Drag items from Doc-To-Help's Topics grid or Table of Contents and drop them into your content to automatically create links.
Authoring in HTML
Project Toolbar Installed in Popular HTML Editors
The Doc-To-Help toolbar is automatically installed in Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver. It is used to create topic links, add index keywords, apply conditions, insert variables, apply styles, create topics, add Glossary terms, and more.
Topic File Management
It’s easy to get your topics organized. You can rearrange and nest HTML documents using the Documents Pane toolbar, or by drag-and-drop.
Drag-and-Drop Linking
Drag items from Doc-To-Help's Topics grid or Table of Contents and drop them into your content to automatically create links.
Publishing
Web Publishing
Create a mini-website with NetHelp, our exclusive cross-platform HTML output. NetHelp is a self-contained, searchable system complete with navigation, favorites, print, and email functions.
Desktop Help
Create Microsoft Help formats (HTML Help, Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0, Help 2.0, and WinHelp), embedded dynamic Help, and JavaHelp.
Visual Studio Help
Integrate Help into Visual Studio with Microsoft Help 2.0 or Help Viewer 1.0.
Press Ready Manuals
Create print quality .doc, .docx, or .pdf manuals with no post processing required.
Unlimited Target Templates
Create as many targets as you need. Each target can have specific content, settings, and styles mapped to it.
Automatic and Customizable Table of Contents and Index
Doc-To-Help uses information from your source content to automatically create a table of contents and an index. Customize them to your liking or create your own from scratch. You can even create customized TOCs for different outputs.
Built-in or Custom Templates
Choose from a variety of templates and style sheets for producing high quality print and online documentation. You can use the included templates and style sheets as-is or use them to customize your own.
Command-line Support
Automate and schedule individual or batch Doc-To-Help builds from the command line.
Desktop Help and Websites
Industry Standard Help Formats
Choose from Web-based Help (NetHelp), HTML Help, Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0, Help 2.0, JavaHelp, and WinHelp.
Self-contained Websites
NetHelp, our exclusive web-based output, gives you a self-contained website you can use for online Help, knowledgebases, and other Web needs. These sites include navigation, favorites, search, print, and email.
Browser Independent Sites
NetHelp is optimized for all popular browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari).
Embed Help Into Your Applications
Doc-To-Help includes the ComponentOne Dynamic Help control. With it, .NET developers can embed a dynamic Help pane into your application’s interface. You can then visually map your Help file (HTML Help or NetHelp) to the interface. See it in action in Doc-To-Help.
Control the Look and Behavior of Your Outputs
Doc-To-Help includes a number of attractive and multifunctional themes that control the layout and appearance of your outputs. The theme designer makes it simple to customize those themes for your projects. Buttons, colors, icons, and navigation can be customized to suit your needs.
Add Help Elements with Styles
Use convenient toolbars to effortlessly apply styles that translate into Help elements (pop-up topics, links, dynamic text, and more) when you build your project.
Organize Topics with Expanding/Collapsing Sections
Increase the readability of your online Help topics by including collapsible/expandable sections complete with "+" and "-" icons. Doc-To-Help makes this as simple as applying a style; no special code is needed.
Configurable Breadcrumb Navigation
Breadcrumbs help end-users pinpoint their location in a Help file. Doc-To-Help's HTML-based outputs (NetHelp, HTML Help, Help 2.0) include breadcrumbs that are fully customizable.
Drag-and-drop Topic Relations
Doc-To-Help automatically creates “See Also” links in Help based on styles. You can augment those links, or remove selected ones if you wish. The Related Topics pane makes this possible using drag-and-drop.
Easy Context Sensitive Help
Doc-To-Help can automatically generate context IDs for you, or use your own IDs to map topics to your application’s interface. Context IDs are displayed in the Topics window and can be added or edited there. A header file and Excel/text reports listing IDs are all available.
One-click XHTML Output
Doc-To-Help now generates XHTML versions of all HTML based outputs (NetHelp, HTML Help, Help 2.0, and JavaHelp). The content generated complies with the W3C transitional XHTML specification.
