Why doesn't the search work in help?

English
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#1

I’m trying to have a date in a writer document at the start of every page and on the title page in the middle. It’s entered as a field, but I can’t easily control when that date is updated. I tried the help from the help menu, but it doesn’t actually let me search for anything. Nothing I type into the search edit box turns up results. It’s like the tool ignores me.

Is there actually no search function in the help document?

Version: 7.4.2.3 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 382eef1f22670f7f4118c8c2dd222ec7ad009daf
CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19044; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL

#2

Did you install the offline-help, or are you using the online-version. In the latter case it may depend on online-connection/firewall settings/options of browser…
.
As I am using the offline-version I never explored the other variant but I can search here, after some loading time:
https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/05/new_help.html?&DbPAR=SHARED&System=UNIX
.
My mobile shows a considerable delay before the page is fully loaded…

#3

If you get a 404 error when using the link for online help then try substituting the version number in the web address with latest, e.g. https://help.libreoffice.org/7.4/en-US/text/swriter/guide/fields.html isn’t finding so alter the address to read https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/swriter/guide/fields.html (About Fields)

Anyway, for me I use Tools > Update > Update All although I have it as an icon.

#4

I don’t know what those are exactly. I use the “help” in the “help” menu, which opens a local file in the browser.

#5

Try searching on field

#6

You aren’t grasping the problem. I type into the search box. I don’t see a button to click, so I hit enter. NOTHING HAPPENS. I’m not saying I don’t get results, I’m saying that nothing on the page changes at all.

#7

If you open help from the menu, there are already some links visible I think (I’m on mobile at moment). Can you follow any links to get a different local page? It might be a permissions problem with the browser

#8

The links only refer to themselves mostly. They position that section at the top of the window. A link at the bottom takes me to Getting Support, but the search on the left still does not work.

When first arriving on the page, there is nothing in the left column other than the search box and the words “Contents” and “Index”. Clicking Index does nothing (not clickable) and Contents is also not clickable, but a down arrow next to it pulls down a list with sublists. You can click one of those and go to another page where this process repeats.

LibreOffice_help
LibreOffice_help1787×1080 52.5 KB

#9

Thanks for sharing the screenshot.
You have the LibreOffice built-in help. Reinstall it, and try again.

1 Like
#10

Yes, I said I clicked the link in Help-Help. Why do I need to reinstall it? Are you saying it is broken and needs to be updated?

#11

Or deinstall (for the online help to pop up).

#12

Make sure you download and install help for LibreOffice 7.4, 64 bit, English-US

#13

Deinstall what?

Are you saying the local help is fatally broken and has no search capability?

#14

Your screenshot shows Help for version 7.2 but you have LibreOffice version 7.4.2.3 (x64) installed so it is out of date. The main reason for assuming your installation of Help is broken is that it won’t search.

1 Like
#15

Thank you for explaining that. I guess the updates that LO does, do not include the help package. Is there a way to have help automatically updated to match LO when it updates?

#16

If you download from libreOffice.org, while you are downloading an updated version of LibreOffice, the page offers the matching help file to download.

AFAIK LibreOffice does not do automatic updates in Windows

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