Windows Err Msg: Bookmarks are Damaged. Delete WINHELP.BMK

 Last reviewed: November 23, 1994
Article ID: Q85543
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, 3.11

SYMPTOMS

The following error message may appear when starting Windows 3.0 or 3.1: 

   Bookmarks are damaged. Delete WINHELP.BMK. Choose OK to delete the
   bookmark and continue. The bookmark has been damaged or corrupted.

CAUSE

A bookmark allows quick return to a specific location in a Windows Help topic. The bookmark menu defines shortcuts to find specific topics in Help instead of looking through two or three levels to find the information.

If the bookmarks are damaged or corrupt, the above error message is displayed. To correct this problem, delete the WINHELP.BMK file.

RESOLUTION

To keep the error from recurring, delete the file WINHELP.BMK from the Windows directory. (Note that you may need to do this from the MS-DOS command prompt.) Then, exit exiting and restart Windows to reset the bookmarks.

NOTE: Deleting the WINHELP.BMK file removes all the existing bookmarks. Previous bookmarks should be redefined.

MORE INFORMATION

To define a bookmark, do the following:

  1. From the Help Index, select a topic where a bookmark is desired.

  2. From the Bookmark menu, choose Define.

  3. Enter a Bookmark name (up to 20 characters in length).

  4. Choose OK to add it to the list of bookmarks at the bottom of the Bookmark menu.

Help automatically puts a number next to the bookmark for quick keyboard access. To return to a topic of interest, open the Bookmark menu and choose the defined Bookmark name (or type the number next to the bookmark). Help displays the topic.

WINHELP.BMK is placed in the Windows directory and must remain there for Windows Help to be able to retrieve defined bookmarks.

Windows Help is unable to generate a list of defined bookmarks if WINHELP.BMK is removed from the Windows directory (even if the file is placed in a directory that lies within the search path).

KBCategory: kbother kberrmsg
KBSubcategory: win30 win31
Additional reference words: 3.00 3.00a 3.0 3.0a 3.1 3.11 3.10

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Last reviewed: November 23, 1994
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