Reference > Help Formats > Classic Winhelp

NEWS: Winhelp is no longer supported in Windows Vista!

Please note that support for the Winhelp format has been completely discontinued in Microsoft Windows Vista. Even if your applications run under Vista, any calls to Winhelp help will simply produce an error message. This also applies to dual-mode popups in HTML Help. We thus strongly recommend that you start transitioning to an alternative help format as soon as possible. See here for details

Winhelp was the original help format introduced with Windows 3.1 in the 1980s and then improved slightly for Windows 95 and later. Like HTML Help its primary purpose is to provide local help for applications installed on the user's computer.

This format is still widely used and is supported by all Windows versions to date, including Windows XP. This and its fully-formatted popups are its only advantages, however, and in the current environment support for HTML Help is effectively just as universal as for Winhelp.

Navigation in Winhelp is counter-intuitive (you cannot view a topic and the table of contents at the same time). Winhelp is RTF-based and formatting is not as flexible as HTML Help, and it is difficult to produce a Winhelp help file that matches the appearance of modern applications. Generally, a Winhelp file will reflect poorly on your application. Only use this format if you absolutely must.

Formatting and other features not supported by Winhelp:

Winhelp is a very old format and it has not been changed or upgraded for many years. It lacks support for a lot of modern formatting features. The following Help & Manual editor formatting features are not supported by Winhelp and should not be used if you plan to generate Winhelp output:

Chapters with text:	The Winhelp format does not support chapters with text. If your project contains chapters with text they will be exported twice: Once as a chapter without text and once as a sub-topic of the chapter without text, with the same name as the chapter. This "duplicate" topic will contain the content of your chapter with text. If you are outputting to both Winhelp and formats that support chapters with text you can use Help & Manual's conditional output features to create alternative topic and chapter versions for Winhelp and the other formats.
Complex tables:	Winhelp only includes extremely limited support for tables. You can only use very simple tables to arrange items in the topic page.
Table borders:	Table borders are not supported by Winhelp and will be invisible if you define them.
Nested tables:	Nested tables are not supported and will generate compiler errors in Winhelp.
Backgrounds and borders:	Winhelp has no support at all for background colors or borders. This applies to text, paragraphs and tables.
Superscript/subscript:	Winhelp does not support superscript, subscript or any other non-standard text decorations.

Features and pros and cons of classic Winhelp:

File extensions:	.HLP (help file) and .CNT (table of contents)
Format:	One .HLP file for the help and a separate .CNT file for the TOC
Platforms:	32-bit versions of Windows 32 bit. The old 16-bit version of Winhelp has serious compatibility problems and is no longer supported by Help & Manual. This is not a problem because 16-bit Winhelp is only relevant for Windows 3.0.
Typical use:	Local online help for applications installed on the user's local computer
Table of contents:	Yes, in a separate .CNT file
Keyword index:	Yes
Full text search:	Yes
Context-sensitive help:	Yes, full support
Popups:	Yes, fully-formatted popups with graphics, both in the help viewer and for context-sensitive help. In Winhelp popups can also contain hyperlinks
Multimedia:	Multimedia support in Winhelp is very limited. Only standard Windows .AVI videos are supported. Flash animations and other video formats are not supported.
Printable by user:	Not really. The Winhelp viewer will only print single topics. Poor graphics print quality.
Pros:	Compact file format with strong compression, all graphics are packed in the .HLP file, just as in HTML Help. Classic Winhelp is still widely used but fewer and fewer users are now familiar with it. Supported by virtually all Windows application development tools, easy to integrate with applications.
Cons:	Extremely poor, unintuitive navigation. The navigation controls (Table of Contents, keywords and full text search) are in a separate window that cannot be displayed at the same time as the topic viewer. Less flexible formatting than HTML Help. Only supports .BMP graphics (these are compressed, however). More difficult to produce help matching modern applications in appearance. Users are now generally more familiar with HTML Help. Only use Winhelp if you absolutely must. It is a dying format and that is a good thing.