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simplemaan

Include link to LabVIEW User Manual under Help Menu

Submitted by Member Member on ‎09-10-2024 11:14 AM 5 Comments (5 New)
Status: Under Consideration

Online version of LabVIEW 2024 Q1 Help -> LabVIEW Help menu item only points to the LabVIEW Programming Reference and NOT to LabVIEW User Manual.  This means that searches for topics like: "LabVIEW Style Guide" or "Memory" or "Performance" inside LabVIEW do not point to these topics inside the LabVIEW User Manual.  Currently to access any of these topics it is necessary to do an internet search which yields results in the LabVIEW User Manual.

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5 Comments
fabric
Active Participant
Active Participant
‎09-10-2024 10:20 PM
‎09-10-2024 10:20 PM

I find Google does a far better job at answering my LV questions than NI's search function ever does...

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Christina_R
Active Participant
Active Participant
‎10-29-2024 08:20 AM
‎10-29-2024 08:20 AM
Status changed to: Under Consideration
 
Christina Rogers
Principal Product Owner, LabVIEW R&D
simplemaan
Member Member
Member
‎05-13-2025 11:42 AM
‎05-13-2025 11:42 AM

I just tested the Offline Help Viewer with LabVIEW 2025 Q1 and it includes both the Programming Reference Manual and the LabVIEW User Manual.  This only opens if the user has their NI Help preferences set to use offline help however, so anyone who is not aware and uses the default choice of online help will not see it.  Please update the LabVIEW Help Menu to include links to both Programming Reference Manual and the LabVIEW User Manual.  Older versions of LabVIEW (for instance 2019, had BOTH available in the Windows Help)

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MCapan
Member
Member
‎07-21-2025 12:11 PM
‎07-21-2025 12:11 PM

I want to add as an extra note to this. While moving the help online can be helpful in keeping things up to date and light, it creates other issues.

  • For example extra install steps for systems that might be offline. Could fix this by having an option at installation to install offline help. 
  • Another potential issue is what happens if the offline isn't available? You may say can't happen, but just this year Mathworks entire web structure was attacked, taking down their online help for over a week.
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Christina_R
Active Participant
Active Participant
‎07-22-2025 11:23 AM
‎07-22-2025 11:23 AM

LabVIEW 2025 Q1 and earlier installs the offline help content as a required component. In LabVIEW 2025 Q3, it's an optional component, but it's installed by default.

 

If a machine does not have Internet access, the Help system will automatically open the offline help.

 

In the event that the online help isn't available, you can open the NI Help Preferences application and uncheck "Use online help."

Christina Rogers
Principal Product Owner, LabVIEW R&D
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