eWriter Viewer and Viewer Distributables
Posted by Alexander Halser on December 2, 2025
eWriter Viewer has been updated to version 5.4.
This update fixes a sorting issue in custom menu items and, if the eWriter file includes a custom icon with multiple resolutions, it uses the larger resolution for the taskbar icon.
Download:
https://www.helpandmanual.com/ewriter/index.html
Black Friday Weeks: 25% Off
Posted by Alexander Halser on November 24, 2025
Our Black Friday sale is on!
We offer a 25% discount on all products, upgrades and maintenance extensions from 24 November through 7 December. Visit the online store for details:
Help+Manual and Translation Assistant v10.0.3 Update
Posted by Alexander Halser on November 22, 2025
We are happy to announce the immediate availability of Help+Manual 10.0.3 and Translation Assistant 10.0.3! This update comes with a few bug fixes and one very convenient new feature.
Automatic Image Refresh
When you edit a picture in a topic with SnipSVG (or any other image editor), Help+Manual automatically refreshes the image, once you switch back to the application. We have put a great effort into this check-and-auto-refresh function, to make it lightening fast. It is on by default, but you can switch it off in Program Options.
Problem Fix with Open Dialogs
Help+Manual 10 has new open and save dialogs, that match the skin (light/dark) and feature an integrated preview for many file types. These new dialogs have caused delays with two customers. The symptom was a delay of more than half a minute, before the dialogs appeared. We were able to track this down to an incompatibility with 3rd party apps, that inject custom overlay icons in Windows Explorer. If you happened to experience such a delay with any of the open/save dialogs, the problem should now be solved.
YouTube Videos
YouTube has once again changed their policy and sometimes refuses to show embedded videos. The typical YouTube error is “501 Configuration Error”. For local HTML, that is unfortunately normal. For HTML pages running on a web server, it should work. We have implemented two modifications to avoid this problem. If you still experience issues with YouTube videos on a web server, please contact us.
Help+Manual 10.0.3 Changes
- Automatic image refresh after external changes to pictures in topics.
- Open and save dialogs: problem fix for 3rd party overlay icons.
- Save dialogs: changing file type now changes filename extension.
- Publishing tasks / task editor: scrollbar for include options was sometimes not visible.
- Print Manual dialog: access violation in dropdown lists fixed
- Sorting glitch in topics files list fixed
- YouTube videos: attribute referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” added to the <iframe> tag. Furthermore, you can replace the hard-coded YouTube url with www.youtube-nocookie.com. This mod is still experimental and must be activated with a registry setting. Please contact us for more details if you face problems with embedded YouTube videos.
- Russian CHM and PDF files: meta data encoding problem fixed.
- SnipSVG: the version integrated with Help+Manual (build 502) received a small change regarding the autosize function: when applying a shadow to a picture, the autosize function calculates the required margins. The margins are now rounded to full integer pixels to avoid placing objects on sub-pixel positions, which led to a slight interpolation in some cases.
Update December 1, 2025
- eViewer 5.4 included
Translation Assistant 10.0.3 Changes
- Open and save dialogs: problem fix for 3rd party overlay icons.
- Save dialogs: changing file type now changes filename extension.
All updates are available from our download page.
Help+Manual and Translation Assistant v10.0.2 Update
Posted by Alexander Halser on October 22, 2025
We are glad to announce the immediate availability of Help+Manual 10.0.2 and Translation Assistant 10.0.2!
Help+Manual 10.0.2 Changes
- Publishing Tasks: in dark mode, publishing multiple task entries created an error.
- Insert Snippet dialog: mouse wheel support did not scroll the listbox of snippet topics.
- The syntax editor always converted tabs to spaces. Syntax editors are used for XML topic source code and for HTML code in various dialogs.
- German UI: visual glitches in Insert Link dialog and bullet list selection fixed.
- Additional symbols implemented in Customize List Style dialog.
- Config > Common > Text Variables: spacing of variables grid was larger than normal.
Translation Assistant 10.0.2 Changes
- Side selection in session window did not work on a single mouse click: a single click on any tree column must activate this side.
- Copying (new) topic sub-folders from one project to another had a small bug: the resulting topics were copied but not correctly listed under this folder in Help+Manual. Instead, the topic files were listed separately.
