within the toolbar.
      4. Select the Done button in the tool sheet. The sheet closes.

    Help Viewer does not list Help for a specific application

    Many applications, such as those published by Microsoft® and Adobe®, employ their own help file formats or viewers instead of using Help Viewer. This is probably to reduce costs by using a single help format for their applications that run under both Mac OS X and Microsoft® Windows®.

    For help to be available in Help Viewer, it must be in a help book in the format specified in the Apple Developer Connection document Apple Help Programming Guide.

    Multiple Help Viewer windows open under Leopard

    Symptom

    While Help Viewer is open, opening help for an application results in a second Help Viewer window appearing; normally, the requested help would be shown in the existing Help Viewer window. This second window appears at the default size, i.e. larger or smaller than the first Help Viewer window.

    Cause

    Suspected bug in Leopard.

    Solution
    1. Close all open Help Viewer windows by clicking the red Close button in the upper-left corner of each window.
    2. Open Activity Monitor, located in the Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.
    3. Terminate the Help Viewer process. In Activity Monitor:
      1. Choose My Processes in the Show pop-up menu.
      2. Type Help Viewer in the Filter field. The process list should show a single Help Viewer process.
      3. Select the Help Viewer process in the process list.
      4. Click Quit Process in the Activity Monitor toolbar.
      5. Click Force Quit in the resulting sheet.
      6. Clear the Filter field by clicking the (X) at the right side of the field.
      7. Choose All Process in the Show pop-up menu.
      8. Quit (Command-Q) Activity Monitor.

    Related links

    Did you find this FAQ helpful? You will find a wealth of additional advice for preventing or resolving Mac OS X problems in Dr. Smoke's book, Troubleshooting Mac® OS X.
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