For traditional Windows users, this design will probably be very easy to use. Overall, it has a Windows-95 era look and feel. The same applies if you want to use your own toolchain outside the Microsoft ecosystem.Īs a result of this Windows focus, HelpNDoc is also designed more to look like a traditional Microsoft Word interface and uses the horizontal ribbon design. This won’t be a problem if your whole company uses Windows, but if you use HelpNDoc and want to collaborate with other writers they may not be using a compatible system. There is no way to make HelpNDoc work on any system other than Windows. If you require your Help Authoring Tool to work on a Mac or Linux OS, then you will need to consider choosing another tool. CHM files (compiled HTML files) which are specific to Windows applications. It’s specially designed to work well within the Microsoft and Windows ecosystem, and integrate with Microsoft development tools like Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. A lack of support for non-Windows Operating Systemsįirst of all, HelpNDoc is only available on a Windows Operating System. We’ll now go into the important features that you might find are missing if you choose HelpNDoc for your documentation.

Nevertheless, it’s a more streamlined Help Authoring Tool than solutions like Flare since it offers a more focused set of functionality.

When you choose HelpNDoc, you download the software to your desktop as an on-site installation like MadCap Flare or Adobe RoboHelp, so it’s not a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. The standard price entitles you to free updates of HelpNDoc and high-quality customer support for one year after purchase. There is also a free version with banner ads if you want the software for personal use. HelpNDoc costs $282 (as of February 2019) for the full ad-free version of HelpNDoc. It’s typically aimed at customers who are at least proficient in programming, and comfortable using tools that are more on the technical side. HelpNDoc is an example of a Help Authoring Tool used by technical writers to create software documentation. 3 Crucial Disadvantages to HelpNDoc Help Authoring Tool

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