| What do they do?
Apple Guide is Apple’s standard help system, built into recent versions of the Mac OS, and providing detailed information about, and workthroughs of, the Finder and many applications and utilities. Microsoft Help is a more basic equivalent, used by Microsoft software and others with Windows origins, providing help through a separate program. Find File (extended in Mac OS 8.6 and 9 to Sherlock) helps you find files by name, and if you create indexes of file contents, to search those contents, as well as offering Web searches (Sherlock only). How do they work?
Apple Guide is based on an extension, which adds items to the Help menu. When you install an application with Apple Guide support, its help file must be placed in an accessible location, such as in the same folder as the application or in the Help folder inside the System Folder. When you’ve started the application, Apple Guide will automatically open the appropriate help files. Microsoft Help requires the help file(s) to be read into a separate utility, which can reside with the files or elsewhere. You can use Sherlock’s Find File feature to locate multiple, redundant, copies of the Microsoft Help program. Sherlock’s Find by Content requires pre-built indexes of the contents of files, while its Search Internet feature uses plug-ins kept in the Internet Search Sites folder. What can go wrong with them?
Missing and misplaced components, particularly help files, cause the most common problems. If in doubt, put all help files in the same folder as the application they’re intended to assist. Old versions of Microsoft Help can often be often found knocking about, and should be thrown away, leaving the most recent ones. Sherlock’s rich search options are useful for this task, although if your search criteria turns up a particularly large number of results it can run out of memory. How can I upgrade them?
Apple Guide and Sherlock are part of the Mac OS. Sherlock Web plug-ins are available from Internet sites and are automatically updated when you search the Internet. Microsoft Help ships with appropriate applications, but not as a separate product or update. Further info
Apple Guide is covered well in most good Mac books, and Microsoft Help in application-specific manuals. Sherlock has extensive Web support, including Apple’s home page, at www.apple.com/sherlock and the Sherlock Internet Search Archives at www.apple-donuts.com/sherlocksearch/index.html | |