- Dialogs updated to match Help+Manual 10.0.2 (Customize List Style, Insert Snippet, etc.)
All updates are available from our download page.
Help+Manual Version 10 Maintenance Update
Posted by Alexander Halser on September 27, 2025
This is the first maintenance update for Help+Manual 10. In the last three weeks since the initial release of version 10 on September 4, we have implemented several bug fixes and generally improved the Markdown parser (this also affects the new ChatGPT plugin).
Update 10.0.1 Build 7421
New Features:
- The Insert Link dialog shows a topic preview for external links
- Docked windows (keyword index tool, search results) now remember size and position
- Markdown handling improved:
- Copy & paste of Markdown code: additional heading styles are auto-created
- Load topic from Markdown file: auto-created heading styles and improved formatting
- Create project from a list of Markdown files: improved formatting
- ChatGPT:
- ChatGPT prompt entry box supports Markdown as input
- Improved text formatting when copying content from the chat window to the current topic
- Online help updated: how to translate and edit topics with ChatGPT
Bug Fixes:
- Bug fixes in Word (DOCX) Export
- Publish dialog: if a project contained a lot of custom builds, some builds could not be selected
- Reconnect repositories: when repository styles needed to be resolved, the German version (only) failed to display the resolve-styles window.
- Move TOC items to the right: in some cases, selected entries were moved to the wrong position
- HTML Help (.CHM) export: the option to highlight image hotspots was ignored, the CHM export used the corresponding setting of the Webhelp export.
- Edit Table dialog: table style name was not selected
- Publishing Tasks: creating a new publishing task caused an error on save
- HTML Topic Templates: adding a new topic template created an error
- Webhelp standard skins contained an invalid link to the help context numbers file
- Several optical glitches fixed regarding dark mode, high-res monitors, German translation and in very rare cases flickering of the Publish dialog and Import dialog.
You can download the update directly from our Download Page.
V9 License Key = V10 License Key!
This is important to know: your current license key for Help+Manual 9 keeps working for version 10 as well!
After installation, please activate Help+Manual 10 with your current v9 license key. To do this, the license must have active maintenance (maintenance expires on or after September 27, 2025).
Help+Manual Version 10 Launches with Integrated AI Support and New SVG Image Editor
Posted by Alexander Halser on September 4, 2025
Help+Manual, the renowned documentation software, has released its latest Version 10, introducing integrated support for ChatGPT, OpenAI Azure, DeepSeek, YandexGPT, and other compatible AI platforms.
While the interface may initially appear as a simple chat window, it offers much more: the AI integration can directly interact with the built-in XML editor. Users can now send formatted XML-text sections to ChatGPT for editing or translation and seamlessly reintegrate the revised sections back into their documentation. All formatting and metadata are preserved throughout the editing process. Generic responses from ChatGPT are converted from Markdown into the software’s proprietary XML format, ensuring smooth and consistent integration.
The AI interface is fully configurable and supports not only ChatGPT but also additional solutions such as OpenAI Azure, DeepSeek, and YandexGPT.
Version 10 also brings enhanced SVG support and introduces SnipSVG as its image editor. SnipSVG, our free and separately available image editing tool, offers powerful features for creating annotated screenshots. Images are saved in SVG format, allowing labels and annotations to remain fully editable.
With these new capabilities, Help+Manual Version 10 delivers advanced AI-driven editing features and robust SVG workflow enhancements for technical documentation teams and content creators.
New in Version 10:
- New AI Assistants: ChatGPT and DeepL Write
- SnipSVG Included
- High-dpi User Interface supporting Dark Mode
- Topic Editor Improvements
- New Publishing Features
- Translation Assistant v10
- And a lot more…
For detailed information, please refer to the page What’s New in Version 10.
You can download the update directly from our Download Page.
V9 License Key = V10 License Key!
Important to know: your current license key for Help+Manual 9 keeps working for version 10 as well!
After installation, please activate Help+Manual 10 with your current v9 license key. To do this, the license must have active maintenance (maintenance expires on or after September 27, 2025).
Maintenance Updates: Help+Manual 9.7.2 and Translation Assistant 9.7.2
Posted by Alexander Halser on June 16, 2025
We are glad to announce the immediate availability of Help+Manual 9.7.2 and an updated Translation Assistant. This is a small maintenance update with two bug fixes and one new feature.
