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# Using Help <index></index>

This chapter tells you how to use Help. Read it to learn how to find information and how to interpret information in the help.

## Working with the Help window <index>help windowp</index> <index>window, help</index>

The Help window has a toolbar. and two panes. The left pane is a sidebar where you can find help topics using the table of contents, the glossary or the index, or by searching. The right pane is the main pane, where you read help topics.

### The Help sidebar <index>help sidebar</index> <index>sidebar, help</index>

In the sidebar you can choose tabs for the Index, Glossary, Search, and the table of Contents.

#### Using your mouse:

To hide or reveal the sidebar using your mouse, press the toolbar button, Hide SIdebar or Show Sidebar:

To choose a tab, click the tab.

#### Using your keyboard:

To hide or reveal the sidebar using your keyboard, press F9.

To choose a tab, use the tab's accelerator. Alternatively, cycle through the tabs by pressing Tab.

For information about how to use these tabs, see the next section.

## Finding information <index>finding information</index>

To find the information you need, first find the appropriate help topic. Then if necessary, find particular words within the topic.

You can find help topics by using the Help F1 key in . You can also find help topics by using the table of Contents, the Glossary or the Index, or by searching. These are in the sidebar.

### Using the Help F1 key <index>contextual help</index> <index>help key</index>

To read help for an element in the user interface, move keyboard focus to the element by clicking on it or by using the Tab key, then press the Help F1 key. The help opens to an appropriate topic.

Not all elements in the user interface can have keyboard focus. So at times you might have to use the other methods listed below to find the appropriate topic.

### Using the glossary <index>glossary, using</index>

The glossary contains definitions of terms used in the help. You can use the glossary to look up an individual term, or to read all the terms.

To look up an individual term, click on the term where you see it highlighted in a help topic. The highlighting depends on the theme that you are using. For an example of the highlighting, look at the word "theme" in the previous sentence.

To see the entire glossary, choose the Glossary tab in the Help sidebar.

#### Using your mouse:

To find a term in the glossary sidebar using your mouse, scroll the list until you see the term, then click on it. You see the term's definition at the top of the main pane.

#### Using your keyboard:

To find a term in the glossary sidebar using your keyboard, type the first one or two letters of the term. If this does not find the term immediately, use the up and down arrow keys to select the term. You see the term's definition at the top of the main pane.

### Using the index <index>index</index>

To use the index, choose the Index tab in the Help sidebar. The Index tab shows you a list of keywords in the help, arranged alphabetically by their first letters.

#### Using your mouse:

To expand a letter of the alphabet using your mouse, click the twisty beside it. To expand a letter of the alphabet using your keyboard, type the letter, then press Return or Enter.

#### Using your keyboard:

Expand the twisty by any letter of the alphabet to see the keywords that start with that letter.

To find a keyword using your keyboard, type the first one or two letters of the keyword. If this does not find the keyword immediately, use the up and down arrow keys to find it.

When you select each keyword in the Index, you see the corresponding help topic in the main pane.

### Using the table of contents <index>contents</index> <index>table of contents</index>

To use the table of contents, choose the Contents tab in the Help sidebar. The Contents tab shows you a list of headings in the help.

Any heading marked with a twisty can be expanded to show further headings.

#### Using your mouse:

To expand or collapse a twisty using your mouse, click on the twisty. Or use the up and down arrow keys to select the twisty, then press Return or Enter.

#### Using your keyboard:

To expand or collapse a twisty using your keyboard, use the up and down arrow keys to select the twisty. Then press Return.

When you select each heading in the Contents, you see the corresponding help topic in the main pane.

### Searching the help <index>searching help</index>

To Search the help, choose the Search tab in the Help sidebar. Type the word or phrase that you are searching for in the field at the top of the Search pane, then press the Search button or the Return key. You see a list of headings where the word or phrase is found. To read a topic, choose aheading in the list.

When you select each heading, you see the corresponding help topic in the main pane.

#### Using your mouse:

To choose a heading in the list using your mouse, click on the heading.

#### Using your keyboard:

To choose a heading in the list using your keyboard, type the first one or two letters of the heading. If this does not find the heading immediately, use the up and down arrow keys to find it.

## Reading help topics <index>topics, help</index> <index>text size</index> <index>enlarge</index> <index>increase</index> <index>reduce</index> <index>decrease</index>

The Help window stays on top of other windows on your screen, so that you can always see the help. Move the Help window so that it does not block your view of the window that you are working in. You can work with and read the help at the same time.

Adjust the size of the Help window and the size of the text to make the help easy to read.

When you have finished using the help, close the Help window.

#### Using your mouse:

To adjust the size of the Help window, drag the edges of the window.

To adust the size of the text, use the toolbar buttons, Increase: and Decrease: .

These buttons are not visible by default. For information on how to add them to your toolbar, see Customizing the toolbar.

To close the Help window, use an appropriate system icon on the title bar.

#### Using your keyboard:

To adjust the size of the Help window, use the controls that your operating system provides.

For example, on Windows you can type Alt-Space. Choose Size from the context menu. Use the arrow keys to change the size of the window. Press Return to set the size, or Escape to restore the previous size.

To adust the size of the text, type Plus to make the text larger or Minus to make it smaller.

To close the Help window, press Escape or W.

## Reading related topics <index>links</index> <index>related topics</index>

help is organized in chapters that contain related topics. You can scroll up and down a chapter to read related topics. You can also follow links to read related information in other places.

