Using the Help panel

The updatable Help panel provides access to information on how to use Flash. For more information about the Help panel, see the following sections.

Accessing help

The tabs in the Help panel—Help and How Do I—contain the full set of user assistance information provided with the Flash application.

You can select the Help tab to display general help information.
You can select the How Do I tab to display a list of 10-20 minute lessons that guide you through many of the features in Flash.

To access help and the table of contents:

Select Help > Help to open the Help panel.
If the table of contents is not visible, click the Table of Contents button to display the table of contents.
A list of help books is displayed. The Help tab is selected by default.
Click a book to open it and display its topics.
Click a topic to select it.

The How Do I tab contains brief lessons that introduce you to the main features of Flash, letting you practice on isolated examples. If you are new to Flash, or if you have used only a limited set of features, start with the How Do I tab.

To start the lessons:

Select Help > How Do I to display the How Do I tab of the Help panel.
In the Table of Contents, you'll find a list of lessons.
Click a lesson topic to open it.

To search for a word or phrase in the Help panel:

Click the Search icon in the Help panel toolbar.
Type a word or phrase in the text box, then click Search.
A list of topics that contain the word or phrase is displayed.

To close the help table of contents:

To close the table of contents, click the X above the table of contents.

Note: You can access the table of contents again by clicking the Table of Contents button.

To print a help page:

Click the Print button in the Help panel toolbar.
In the Print dialog box, select the printer and other printing options, then click Print.

Updating the Help panel

The Update feature allows you to update your help system with new and revised documentation, including procedures and lessons. You can click the Update button to see if new information is available. Additionally, if you see a topic in help with the text "For the latest information about this topic, click the Update button at the top of the Help tab," you can click this button to update Flash Help.

To update Flash Help:

Verify that you're connected to the Internet.
Click the Update button in the Help panel toolbar and follow instructions to download the help system.