Common: LibreOffice Help menu ( Version 5.3.1.2 ) - How to get offline Help back?

[librebel]

In my previous LibreOffice versions the key F1 would automatically invoke the offline LibreOffice Help system, but since version 5.3.1.2 it opens the online Internet page for LibreOffice Help ( Help - LibreOffice Help ) .

Is the offline LibreOffice Help system still available in version 5.3.1.2 , and if so, how can it be invoked ?

Secondly i noticed there is a new menuitem in the Help menu, called "Get help online...", and it leads applaudably to this site, AskLibreOffice !

But now that the first menuitem “LibreOffice Help ( F1 )” already leads to Help online , shouldn’t this new menuitem rather be named "Ask LibreOffice..." ?

Thanks in advance, lib.

[paravantis]

Adding a comment in case it proves useful to fellow Windows users.

To get offline help installed correctly, it is very important to download the correct version, i.e. the version that corresponds to the language and the version (operating system, as well as 32 or 64 bit) of your LibreOffice installation.

This can be somewhat tricky to get right. On the download page, you have to choose the correct operating system (in my case Windows x86_64), wait for a couple of seconds for the page to refresh, and then click on the Help for offline use… link that appears as a bullet below the “Supplementary Downloads” text.

For version 5.4, the link for the English (US) x64 LibreOffice and the correct help file is

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/?type=win-x86_64&version=5.4.0&lang=en-US

This makes sure the correct version of the offline help is downloaded; if you, mistakenly, download the 32 bit version and try to install it in the 64 bit version of LibreOffice, it will not work.

Hope it helps.

[Lupp]

If you want to run a specific version of LibO for which the offline help is no_longer / not_yet available from the download page, you can get the needed msi-file per UI-language from this download archive. You will also need to get the help-msi from there (Win 32 bit) if you want to add offline help to a PortableApps version of LibO. See also the guide from this location.

[paravantis]

Very useful link, thank you!

[Cy6erNauti1us]

Sadly, couldn’t find any msi-file for EN_IN UI language. This deficiency is not going to win LO many converts on the Indian subcontinent.

If any translation is required from EN_GB to create an EN_IN help file, I’d be glad to contribute my effort.

[anon87010807]

You need to install the correct offline help file for your version of Libre, that is including the interface language, or it won’t work. So if you have the US English and Dutch interface languages installed for Libre and the Help for US English, the help will pop up properly when US English is selected as interface language, and it won’t pop up after switching to Dutch.

If this answer helped you, please vote it with (here on the left). That will help other people with the same question.

[librebel]

Thanks @anon87010807,

i installed the package “libreoffice-help-en-us” from the package manager, then restarted LO, now F1 triggers offline help again.

[Lupp]

On the download page you should also get offered the packege for offline help which you need to install in addition.

You can also go to the download archive where you find all the versions ever released.
Choose the folder of exactly your version for your operating system (in case of Win also the correct bit-width) and download the help packege(s) according with your UI-lanuage(s).

The install runs in the same way as the install of the software itself. The target folder should be determined automatically.

(Sorry! Posts crossed.)

[librebel]

Thanks @Lupp,

Works +1

i did download from the site at first, but i wasn’t sure what to do with the .deb package, so i installed it directly from the package manager.