William,
This is the Photoshop Elements forum, a different software. You should post on the Photoshop Forum for a faster and better answer.
Ray
William,
Although Ray is correct, this is the PhotoShop Elements Forum, First are you using AOL as your ISP and if so are the HTML files attached to it or a late version of Windows Internet Explorer? HELP files are in HTML and sadly AOL changes some of the features of it’s version of Internet Explorer which prevents it using the HELP files. Your XP Windows Explorer will work well with the HELP files, but they would have to be the program that HTML is associated with.
Bob
thank you both. I’ll post on the correct forum. Bob, I don’t use aol and have the most recent versions of netscape, msn explorer, and IE, so I’m not sure what the problem is. I made a shortcut for the first html file and that works ok, but I’d like to access Help directly.
William,
Hmmm. First be sure that your HELP files are installed. (I can’t speak for how things are done on a MAC, this is for PC machines only.) Use Explorer and path to Adobe\PhotoShop Elements\Help and double click on any of the HTML files. Do they open in Explorer/Netscape? If not, Right click on one of the HTML files, Open With, Choose program and from the list choose MSIE. Be sure to click the box in front of "Always use this program to open this type of file". That should open the file in MSIE and from now on all HTML should be associated with MSIE and your HELP files should open from PhotoShop Elements (and any other HTML files as well). You are sure they aren’t opening, aren’t you? It sometimes activates but doesn’t open on screen. (PC this pertains to, bye the way). It activates with an orange status button on bottom status bar. It doesn’t automatically show up on your screen.
Bob
Thanks Bob. I am using Windows xp. The help files are installed, and they used to open with MSIE. However, I followed your directions above and messed things up a bit. MSIE is not listed as one of the options for "open with", and so I used the "browse" option to locate it. I clicked on it, but it doesn’t respond to "open with" so I had to go to netscape, which now is the default for opening html files. I would like to switch the default back to MSIE, but can’t as the "open with" option doesn’t recognize MSIE (perhaps because it’s part of the OS?). Any advice how to un-do the default for netscape, for html files? (help still doesn’t work.)
Have you tried going through the Windows set up to make sure you have IE set as your default web browser? A couple of times people have had to redo that setting in order for it to "catch." Even though there may be a checkmark in the box, IE doesn’t seem to be recognized as the default on your computer. I wouldn’t have used Bob’s method, but I’m primarily a Mac user so have a tendency to not make use of shortcuts like experienced Win people do. Here’s the path I’d try running if I were you:
Start>Control Panel>Network & Internet Connections>"Pick a Control Panel">Internet Options>Programs
There’s a box at the bottom of that screen next to the statement "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser." If there IS a checkmark in that box, remove it, click OK, and back out of the set up. Now go back in and replace that checkmark and click OK again.
This may not help, but then again we might get lucky. There’s no reason why you should be having trouble accessing Help if you’re not using AOL, CompuServe, Yahoo, or any other ISP that has you install a customized browser.
William,
Since I’m not a user of Netscape, I’m guessing, but there may well be a built in mechanism in it’s install that would resist the Open With change of association. After saying that, however, I believe that Netscape should also be able to open the HTML HELP files if it’s the latest version (all versions are not compatible). Have you upgraded Netscape to latest version. I personally prefer MSIE which I knows works, but I don’t believe Elements is limited to MSIE (just prefers it). Perhaps Rich has more on this.
Bob
You’re right, Bob. The Help files should open with almost any browser, although I suspect Adobe only tests on IE. I’ve successfully used a couple different versions of Netscape (even 4.7!), Mozilla, and Safari on the Mac side. All were fine once I got the default setting configured properly.
On Thu, 8 Apr 2004 08:49:35 -0700, wrote:
You’re right, Bob. The Help files should open with almost any browser, although I suspect Adobe only tests on IE. I’ve successfully used a couple different versions of Netscape (even 4.7!), Mozilla, and Safari on the Mac side. All were fine once I got the default setting configured properly.
Opens with Opera with no problem.
Thank you Bob and Beth, your comments were helpful. I wasn’t able to make MSIE the default html reader until I uninstalled netscape. That enabled me to set MSIE as the default (the other procedures just didn’t work for some reason). Still can’t make help work. Someone sent 2 articles by adobe support which didn’t help, but which at least indicated that there are conflicts with the help feature. None of their suggestions worked except to bookmark the first page of the help files, which works fairly well. That may be the only solution that I end up with, but it’s not bad. Thank you again for taking the time. Best, Bill
If it helps, you’re not the only person using XP who can’t get Help to work properly. I realize that’s not much of a consolation, but doesn’t it at least make you feel better to know it’s not just you? 🙂
Hmmm, that seems to be strange behavior on Netscape’s part. I haven’t used it for some time but I was alwasys able to do the default with not difficulty. Using Mozilla now and it responds quite nicely to either set it or unset it as the default browser.
Dick
I’m beginning to think that there is some kind of a conflict in some XP systems. Help works properly on mine, but I know Nancy is the one who first posted the desktop workaround because she’s never gotten the access to Help to work right on her computer either. Yet Nancy is really quite adept at using Windows. I haven’t ever tried anything besides IE on my Win XP machine, although I can get almost anything to open Help files on my Macs.
I had the same problem with AOL and the help files. What I did was change my default browser to Internet Explorer. Then before I use Elements I minimize AOL and click IE. It works now. AOL support won’t help if you call them.
Yes, Sue, that incompatibility between AOL’s browser (and also Yahoo’s and CompuServe’s) has been noted before. There’s something about the way they have it customized that causes the problem, and the way you got around it is what we suggest. Actually you shouldn’t even need to have AOL open, because those Help files open in the Local Zone of IE, and there’s no need to be online.
