Help file on a PC not formatted correctly

[PhilH]

When I open the Help file from the menu it does not show correctly. If I cl;ick a link it showas in a small window bottom left. How can this be resolved so the file shows correctly?

[Lee D]

Hi @PhilH

Welcome to the forums.

It could indicate an issue with IE/Edge on your system, try the steps on this link to reset to see if that resolves the issue.

[PhilH]

Hi

Thanks, but I am not using IE or Edge, Chrome is my browser.

[firstdefence]

But you have IE or Edge installed?

[walt.farrell]

32 minutes ago, PhilH said:

Thanks, but I am not using IE or Edge, Chrome is my browser.

But the Help is using them.

[PhilH]

Edge is not installed and I have reset IE following the link posted but still no joy. Ahould Affinity not be using the system default browser?

[GarryP]

As far as I know, the Help is created using a different piece of software – it’s not ‘part’ of the Affinity software – and the Affinity developers have no way of affecting how it works regarding how it displays the help.

If the problem persists you can see the same help file online: https://affinity.help/ (just click on the desired application icon)

[firstdefence]

It looks like the CSS stylesheets aren't loading, so what you are seeing is an unstyled layout, a bare bones html page.

Might be an idea to clear out the internet caches and temp files and temp files in general: https://wpshout.com/quick-guides/prevent-browser-caching-css-stylesheet-wordpress/

[PhilH]

59 minutes ago, GarryP said:

As far as I know, the Help is created using a different piece of software – it’s not ‘part’ of the Affinity software – and the Affinity developers have no way of affecting how it works regarding how it displays the help.

If the problem persists you can see the same help file online: https://affinity.help/ (just click on the desired application icon)

Yes that works fine, maybe the Afinity Help option should be recoded to show the appropriate page.

[PhilH]

Perhaps they should bring this in house

[Alfred]

17 minutes ago, PhilH said:

Yes that works fine, maybe the Afinity Help option should be recoded to show the appropriate page.

That would mean we couldn’t view the Help if we were working without Internet access. As @firstdefence has observed, it’s a stylesheet problem.

[PhilH]

11 minutes ago, Alfred said:

That would mean we couldn’t view the Help if we were working without Internet access. As @firstdefence has observed, it’s a stylesheet problem.

I see what you mean regarding Help file, I take it from your comment that it's embedded in the application. I agree it does seem to be a stylesheet problem.

[firstdefence]

Right click the programs icon shortcut and select Open File Location You might have to scroll up to see the folders but one folder will be called PhotoHelp, Designerhelp, Publisherhelp or something like that.

[v_kyr]

If you have a fast internet connection you can also fetch the whole AD online help (for your localization aka language) via tools like wget and store that locally. Then you can use that locally by opening the index.html file inside your prefered webbrowser.

An example wget call to fetch the Designer online help:

Quote

Fetch recursively the whole English localization of Affinity Designer for offline reading, converting to local links and place everything into a adesigner/ directory, write the processing into a afflog file:

> wget --convert-links -nH -Padesigner -r https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/index.html -o afflog 

 

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, v_kyr said:

If you have a fast internet connection you can also fetch the whole AD online help (for your localization aka language) via tools like wget and store that locally. Then you can use that locally by opening the index.html file inside your prefered webbrowser.

That seems like a complex and unnecessary process. You can already open the builti-in Help in your web browser of choice.

On Windows, for example, for Affinity Photo purchased from the Affinity Store, and installed in the standard location, just open
   

file:///C:/Program%20Files/Affinity/Photo/PhotoHelp/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/index.html

from your chosen browser and bookmark it. Browse the file system to find the Help for Designer or Publisher or to find the directory for a different language translation.

 

[v_kyr]

34 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

That seems like a complex and unnecessary process. You can already open the builti-in Help in your web browser of choice.

It was meant as a workaround if nothing works correctly here for the OP, of course you can just reuse the app embedded help files, as far as the OP can find them on his Win box. Further he can also fix the CSS stylesheets if he wants. - So that's not the overall theme, where there is a will, there is a way!