How Windows Help Locates Help Files

To perform an interfile jump, Help must be able to find the destination Help file on the user’s system. When the user chooses an interfile jump hot spot, Help looks for the Help file in the following locations:

1.nThe directory of the Help file that initiated the interfile jump (Help’s current directory).

2.nThe MS-DOS current directory.

3.nThe user’s Windows directory.

4.nThe Windows SYSTEM directory.

5.nThe directory containing WINHELP.EXE.

6.nThe directories listed in the user’s PATH environment variable.

7.nThe directories specified in WINHELP.INI.

If Help cannot find the Help file after searching in all these locations, it displays a “Help file not found” error message.

Note:

Help also uses this search order when you execute Help from the MS-DOS command line or when an application sends an API call to Help.