Help+Manual 9.7.2 Changes
- Link lists: new option to return results from the current module only (relevant for time-restricted link lists in modular projects)
- Link lists sorted by date (e.g. changes of the last 14 days): results are still sorted by date, within the same date, results are now sorted alphabetically by title.
- XML schema updated to 2.2.1 to acomodate new link list attribute “listtype”
- Project Report: bug fix with help context numbers
- Print Manual dialog: optical glitch with dropdowns fixed
- Topic Editor: small glitch in Topic Options tab fixed
Translation Assistant 9.7.2 Changes
- Link lists: new option to return results from the current module only (relevant for time-restricted link lists in modular projects)
- XML schema updated to 2.2.1 to acomodate new link list attribute “listtype”
All updates are available from our download page.
Quick Tutorial: WordPress Integration for HelpXplain
Posted by Alexander Halser on May 9, 2025
This is quick tutorial how to integrate HelpXplain presentations into WordPress.
Is this possible at all? Yes, it is. But you need little manual coding.
- Create your Xplain with HelpXplain and upload the data to your webserver.
- Test your Xplain online and note the full url.
For example, this one:
https://www.helpandmanual.com/snipsvg/help/xplain/_sharetohm.html
- Note the url of the Xplain loader script that HelpXplain creates automatically.
This script is saved to the /js folder, relative to your Xplain HTML page: ./js/xploader.js folder.
Write down the full url of this script (it’s the same for all Xplains that you are going to embed in the post):
https://www.helpandmanual.com/snipsvg/help/xplain/js/xploader.js
For details, please refer to the online help of HelpXplain
- Now we are ready to insert a <div> tag into our WordPress posting, that will host the preview of the Xplain. Switch the WordPress editor to raw code and insert the following code:
The HTML Code
You get the raw HTML code for integration from HelpXplain directly. Export in HelpXplain and let you show the actual embed code for your Xplain. This is the code we need to paste in WordPress. Right after the <div> tag, which acts as a placeholder for the Xplain, we add a <script> tag with a reference to the xploader.js script. This script will do the rest.
Here is the code example once again, with nice formatting:
The Result
This is a WordPress blog. So you can test the result of the code above right here:
Help+Manual 9.7.1 Maintenance Update
Posted by Alexander Halser on April 30, 2025
We are glad to announce the immediate availability of Help+Manual 9.7.1! This maintenance update includes the new/updated screen capture tool from SnipSVG 2.0.
Screen capture with window-sizer
Have you ever tried to re-capture a screenshot and struggled to make it exactly the same size as the old one? This is what the new window sizer tool is for. It resizes a window that you want to capture to an exact pixel size. The function is right where you need it: it comes up with a right-click during the screen capture. Select from a list of predefined common sizes or enter the exact values you need.
Screen capture with Windows 11 border trimming
Most application windows on Windows 11 have rounded corners and a translucent 1-pixel border around them. The updated screen capture tool trims the borders automatically, but you can switch this option on or off.
Minor Changes and Bug Fixes
- PDF/Print: Manual Designer now supports transparent PNGs
- Project > Config > Common > Languages page was not visible
All updates are available from our download page.
Premium Pack 5.2.2 for SnipSVG 2.0
Posted by tim green on April 14, 2025
We have just released a small update to Premium Pack 5 that basically just adds compatibility with the new SnipSVG 2.0. All the skins in the Premium Pack now support the new animated SVGs and SVGs with embedded web video created by SnipSVG 2.0. There are just a couple of other small fixes.
How to get the update:
You can download and install the update with the link and credentials you received when you purchased. If you no longer have these, just contact support by email and we will help you out.
Changes in 5.2.2
- SVG support:
Adds support for the animated SVG files and SVG files with embedded videos that can be created with SnipSVG version 2.0 and above. - Videos with captions in lightbox mode:
To comply with accessibility standards, Help+Manual now includes a <figure> tag around the video placeholder image. This prevented videos with captions from being displayed correctly in lightbox mode, which has now been corrected. - Link errors in V2 Modern skins:
Some V2 Modern skins included debug code that displayed an alert when any link was clicked in a topic page. - Social sharing link:
In individual skins, the social sharing link window opened could close instantly if it was opened a second time in a new topic.