Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual, HelpXplain, Software Updates, Utilities on July 14, 2022
We are happy to announce the immediate release of eWriter Viewer Version 3. This is an update to the Windows version, a MacOS version is coming soon.
The updated viewer has a slightly redesigned and even more reduced user interface – it integrates the toolbar into the title bar. The UI supports Windows light mode, dark mode, high-contrast modes and, of course, high-dpi monitors.
Multiple languages: the UI languages English, German, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish are built-in. When you redistribute the viewer for application online help, you can supply a custom language file to match the language of your application. Further customization of the UI is still possible in Help+Manual.
Beneath the surface, pretty much everything is new.
There is a new application design: while the old version created one instance per .ewriter file, version 3.0 creates just one single instance but opens a separate window for each file displayed. This is a huge improvement, because when using the viewer to display application online help, you can close all help files that your application might have opened with one single call – a “/close” parameter.
The viewer also comes with a new command line interface. The old command line interface that you you might be using now is still supported – no changes required. The new command line interface offers additional features and is identical to the MacOS version – we’ll get to that later.
Download the updated Windows eViewer directly from the eWriter website:
https://www.helpandmanual.com/ewriter/
We have been working on a MacOS version of the eWriter Viewer and it is getting close to release state. (Please contact support, if you are interested in testing the MacOS beta.)
Please watch this news feed for updates. The timetable for eWriter Viewer is approximately:
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual on May 28, 2022
We are glad to announce a maintenance update for Help+Manual 8.4. If you are using version 8 already and your maintenance plan includes updates until May 28, 2022, just download the setup and run it to update your current installation.
Help+Manual 8.4.4 is available from our download page:
Posted by tim green in Documentation Authoring, Help+Manual, Technical Writing, Uncategorized, Utilities on May 28, 2022
Help+Manual is so powerful and multi-faceted that there’s always something new to discover. Even though I write the documentation, I still continue to find things that our developers have added that I didn’t yet know about. This morning I was looking in the program directory and I noticed a file called ScreenCapture.exe. What? I started it, and lo and behold it opened a completely stand-alone screen capture utility:
A quick call with the developers revealed that this behavior is intentional. Yes, you can use Help+Manual’s ScreenCapture.exe as a standalone tool for creating screenshots. It stores the images it creates in the Windows Clipboard, from where you can then insert them in any other application with CTRL+V or the right-click Paste command.
Tip: The same tool is also available in the HelpXplain program directory.
This standalone capture utility has now been updated with the versionĀ 8.4.4 release of Help+Manual. It can do everything that Help+Manual’s integrated screen capture can do, with the exception of creating HelpXplain-style screencasts:
When you complete the capture in stand-alone mode you will be asked whether you want to copy the captured image to the Windows Clipboard or save it to a file.
Multi-part captures need a transparent background in the areas between the captured screen elements. When these captures are saved to the Windows Clipboard, they are stored in two versions: A 32-bit PNG image with transparency, and a regular bitmap without transparency, which is necessary for programs unable to handle transparent PNGs. Which version is inserted from the Clipboard is automatic and depends on the program in which you are inserting the image.
If you want to use it, just create a shortcut to ScreenCapture.exe and you’re ready to go.
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual, Translation on March 23, 2022
These days we’re really having fun at the office. For a programmer, it is utterly satisfying to watch your own software performing automated tasks that normally take hours or even days to complete. And that defintely applies to our new Help+Manual Translation Assistant .
HMTA integrates the revolutionary DeepL AI-based machine translation system, with bulk translation and support for 24 languages. It can translate your entire project in just a couple of minutes, and the results are so good that they require minimum editing. This alone can save over 90% of your translation costs and time. It is, quite literally, nothing short of revolutionary.
If you translate documentation with Help+Manual, this new tool will definitely stir your interest and we want you to join the beta test (more on that after the break).
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual, Software Updates on February 4, 2022
We are glad to announce a maintenance update for Help+Manual 8.4. If you are using version 8 already and your maintenance plan includes updates until February 4, 2022, just download the setup and run it to update your current installation.
Help+Manual 8.4.3 is available from our download page:
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual, Software Updates on December 17, 2021
We are glad to announce a maintenance update for Help+Manual 8.4. If you are using version 8 already and your maintenance plan includes updates until December 17, 2021, just download the setup and run it to update your current installation.
To write source code documentation for Visual Studio, Help+Manual can import VS libraries and build a documentation skeleton for all the classes and units found. The import tool is called Microsoft Sandcastle.
This update includes a revised Sandcastle import with better style support, larger default fonts and optional table styles.
Help+Manual 8.4.2 is available from our download page:
Posted by tim green in Documentation Authoring, Help+Manual, HelpXplain, PDF, Technical Writing, Training, Translation, Uncategorized, User Community on November 20, 2021
EC Software is delighted to welcome Naef Learning, our new full-service reseller for the Swiss market. In addition to selling the full range of EC Software products, Naef Learning backs this up with extensive support, training and maintenance services, plus documentation in German.
Services include:
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual, HelpXplain on November 18, 2021
We are happy to announce that this year our Black Friday offers start early on November 19 and will last until November 30! This is 12 days of really big savings for you: We’re offering a 30% discount on all products, upgrades and services.
The promotion starts at midnight on November 18 and applies to:
Please note that you can renew your maintenance now even if you currently have an active license with valid maintenance. By renewing before expiration, the maintenance extension will simply extend the previous expiration date and save you 30% compared to a purchase after the Black Friday promotion (or more, if you extend for 2 or more years).
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual on September 29, 2021
This is an important update to the recent release of Help+Manual 8.4. If you are using version 8 already and your maintenance plan includes updates until September 29, 2021, just download the setup and run it to update your current installation.
If your maintenance has included version 8.4.0 (August) but does not include version 8.4.1 (September), please contact us.
Version 8.4 introduced a updated XML parser that properly reads 4-byte unicode characters. This update had an unwanted side effect: it doesn’t write Asian characters properly. A project with content in Japanese language might load correctly, but when saved and re-opened, the Japanese characters in the TOC can be missing.
We are still working on a fix of this problem, but for the time being, the XML parser has been reverted to the previous version (without support for 4-byte Unicode chars).
Help+Manual 8.4.1 is available from our download page:
Posted by Alexander Halser in Help+Manual, Software Updates on August 9, 2021
We are glad to announce the release of Help+Manual 8.4. If you are using version 8 already and your maintenance plan includes updates until August 9, 2021, just download the setup and run it to update your current installation.
This update comes with a revised version of the DeepL Translation Plugin. DeepL has recently started to offer free API keys, that you can use to auto-translate a certain amount of text per month (the free contingent is a generous 500.000 characters). TheĀ free API keys, however, require a different API address and Help+Manual 8.4 now works with both, the paid and the free translation API. Read the rest of this entry »