Visual Studio Help is available in two versions, Visual Studio Help 2008 and 2010, which are also known as MS Help 2.0 and MS Help 3.0, respectively. Originally, each of these help formats was announced as the upcoming the successor to HTML Help. However, in both cases Microsoft then backpedaled and it now seems clear that they are not going to be released as help formats for normal user applications.

You cannot use Visual Studio Help for normal applications

Please note that these are special help formats that are only used for documenting programming components integrated in the Visual Studio .NET programming environment. They are not suitable for any other purpose and cannot be used for normal help projects for application programs!

Shared settings:

The options in the HTML Export Options section for MS HTML Help/CHM files are also used for the MS Visual Studio Help output formats. These settings are accessible in the HTML Help section of your project configuration. Settings that are not relevant for an individual format are ignored in that format.

The HTML export settings for WebHelp and eBooks can be configured in the WebHelp and configuration section.

See also:

Visual Studio Help (Advanced Procedures)

Visual Studio Help (Reference)