INF: Windows Help and Help Compiler Capacity Limits

ID Number: Q85676

3.10

WINDOWS

Summary:

The following lists the limits of the Windows Help application,

version 3.1. These limits are subject to change in future versions.

Paragraph size(1): approximately 32,000 bytes

Topic title string length: 127 characters

Topics per RTF source file: approximately 32,700

Topics per help file: 42,000,000

By-reference bitmaps per help file : 32,767

Help file size: approximately 2,157,000,000 bytes (2 gigabytes)

Keywords per help file: limited only by file size

Keyword length: 255 bytes

Topics per keyword(2): 32,767

Browse sequence length: limited only by the number of topics

Bookmarks per help file: limited only by file size

Annotations per topic: 1

Annotations per help file: 32,767

History list length: 40 topics

Text that can be copied to clipboard: limited only by machine memory

Macro length: 512 characters

Main windows per topic: 1

Secondary windows per topic: 5

(1) The maximum paragraph size includes graphics pasted into the RTF

source. Therefore, each pasted graphic is limited to 32,000 bytes. To

work around this limitation, import large bitmaps by reference.

(2) Performance degrades for files with more than several hundred

topics. The Search dialog box displays a maximum of 400 topics.

Additional reference words: 3.10 HC HCP.EXE HC31.EXE WinHelp