Section 508 Compliant Output
Doc-To-Help creates a version of NetHelp that is compliant with Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act.
Modular Table of Contents Utility
If you create a Modular Help system, this utility makes it easy to assign the entire system’s table of contents to each individual Help file.
Merge Multiple Projects
Combine multiple projects into a single Help system with a single TOC, index, and glossary. This is great for software applications that have optional templates or components. The Help will only be included for the installed components; the Help for missing components will be excluded seamlessly.
Print Outputs
Generate PDFs Two Different Ways
Doc-To-Help produces printed manuals in PDF and/or Word format. Generate your PDF directly from Doc-To-Help or from a generated .doc file. This gives you the option to format your manual before you generate the PDF. No need for third-party utilities.
Always Produce Usable Print Manuals
Create professional printed documentation from Word, XHTML, or HTML source complete with a customizable title page, table of contents, index, and glossary – without any adding field codes, page breaks, or headers/footers. You can automatically create a print-ready PDF manual and skip the manual-to-PDF conversion process.
Project Management
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Reusable Project Settings
Ensure consistency among projects with a click. You can import settings from another project when you create a new project, or after it is already created. Project settings include templates, style sheets, themes, project properties, targets, variables, and more.
Topic Management
Doc-To-Help’s unique topics grid allows you to view your topics and their settings at a glance. Set preferences one by one or en masse.
Source Control
Doc-To-Help integrates with Team Foundation Server so you can manage all aspects of your project in the industry standard source control system. Doc-To-Help gives you an interface for all of Team Foundation Server’s features (i.e., versioning, history, comparison) so you can rest easy when planning team projects. Note that Doc-To-Help also includes its own team authoring support feature for those who do not wish to use Team Foundation Server.
Copy Projects
A Save Project As feature copies your entire project so you can backup projects or create new projects from a base that is set up the way you want it. This saves time and helps you ensure accuracy by reusing work you have already performed.
Open Multiple Projects at Once
You can work better by doing things such as copying items from project to project or comparing projects by opening two or more at once.
Single Sourcing and Content Reuse
Modular Table of Contents Utility
If you create a Modular Help system, this utility makes it easy to assign the entire system’s table of contents to each individual Help file.
Single-source Authoring
Quickly and easily create HTML Help, NetHelp (browser-based Help), JavaHelp, WinHelp, Help 2.0, Microsoft Help viewer 1.0, and printed documentation from one source project without the need for reformatting. Conditional text and variables add additional single-sourcing flexibility.
Conditions Map Content Where You Want It
It is possible to conditionalize text, topics, or even entire documents. That content can then be flagged for specific output types, Targets, or by fully-customizable attributes. With one project, you can create outputs for multiple audiences or formats.
Reusable Content
Using Variables, you can create content in one place and reuse it across your project. Text Variables are used for any amount of unformatted text; Rich Content Variables allow you to store formatting along with text. Additionally, topics can easily be reused in a single project as well as across multiple projects.
Easy Glossary Creation
Use toolbar buttons to add and sort glossary terms from any document in your project. If you wish, Doc-To-Help can automatically create a link to the glossary definition the first time that term appears in a help topic.
For Application Developers
Automatic Reference with Microsoft Sandcastle
Microsoft's Sandcastle utility automatically creates MSDN formatted reference documentation from .NET source code and XML comment files. Doc-To-Help integrates Sandcastle's XML output into your projects, automatically creating topics, index, TOC, and other Help elements. You can build on this information by editing/adding your own topics, and linking to namespaces. This content integrates with the Help system in Visual Studio .NET (Help 2.0 and Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0).
Integrate Embedded Help into the User Interface
Doc-To-Help includes the ComponentOne Dynamic Help WinForms control. With it, you can embed a dynamic Help pane into your application’s interface. You or a Help Author can then visually map your Help file (HTML Help or NetHelp) to the interface. See it in action in Doc-To-Help.
Scripting Support
Use Visual Basic to create custom scripts and assign them to styles to develop your own features.
XML Transforms
