Quick Start Tutorials > Publishing your project

Once you have completed a couple of topics you will want to publish your output to see what your finished product is going to look like. You can output any of the formats supported by Help & Manual at any time – you don't have to decide in advance what format you are building your project for. The only thing you may need to do before you begin is install the necessary Microsoft help compilers for Winhelp, HTML Help or Visual Studio Help (a.k.a. Help 2.0).

1.	Save your project, then click on the Application Button and select Publish.

2.	Select the format you want to publish to in the list on the left.

3.	Check the output file name and location in the Output File: field and change them if you want.

4.	Make sure that the Display file when finished checkbox is selected, leave all other settings as they are.

5.	Click on OK – in a few moments you will be able to admire your finished product.

When you publish Webhelp always use an empty folder because this format generates a large number of output files. The program will suggest creating a folder called \HTML inside your project directory, which is a good choice.

The layout of your PDF output is controlled by separate template files. See Adobe PDF for details.

Winhelp and HTML Help compilers:

Unless you have already done so you need to download and install the free Microsoft compilers for HTML Help and the obsolete Winhelp if you are planning on using these formats. You can find the latest versions of these compilers on the EC Software website, here:

http://www.ec-software.com/reshelp.htm

After installing the compilers go to View > Program Options > Compilers and make sure that Help & Manual knows where to find them. The Winhelp compiler executable is called hcrtf.exe and the HTML Help compiler executable is called hhc.exe.

Visual Studio Help compiler for .NET programmers:

You only need to compile to the Visual Studio Help/Help 2.0 format if you are a Visual Studio .NET programmer. This help format is only used for documenting programming components added to Visual Studio .NET. The compiler package can be downloaded from the Microsoft website but it can only be used in combination with the Visual Studio .NET package from Microsoft.

For details on using this format see the chapter on Visual Studio Help in the More Advanced Procedures section.

The Quick Launch function compiles your output and displays it without displaying the Compile Help File dialog. This function automatically uses the last settings you used when you published to that format. It is thus advisable to publish to the selected format manually (see above) at least once before using Quick Launch.

1.	Click on the arrow symbol below the Publish button in the Project tab to display the Quick Launch output options:

2.	Then just select the output format you want to publish to. Your project will be published and displayed automatically as soon as the process is finished.