13.1.12 Help Menu

This section lists the menu items in the Help menu.

Table 13-18. Help Menu Options
Command Action
Offline Help Single tool help may be viewed online which requires an internet connection or offline by downloading the help file via the Documentation Manager for later viewing where internet is not available.
  • Open Offline Server: Start the server if it is not started. Then open the 14.20 Offline Server Window to view downloaded WebHelp.
  • Check for Updates: Manual check for updates for the Alexandria Offline Server (not for the plugin). This is done by comparing the version of the server packaged with the plugin with the version of the server that is installed, and prompts the you to update if the installed version is behind, or if the server installation is missing from their system.
    Note: Updates are automatically checked when the server is opened
    Note: Not available for Linux OS.
  • Change Ports: Change the ports that the Offline Server uses. Upon setting the ports, the server is restarted in order for changes to take affect.
  • Prefer Online Help*: Click to toggle between preferring online help (checked) and preferring offline help (unchecked).

    If checked, a request to open help will search online help first and then if not found search offline help.

    If unchecked, a request to open help will search offline help first and then if not found search online help.
Online Help Contents Display a help viewer with all tool help files, including some NetBeans help. Newer tools will link to online help content (no offline linking available), whereas legacy tools will have built-in help content.

Any plugin help will appear in the viewer after the plugin is installed.

See the “Help on Help” topic for more information.
Release Notes Open an HTML page with a list of links for:
  • Release Notes
  • User’s Guides
  • Latest Device Support
  • Debug Features Support
  • Reserved Resources
Latest Device Support See a list of current device support.
Tool Help Contents Search for online and offline Help content for a single tool based on the selection under Offline Help > Prefer Online Help*. The first occurrence of Help found will be displayed.
Online Docs and Support Open the NetBeans support web page.
Keyboard Shortcuts Card Display the MPLAB X IDE keyboard shortcuts PDF document.
Start Page Open or move the Start Page tab in front of any other open tabs.
Microchip University Go to the Microchip University webpage on Development Tools.
MPLAB X Store Open the MPLAB X Store tab. Use your Microchip account to order tools and software.
About Display a window about MPLAB X IDE. Information shown includes the IDE project version, Java and JRE version, operating system version, and User and Cache directories.
* May also be found under the 14.26.1 Generic Settings Tab (Tools > Options > Embedded > Generic Settings) and check/uncheck Prefer online help over offline if both are available.