Windows Help uses the standard mouse interface for common actions: choosing commands, moving or resizing the Help window, choosing buttons, interacting with dialog boxes, scrolling information, and choosing hot spots. There are, however, some of anomalies in the mouse interface.
The first involves choosing hot spots. In many Windows-based applications, the user must double-click the mouse to execute an action. This is true in Help also. To choose a topic from the History window, you can double-click the topic. But this is not true with hot spots. Choosing a hot spot requires only one mouse click. Using a double-click to choose a hot spot may result in a double action. For example, double-clicking a jump may cause Help to execute an action in the two topics: the one containing the jump and the one that is displayed as a result of the jump.
The second difference involves scrolling. In many application windows and list boxes, the information in the window or list box is updated as the user moves the scroll box. In the main Help window, information is not updated when the user moves the scroll box. Instead, the information is updated only when the user finishes moving the scroll box and releases the mouse button.
Use the following techniques to scroll text within the Help window.
| To scroll | Do This |
| Up or down one line | Click the up or down scroll arrow on the vertical scroll bar. |
| Right or left one line | Click the right or left scroll arrow on the horizontal scroll bar. |
| Up or down one window | Click the vertical scroll bar above or below the scroll box. |
| Right or left one window | Click the horizontal scroll bar to the right or left of the scroll box. |
| Continuously | Point to one of the scroll arrows, and hold down the mouse button until the information you want comes into view. |
| To a particular place in the topic | Drag the scroll box to the position you want. |