Microsoft Help Files

[Unknown]

This has probably been asked many times, but is there any way of converting
a MS formatted help file to a txt or doc file in order that I can print it
out as a manual.

Brian Edwards

[florent]

"Brian-...@Tiscali.co.uk" wrote...

> This has probably been asked many times, but is there any way of converting
> a MS formatted help file to a txt or doc file in order that I can print it
> out as a manual.
>

If it is a CHM, or HLP file, you have a button to print directly each
topic or group of topics.

--
Florent
Gravity <http://tinylink.com/?t99xboCYEv>
NewsReaders <http://www.newsreaders.com/>

[ŠanlK]

"florent" <laxyf.at...@is.invalid> wrote in message
news:GFr.188c00eb871f4c5498973c@traboule...

> "Brian-...@Tiscali.co.uk" wrote...
> > This has probably been asked many times, but is there any way of
converting
> > a MS formatted help file to a txt or doc file in order that I can
print it
> > out as a manual.
> >
>
> If it is a CHM, or HLP file, you have a button to print directly
each
> topic or group of topics.

Or print each topic to pdf995 (default printer), and you can save it
as a PDF file; and using pdf995edit supposedly "combine" all documents
into one file.
And if you figure out how to get pdf995 to do a "combine", let me know
I haven't been able to figure out how to use it. <bg>

DanlK, ~~~\8-O
Collectible Gifts @
www.FYIS.org/estore

[Alan]

Your best bet is to pay a visit to www.helpmaster.com. There you'll
find two decompilers (free) that convert .hlp to .rtf and .chm to html.
Then you take it from there :)

--
^^ <not a standard-compliant delimiter>
Alan

[Pete Lees]

Brian,

> This has probably been asked many times, but is there any way of converting
> a MS formatted help file to a txt or doc file in order that I can print it
> out as a manual.

For WinHelp (.hlp) files, you could try SmartDoc or Help To RTF:

http://www.smartcode.com/smartdoc/index.htm
http://www.herdsoft.com/catalog/ehlp2rtf.html

For HTML Help (.chm) files, you could try the procedure described here:

http://helpware.net/FAR/far_faq.htm#chmtopdf

Pete

[Sinbad]

Well .. another poster could have been a bit more helpful than he was.
Here is the ultimate URL to the actual download for the file. You will
have to ensure that the verrrrry long address fits on one line, so highlight
it all carefully.

http://erzatz.free.fr/counter.php3?download=null&langue=En&flavor=Chm&redire
ct=http://javadocs.planetmirror.com/dist/HtmlToHlp-099h.zip

===================================================================
" Alan" <t...@soon.alphalink.com.au> wrote in message
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[Ninou]

Le Sun, 12 Jan 2003 20:57:38 -0000, "Brian-...@Tiscali.co.uk"
<brian-edwards "-at-" tiscali.co.uk> a écrit:

you can see here to decompile an help file
Keytools
http://www.keyworks.net

--
Ninou
Rien que des Freewares http://www.gratilog.net

[tls...@concentric.net]

On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 22:47:47 +0100, florent
<laxyf.at...@is.invalid> took a very strange color crayon and
scribbled:

>If it is a CHM, or HLP file, you have a button to print directly each
>topic or group of topics.

Big waste of paper! A text file could put several topics on one page,
etc.

--
Therese Shellabarger / The Roving Reporter - Civis Mundi
tls...@concentric.net / http://www.concentric.net/~tlshell

[Alan]

Well... I don't know how much help that URL will be to the OP, since it
*generates* Windows help files from a set of HTML files. The OP wants
to do the opposite! Please read more carefully.

It also requires a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to be installed.

You can also get round your problem of "the verrrrry long address" just
by looking at it and realising that it points to:
http://javadocs.planetmirror.com/dist/HtmlToHlp-099h.zip
but this "ultimate URL" will ultimately be a waste of time for the OP.

You can also prevent the tangle of replies, as exemplified by the
above, by following the appropriate conventions of text-snipping and
bottom posting (the former not done in this post, to demonstrate the
mess that results if you don't).

[florent]

tls...@concentric.net wrote...

> On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 22:47:47 +0100, florent
> <laxyf.at...@is.invalid> took a very strange color crayon and
> scribbled:
> >If it is a CHM, or HLP file, you have a button to print directly each
> >topic or group of topics.
>
> Big waste of paper! A text file could put several topics on one page,
> etc.

It depends how is built the help file.
Sometimes topics are more than 1 page long.

Furtermore, it can be more readable when you print each topic on a
different page.
And if you prefer, you can print only the pages you need.

[Alan]

Alan wrote:
> -at- wrote:
>> This has probably been asked many times, but is there any way of
>> converting a MS formatted help file to a txt or doc file in order
>> that I can print it out as a manual.
>>
>> Brian Edwards
>
> Your best bet is to pay a visit to www.helpmaster.com. There you'll
> find two decompilers (free) that convert .hlp to .rtf and .chm to
> html. Then you take it from there :)

To be more specific, you'll eventually get to these sites and
downloads:

For .CHM -> .HTML
http://www.keyworks.net/keytools.htm
http://www.keyworks.net/KeyToolsSetup.exe 300KB

For .HLP -> .RTF
http://www.helpmaster.com/hlp-developmentaids-helpdeco.htm
http://www.helpmaster.com/zip/helpdc21.zip 218KB

I figured the general helpmaster site reference might be useful to you,
since it contains lots of background on what you might want/ need to
do.

[John Fitzsimons]

On 13 Jan 2003 00:02:07 -0800, PD....@btinternet.com (Pete Lees)
wrote:

>For WinHelp (.hlp) files, you could try SmartDoc or Help To RTF:

>http://www.herdsoft.com/catalog/ehlp2rtf.html

That page says "$US40 for a Standard license". Where is the freeware
version ?