Don't let the long lists of issues on this page make you think our products have a lot of problems. Quite to the contrary. All the bugs listed below are bugs that we have fixed. Many of these are corner cases reported by only one or perhaps a handful of our customers. Other software companies often don't spend any effort addressing such issues, much less list them publicly. We take pride in producing high quality software, and often release free updates to ensure you won't have any problems with our software.
If you ever hit a snag with HelpScribble, check here whether you have the latest version. If you do, simply report the issue via email and we'll help you out as soon as we can.
HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor now supports Delphi 12 Athens and C++Builder 12 Athens. HelpScribble’s installer will automatically install it if it detects that you have Delphi 12 Athens or C++Builder 12 Athens installed. HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor can assign HelpContext properties to controls in VCL applications and Multi-Device applications.
HelpScribble’s documentation has been updated to explain that Windows 11 fully supports HTML Help and does not support WinHelp at all, just like Windows 10. HelpScribble itself required no changes to support Windows 11.
A bug has been fixed that caused HelpScribble to show a “list index out of bounds (0)” error when closing HelpScribble or switching to another application. It only happened after using the spell checker and you used one of but not both of the Learn and Learn Replace buttons in the spell checker since first downloading the spell check dictionary. These buttons add words to the user word list. The Learn button adds words to be considered as spelled correctly. The Learn Replace button adds words to be automatically replaced with other words. You can edit the list of learned words and replacements via the Word List button in the spell checker.
Back in version 8.0.0 we gave HelpScribble a fresh coat of paint by way of new toolbar icons. Since then the buttons with arrows in the Browse Sequence Editor had their arrows pointing the wrong way. We’ve flipped them back in the right direction now.
HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor now supports Delphi 11 Alexandria and C++Builder 11 Alexandria. HelpScribble’s installer will automatically install it if it detects that you have Delphi 11 Alexandria or C++Builder 11 Alexandria installed. HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor can assign HelpContext properties to controls in VCL applications and Multi-Device applications.
One of the headline features of Delphi and C++Builder 11 Alexandria is that the IDE now supports per-monitor DPI scaling so everything looks crisp on high resolution displays. HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor also supports per-monitor DPI scaling when installed into Delphi and C++Builder 11 Alexandria.
HelpScribble itself continues to support the system DPI scaling that was introduced in version 8.0.0. This means HelpScribble itself looks perfectly crisp on the primary monitor and on secondary monitors that use the same scaling percentage as the primary monitor. On secondary monitors that use a different scaling percentage it may look blurry (but will still be sized correctly).
On the Compiler page in Project Options there is a button to have HelpScribble search your computer’s drives for the help compilers that HelpScribble needs to create HLP or CHM files. This search process has been improved.
See also: HelpScribble 8.3.1 version history
HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor now supports Delphi 10.4 Sydney and C++Builder 10.4 Sydney. HelpScribble’s installer will automatically install it if it detects that you have Delphi 10.4 Sydney or C++Builder 10.4 Sydney installed. HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor can assign HelpContext properties to controls in VCL applications and Multi-Device applications.
Compiling a project with a lot of PNG or GIF images into HTML Help format is now faster. HelpScribble no longer reads them while preparing the files for the help compiler. It no longer specifies the width and height attributes on image tags in the HTML for PNG or GIF images. It didn’t do this for JPEG images in the past either.
A single space at the start of a paragraph is now correctly preserved when compiling into HTML Help format.
Using HelpScribble 8.2.1 (this version only), if you compiled a help project into HTML Help format (CHM file), then made some changes to your help project, and then compiled again, then changes you made to topics that already existed when you first compiled the project were not incorporated in the CHM file. You had to save the help project, close it, reopen it, and recompile it to make the CHM file fully up-to-date.
This bug has been fixed. With HelpScribble 8.2.2 you only need to recompile your help project to see all your changes in the CHM file, just like you could with HelpScribble 8.2.0 and prior.
The bottommost toolbar in HelpScribble is called the TopicBar. It has a drop-down list with all the topics in your help file. Next to it is a button that lets you toggle between sorting the list by topic title and by topic ID number. Next to that is a Link button that lets you insert a link into the current topic that points to the topic selected in the drop-down list. This now works correctly when the list is sorted by topic ID number. In previous 8.x.x releases it would say “No such topic” as if the topic you selected in the drop-down list does not exist.
With Project|Export to Web Help you can export your help project into a series of plain HTML files that can be viewed in any web browser. The export dialog has a checkbox “use style attributes for indentation“. This checkbox is largely a relic from the days when there were significant incompatibilities between CSS support in browsers. For modern browsers, you should turn on this option. We’ve improved the style attributes generated by this option so that modern browsers will display your help topics with the same amounts of indentation and tabbing if you used HelpScribble’s ruler to change paragraph indentation or to set tab stops. Also, the font substitution grid on this dialog now scales correctly on high DPI systems.
Do not confuse Project|Export to Web Help with Project|Export to HTML Help. The latter exports the files that the HTML Help compiler needs to produce a CHM file. The HTML produced by this command is intended for the HTML Help viewer, which uses MSIE in quirks mode to render web pages. It needs different style attributes than modern browsers to maintain indentation and tabbing.
Running the installer with the /silent parameter from a command prompt without admin privileges now installs HelpScribble for the current user without an elevation prompt instead of doing nothing. If HelpScribble was previously installed for all users or you also pass the /userall parameter then the installer triggers an elevation prompt to be able to install HelpScribble for all users. To avoid the elevation prompt, start your silent installation from a command prompt that already has admin privileges.
When installing HelpScribble normally, simply double-click SetupHelpScribble.exe in Windows Explorer. Do not run it with administrator privileges. The installer will request those if and when it needs them.
HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor now supports Delphi 10.3 Rio and C++Builder 10.3 Rio. HelpScribble’s installer will automatically install it if it detects that you have Delphi 10.3 Rio or C++Builder 10.3 Rio installed. HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor can assign HelpContext properties to controls in VCL applications and Multi-Device applications.
The property editors for Delphi and C++Builder XE2 and later have been updated. They now retrieve component icons from the IDE to display the component tree. Property editors for Delphi and C++Builder XE and earlier versions (all the way to Delphi 1) are still included.
Windows 10 no longer supports the WinHelp format. This has been noted in HelpScribble’s documentation since version Windows 10 was released. Now the Project|Make menu item shows a notice when you compile a WinHelp file on Windows 10, explaining that you’ll need an earlier version of Windows to view it and that you should switch to the HTML Help format if you need to support Windows 10.
HelpScribble’s installer has been improved to better deal with Controlled Folder Access. This is the ransomware protection feature added to Windows Defender in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. It is unchanged in the April 2018 Update. HelpScribble’s installation will now go a bit more smoothly when Controlled Folder Access is enabled. HelpScribble’s installer now knows that when Windows Defender is not operational (because you’re using another anti-malware solution), Controlled Folder Access can’t be active and thus needn’t be dealt with. This avoids conflict between HelpScribble’s installer and certain heavy-handed anti-malware solutions such as BitDefender.
The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update adds a new feature to Windows Defender called Controlled Folder Access. It is disabled by default. When enabled, it prevents applications from creating files and modifying files in folders commonly used to save personal data such as the Desktop and Documents folders. The goal is to block ransomware. In practice, it seems to block almost any application unless you specifically add it to the list applications allowed through Controlled Folder Access. Even applications like installers that run with Administrator privileges are blocked by it.
HelpScribble’s installer has been improved to better deal with Controlled Folder Access. It will no longer show an error message when it can’t create the desktop shortcut. This is the only aspect of HelpScribble’s installation that is blocked when Controlled Folder Access is enabled with the default settings. When you install HelpScribble for all users, the installer adds HelpScribble to the list of applications allowed through Controlled Folder Access, even when Controlled Folder Access is disabled. This way you won’t run into issues when you try to save your HelpScribble projects into your Documents folder or on your desktop.
You need to manually add the help compilers’ executables as applications allowed through Controlled Folder Access if you want to use a personal folder as the output folder for your HLP or CHM files. You can do this in the Virus & Threat Protection settings in Windows Defender. The Compiler page in Project Options is where you can specify the output folder for each help project. It also gives you the location of hcrtf.exe and/or hhc.exe. Those are the help compilers’ executables.
The installer can’t allow HelpScribble through Controlled Folder Access when installing for the current user. Then it doesn’t have the Administrator privileges needed to modify settings in Windows Defender. Then you’ll need to manually add HelpScr.exe in addition to the help compilers. You don’t need to add the installer if you let it use the default installation folder.
HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor now supports Delphi 10.2 Tokyo and C++Builder 10.2 Tokyo. HelpScribble’s installer will automatically install it if it detects that you have Delphi 10.2 Tokyo or C++Builder 10.2 Tokyo installed. HelpScribble’s HelpContext property editor can assign HelpContext properties to controls in VCL applications and Multi-Device applications.
HelpScribble’s installer can now install HelpScribble for the current user only without needing administrator privileges. To install HelpScribble this way, click the Advanced Installation button and then the Install for Current User button. This choice is only available the first time you install HelpScribble. If you want to change, you’ll need to uninstall and reinstall.
If you click the Immediate Installation button then you’ll automatically get a per-user installation if you run the installer from a Windows user account that cannot obtain administrator privileges, and HelpScribble was not previously installed for all users. If you have HelpScribble 8.0.0 or an older version installed then that counts as an installation for all users.
HelpScribble is now able to automatically check for updates and other news. You can also make it check on request by selecting Help|News and Updates in the menu. When HelpScribble shows news or when the check on request tells you there is no news you can click the Settings button to choose which news items you want to see. By default, HelpScribble automatically shows news and updates for itself and any of our products that you’ve used in the past 30 days. Though for products other than HelpScribble and PowerGREP that will only start working once they gain the ability to automatically show news.
News settings and history will be shared between all our products so you won’t see the same news more than once. Each product will automatically show at most one news item per day and at most one news item on request. So you don’t need to worry about ever being bombarded with news if you haven’t used our software for a while. You won’t see the news item announcing HelpScribble 8.1.0 either because that will be considered old news already when you’ve upgraded to HelpScribble 8.1.0.
This month (December 2016) marks HelpScribble’s 20th anniversary. To celebrate, we're releasing HelpScribble 8.0.0 as a 20th anniversary edition with a completely refreshed look. HelpScribble has a redesigned high resolution logo, a fresh set of toolbar icons that scale from 100% to 400%, and a fancy about box and trial messages. HelpScribble has never looked so good. This is particularly true on computers with high resolution screens. Previously, HelpScribble let Windows scale it, which results in a blurry look. HelpScribble 8.0.0 uses its new artwork to perfectly scale itself at all resolutions so it always looks perfectly crisp.
HelpScribble’s functionality is unchanged. All the buttons are still in the same place. They just have a new look. HelpScribble is still the same great tool for creating HLP and CHM files that work with Windows 3.1 through Windows 10. HelpScribble 8.0.0 still runs on Windows 98 through Windows 10. HelpScribble 8.0.0 will open HelpScribble project files saved with any previous version of HelpScribble, all the way back to 1.0.0. Projects saved by HelpScribble 8.0.0 can be opened with HelpScribble 7.7.3 and later.