Built-in Help Documentation Search Function doesn't work when offline

[snowhydra]

Hi,

I've been happily working on my little document using Affinity Publisher on my laptop, at various cafes and such away from home.

Of course, whenever I need help with the software I google for the answer and I usually find what I need.

 

But without internet, what do I do? I turn to the built-in help documentation. But I've realized that the built-in documentation search function doesn't work when offline! You just can't click the search bar.

The search field is then enabled and clickable when you connect back to the internet.

Which is odd, since all the documentation seems to be on my computer anyway.

 

Upon further investigation, It looks like it's actually a macOS bug / "feature" that the built-in help viewer doesn't work without internet... which is ridiculous since if I had internet, I would just search online for the solution.

 

Is there a better way to view the built-in documentation files and use a search function?

 

Repro Steps:

1. Disconnect from the internet (disable wifi, unplug ethernet, etc)

2. Open Affinity Publisher Help menu on macOS.

3. Try clicking the search bar. Search bar is unclickable.

[DWright]

I will log the issue of the search within the Affinity Publisher help search not working offline, as an alternative if you use the search option above the  Affinity help you are able to search the help when offline 

 

 

 

[vitaprimo]

Since the help is just tiny website, can't we just download it? I'm sure there must be some master files or something, isn't there? Because, even when you're online, it has to perform a search on a remote server which takes a while regardless if connected over a lossy high latency HSPA+ or LTE connection or to 1ms latency gigabit fiber.

A PDF export that exports the whole thing (like Microsoft Docs' website) would be awesome, or to ePub or in a single page HTML like in Red Hat's documentation site. 🤞🏼 Users could then use Preview on macOS which is smart enough not to search full strings and doesn't float in the way like the Help app does, there are a few good options like Sumatra on Windows too.

You could just add a link to download this PDF in the Welcome screen like so you don't have to make modifications anywhere else and support your offline users. It'll be much more useful than the social media links. 🙂

[Old Bruce]

On Mac the html files with the first page at are at:

/Applications/Affinity Publisher.app/Contents/Resources/AffinityPublisher.help/Contents/Resources/en-US.lproj/index.html

Where in Windows I cannot say.