Feature comparison matrix

Please click on the detail button button to display a screen shot and a more detailed description of the feature.

General Features Conc  Pro   Std 
 
Individual installation per workstation
You install Help & Manual on a particular computer and the license can only be used on this computer.

No Yes Yes
Concurrent Use
You install Help & Manual on a network. The concurrent user license is a floating license that can be used on any workstation in the network.

Yes No No
Multi-user editing
Multiple users can work on the same project at the same time. No special server software is required.

Yes Yes No
WYSIWYG XML Editor
Help & Manual is a WYSIWYG XML editor that feels like Word. You don't need to know anything about XML to work with it.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Edit XML sources directly
Sometimes you might want to modify the underlying XML sources directly.

Yes Yes No Click for screen shot
Uncompressed XML data sources
Help & Manual 5 uses uncompressed XML as project file format. The XML data source can be translated with external translation tools. It can also be created and maintained by 3rd party applications outside Help & Manual.

Yes Yes No
Unicode support
Full Unicode support, meaning you can create help files in up to 106 languages, including Asian languages.

Yes Yes Yes
Localization support
Project synchronization and the option to save a project in uncompressed XML format make translation with external tools easy.

Yes Yes No
RoboHelp® Import
Help & Manual can directly import RoboHelp® X5 project files.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Template Support
Use and modify HTML templates for topics pages, layout templates for PDF and print, skins for e-books and browser-based help.

Yes Yes Yes
Export with skins
Use predefined HTML skins to export your documentation with professionally designed layouts at a mouse click.

Yes Yes Yes
Create user defined skins
Customize existing HTML skins or create your own.

Yes Yes No
Single source
Help & Manual creates all output formats (see below) from one single source without post-processing.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Conditional Output
Include/exclude conditions are supported for chapter, topic and text level. You can customize the export with an unlimited number of user defined builds.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Text Variables
In addition to include/exclude options on text level, use predefined text variables or create your own.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Dynamic cascading styles
Use text, paragraph and tables styles to format the content. All styles support different media types for screen and printed outputs.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Toggles (dynamic HTML)
Toggles are expanding and collapsing text implemented by dynamic HTML. Help & Manual 5 Professional supports text and image toggles for easy structuring of procedure topics.

Yes Yes No
Integrated hotspot editor
Help & Manual has a built-in hotspot editor for graphics with dedicated support for topic links, external links, file links and macros.

Yes Yes Yes
Comments and bookmarks
Add design time comments anywhere in topics and bookmark topics for later review. Topics also support a topic status, to highlight, filter or sort topics.

Yes Yes Yes
Modular help
Seamless integration of multiple projects into each other and merged ouput. Runtime merging is optionally possible if supported by the output format.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
 
Output Formats Conc  Pro   Std 
 
Webhelp
Platform independent HTML with Javascript, includes navigation elements with table of contents and keyword index.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Webhelp with full-text search
Platform independent Webhelp with integrated full-text search.

Yes Yes No
HTML Help (.chm)
Compiled HTML Help, the standard Windows help format.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Adobe PDF
Built-in PDF engine with visual layout designer.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Visual Studio Help
Compiled HTML Help format, mandatory for software component documentation in Visual Studio and other development tools.

Yes Yes No
Winhelp (.hlp)
Old Microsoft Windows help format for legacy projects.

Yes Yes Yes
Microsoft Word
User manual in RTF format optimized for Microsoft Word.

Yes Yes Yes
e-Books
e-books in Windows 32 bit executable format with customizable skins.

Yes Yes Yes
Print Manuals
Direct printing of user manuals formatted with a visual layout designer.

Yes Yes Yes
 
Tools Included Conc  Pro   Std 
 
Screen capture
The built-in screen capture tool creates stunning screenshots at a mouse click.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Image editor
Use the integrated image editor to resize and enhance screenshots, add annotations, callouts and text.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Keyword Index Tool
An interactive keyword index tool helps you design the index.

Yes Yes No
Synchronization Tool
Quickly synchronize two help projects and update changes in language pairs.

Yes Yes No
Context Help Tool
Support for context sensitive help is fully integrated. Help & Manual additionally can export and import help context number maps.

Yes Yes Yes
Project reports
Extensive reports document the status of your help project.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot
Syntax highlighter
Quickly format source code examples for Visual Basic, C++, Pascal or SQL statements.

Yes Yes Yes Click for screen shot