Help+Manual is fully Unicode-enabled and can edit and publish help files in virtually all international languages. There are just some restrictions on right-to left languages, which are only supported in HTML Help CHM files and WebHelp (for example languages like Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi).
Working in Unicode languages requires both configuration settings for the language you are using in your project and special Windows settings for the Microsoft help compilers, which are not Unicode programs.
Even if you are working in English or any other Western European language it is still important to check that the language settings of your project are correct before starting work.
For more information see International Languages and Unicode and Language Settings in the Reference section.
•Go to Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings in the Project Explorer to view and edit the language settings for your project. •See Language Settings in the Project Configuration section of the help for details. |
Windows version and configuration:Projects in English and Western European languages can be published and viewed on all versions of Windows without restrictions. The language of the help file does not have to match the language of the Windows version on which the file is being viewed. Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings:
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Windows version and configuration:Publishing projects: You can publish projects written in these languages to WebHelp, MS Word DOCX, PDF, eBooks and Visual Studio Help (MS Help 2.0/3.0) with any version of Windows XP or later with support installed for the language you are using. Publishing projects to CHM: To publish projects in these languages to HTML Help / CHM you must also set the "system locale" of your Windows configuration to match the language of your project. See Publishing instructions by format and CHM in Non-Latin Languages for more details on this and a method for publishing to multiple CHM languages without having to restart Windows.
Viewing published help: Help+Manual's output files can be viewed on most versions of Windows on which proper support for the specific languages is installed. Some features of HTML Help (full-text search, Keyword Index sorting) will only work properly if the language of the Windows version matches the language of the help file. This applies particularly for Asian languages. For example, all functions of a Chinese HTML Help file will only work correctly on a Chinese version of Windows. See About H+M's Unicode support for more details on this. Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings:
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This group includes all languages that require Unicode, which means languages with more than 255 characters requiring two bytes to store each character. For example, this includes most Asian languages like Chinese, Japanese and Thai. Windows version and configuration:Editing projects: Help+Manual projects written in Unicode-based languages can be edited on Windows XP or later provided that support is installed for the language you are using. Publishing projects: •You can publish Unicode projects to WebHelp, MS Word DOCX, eBooks and Visual Studio Help (MS Help 2.0/3.0) with any version of Windows XP or later with support installed for the language you are using. •To publish Unicode projects to HTML Help (CHM) you must also set the "system locale" of your Windows configuration to match the language of your project.
Viewing published help: Help+Manual's output files can be viewed on most versions of Windows on which proper support for the specific languages is installed. Some features of HTML Help (full-text search, Keyword Index sorting) will only work properly if the language of the Windows version matches the language of the help file. This applies particularly for Asian languages. For example, all functions of a Chinese HTML Help file will only work correctly on a Chinese version of Windows. See About H+M's Unicode support for more details on this. Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings:
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Normally, you cannot publish help projects written Asian languages on non-Asian versions of Windows because the necessary language settings don't match. However, if you just want to do a quick test publish and don't have a Windows version in the matching Asian language there is a configuration setting that will allow you to do this. •Go to View > Program Options > Compilers and activate the option Tolerant handling of Asian languages. Some features may not work correctly in the resulting help file in HTML Help if the languages of your Windows version and the help file don't match (Search, Keyword Index) but you will be able to complete the compilation and view the CHM file, which is sufficient for testing. To produce a finished CHM for distribution you must publish it on a copy of Windows with a matching system locale. |
See also:
International Languages and Unicode (Reference)
Language Settings (Project Configuration)