Getting More Help

Getting More Help

So, you've come this far. Welcome! But where do you get more help using your Macintosh that we provide here?

Online Help

All computers come with built-in or online help.

Note: Online has two meanings:

1. As a general term: when you do something within the computer, not outside of the computer that's Online. If you do something not on the computer that's offline. Examples: using the help systems running on the computer is an online activity. Looking at a paper manual is an "offline" activity.
2. Online also means having a computer that's connected to the Internet. Examples of this meaning: you send and receive e-mail when you're online. But you can write a memo to the boss on your word processor whether you're connected tothe Internet or not.

Three Levels of Online Help

Pointer Based

Starting with System 7.0 in 1990 Apple introduced something called balloon help: your first level of help!

Activity: Using Mac Balloon Help

1) Call down the Help menu. (On a Mac running system 7.0-8.1 this appears as a question mark icon in the far right of the menu bar. Beginning with System 8.5 this appears as a menu named Help at the right end of the named menus which start on the left of the menu bar.)

2) Highlight the Show balloons menu item and click. Invoking this menu looks like this:

Wherever you now put the pointer you'll get a balloon that gives the name of the the main ways to use whatever it is you have the pointer over. No need to click! This looks like this:

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Notes:

Apple wrote Balloon Help for everything in the Finder (including menu items and control panels). Programers who write individual applications may or may not have supported Balloon Help.

I always try Balloon Help first, when in doubt....

Balloon Help tries to talk to you about what that thing is, that doesn't mean you'll understand.... ;-)

This is a much better pointer-based help system than any version of Windows, if I may opine.... ;-)

After a little while the balloons may drive you crazy; you turn them off the same way yout turned them on....

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The Mac Tutorials

In addition to balloon help, Apple has a set of interactive tutorials you should try!

1) Call down the Help menu in the Finder.

2) Highlight the Mac Tutorial menu item and click.

This will launch a Mac Help window. Click on the topics that interest you and see a series of programs that will take over your screen and have you click, press and drag and much more!

AppleGuide Help

In the more recent versions of the Mac system, Apple has used a help system called "Mac Help" based on a combination of AppleGuide and specialized HTML based help documents.

This help offers both narrative and searchable functions. And it links to AppleGuides. AppleGuides are small programs that can take over your screen and actually show you what to click on and why....

1) In the Finder, call down the Help menu.

2) Click on the Mac Help menu item. (Note the keyboard equivalent: Cmd-?)

This will bring up the Mac Help program.

Click on the topics on the left that interest you. A set of sub-topics appears on the right. Click on those as you will.

3) At any point you can enter search criteria by typing in the search text area at the top and clicking search. You will get a search results list ranked in order of relevance that looks like this:

Click on any of the topics that interest you.

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