### Reading chapters <index>scrolling</index> <index>chapters</index>

To read the topics in a chapter, scroll the main pane up and down in the normal way.

#### Using your mouse:

To scroll up and down a chapter using your mouse, use the scroll bar at the right of the main pane.

#### Using your keyboard:

To scroll up and down a chapter using your keyboard, press the up and down arrow keys. To scroll up and down faster, press Page Up and Page Down. To go to the start of the chapter, press Home. To go to the end of the chapter, press End.

### Finding a word or phrase in a chapter <index>finding words</index>

You can search a chapter to find a word or phrase. Use this technique if you cannot find the information you need using the Contents or Index.

When you find a word or phrase, you search forward or backward from the place where you are currently reading, even if keyboard focus is somewhere else.

#### Using your mouse:

To find a word or phrase using your mouse, press the toolbar button, Find: .

This button is not visible by default. For information on how to add it to your toolbar, see Customizing the toolbar.

#### Using your keyboard:

To find a word or phrase using your keyboard, press F.

#### Specifying a word or phrase to find <index>Find dialog</index>

To specify the word or phrase that you want to find, type it in the Find in This page window. Press the Find Next button to find the word or phrase.

You can specify options to control how finds words and phrases:

Match case
  Find only those occurrences that match the uppercase and lowercase letters that you typed.
Wrap
  After reaching the bottom (or top) of the chapter, keep looking from the top (or bottom) of the chapter.
Direction Up
  Search towards the top
Direction down
  Search towards the bottom

### Following links <index>links in help</index>

Links in the help lead to other related topics. There are three kinds of link. They look different so that you can tell them apart. The appearance of links depends on the theme that you are using. Use the examples here to see what each kind of link looks like with your current theme:

- A link to a glossary definition looks like this: theme
- A link to another topic in the help looks like this: Working with the Help window
- A link to a web page looks like this: Mozilla

When you follow an external link, opens the link in your web browser.

#### Using your mouse:

To follow a link, click on it.

#### Using your keyboard:

To follow a link, press Tab until the link has focus. Press Return.

## Keeping track of topics <index>back, help</index> <index>forward, help</index>

When you move from one topic to another by following a link or by using the sidebar, help tracks the move in the same way as a web browser.. You can easily go back to a previous topic. If you go back to a previous topic, you can easily go forward again.

When you move from one topic to another by scrolling a chapter, help does not track this.

#### Using your mouse:

To go back to the topic that you were reading before, press the toolbar button, Back: .

If you need to go back many steps, the Back button (or click the arrow beside it) to get a context menu. Choose the chapter from the menu.

The Back button is disabled when you have only read one topic.

To go forward again after going back, press the toolbar button, Forward: .

If you need to go forward many steps, the Forward button (or click the arrow beside it) to get a context menu. Choose the chapter from the menu.

The Forward button is disabled when you have not gone back to a previous topic.

#### Using your keyboard:

To go back to the topic that you were reading before, press Menu and choose Back from the context menu. The Back choice is disabled when you have only read one page.

To go forward again after going back, press Menu and choose Forward from the context menu. The Forward choice is disabled when you have not gone back to a previous page.

## Printing help topics <index>printing, help</index>

Use printed help when space on your screen is limited. You can print one help chapter at a time. uses your system's standard Print dialog to control printing.

#### Using your mouse:

Open the chapter that you want to print. and press the toolbar button, Print: .

#### Using your keyboard:

Open the chapter that you want to print. and press P.

## The Help toolbar <index>toolbar, help</index>

Use the buttons in the Help toolbar to perform common actions while you are reading the help. You can customize the toolbar so that it contains the buttons that you prefer in the positions that you prefer.

To work with the toolbar, you must use your mouse. You cannot use your keyboard to work with the toolbar, but most of the toolbar buttons have keyboard equivalents.

Here is a list of all the available buttons and their keyboard equivalents.

Button | Action | Keyboard
| Open or close the help sidebar. | F9
| Go back to the topic you were reading before you clicked a link. | Menu B
| Go forward, reopening the link that you last followed. | Menu F
| Go to the Help Welcome page. | –
| Customize the toolbar. | –
| Increase the text size in the main pane. | Plus
| Decrease the text in the main pane. | Minus
| Find text in the main pane. | F
| Print the main pane. | P

## Customizing the toolbar <index>toolbar, help</index>

You can customize the toolbar by adding and removing buttons, and by changing the layout.

To customize the toolbar, anywhere on the toolbar. Choose Customize from the context menu. shows you the toolbar palette.

To add a button to the toolbar, drag it from the palette and drop it on the toolbar where you want it.

To remove a button from the toolbar, drag it from the tolbar and drop it anywhere on the palette.

To move a button to a different position in the toolbar, drag it and drop it in its new position.

To restore the default buttons, press the Restore Default Set button. WHen you have finished making changes, press the Done button.

### Arranging toolbar buttons <index>toolbar buttons, help</index>

To help you to arrange your toolbar buttons, you can use separators and spaces:

Separator
  A vertical line between buttons
Space
  A space the same size as a button
Flexible space
  A space that expands, pushing buttons left and right

### Specifying the appearance of toolbar buttons <index></index>

In the toolbar palette you can specify the appearance of your toolbar buttons, so that you see only icons, only text, or both.

September 27, 2004

Copyright © 2004 Contributors to the Mozilla Calendar Project.