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#68095 by Petzlglyph
Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:10 pm
Hi all, I've been a user since DC5 and just a while back upgraded from 9 to 17. In all that time I was always able to answer any questions I had by searching the user manual. Since upgrading to 17 when I click on help I am directed to a PDF version of the manual which is impossibly cumbersome to search.

Did something not load correctly, am I going about it wrong or is the searchable version no longer available?
Thanks, Ken H.
#68097 by tigere
Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:19 am
Maybe this will help, or better might be to say this is what I do - at the page block first page, I enter 640 which takes me to the alphabetically listed topics and scroll to find what I need ... enter that page number in the page block which takes me to the page in the book I need ... Hope this helps. The same can be done from the front as well by Chapter Topics. For me it seems to mimic how I would use the print manual.
Roger Pingree
Tigere
#68098 by joshhuggins
Sat Jan 23, 2016 1:42 am
Couple other tips for the PDF manual.

:idea: You can click on the Titles on the topics in the Table of Contents.
:idea: You can use Ctrl+F to search (Find) words in the PDF, like Hatch or dimension.
:idea: While searching you can hit F3 to jump to the next instance of the word in the manual. If you start a search while midway thru the manual, the search will search from your present location down thru the manual and then cycle back around to the beginning. Once you have seen all of the search results, you should receive a notice that you have seen all of the instance of that search in the PDF. It will again cycle thru again if you keep hitting F3.
:idea: Check to see if you have the display of Thumbnails/Bookmakers turned on in your PDF browser, as the Datacad manual takes advantage of the PDF thumbnail/bookmark systems which can help speed up browsing.
:idea: If you are using PDF software that can edit the PDF, like the free Tracker PDF XChange Editor, you can create your own set of bookmarks for things you would frequently use. You can even export and import your bookmarks to the next version of the manual so you don't have to recreate them.
Attachments
manual.PNG
#68257 by Ted B
Wed Feb 17, 2016 3:44 pm
The thing that I find maddening about most previously-authored-and-indexed texts coverted to .pdf in the pagination is always "off" by several pages, or many pages. It's an artifact of .pdf, but it's maddening. It's not just manuals, it's books, catalogs and other previously-printed material where the original pagination starts on an inside-page; but .pdf has to start with the cover-page.

I don't understand why .pdf can't have a "start (indexed?) pagination here"-feature with the front-matter as hidden page-numbers or in-Romans.
#68260 by Petzlglyph
Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:05 pm
Thanks for the tips and agree about the page # issue with PDF's.
But it looks like the bad news to my question is that the feature is no longer available. I found the old help manual to be invaluable, especially when I was learning new and unused features of the program as there were branches off to related feature built into the help.
What was the reason for discontinuing it? :( Kind of seems like a downgrade to the program for me.
Ken

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