The program has a nice interface and does what it claims to do, but its usefulness seems pretty limited. Try it and check it out.

MB

Good software.. But not worth of 49$..

what's a 'chm' file?

I love when people complain about free stuff.

It's free. There is no need to complain, just walk away and say to yourself, "Self, I have no need for this kind free item someone took the their time to give me free".

Do you stop at a house a with an old sofa out front with a free sign on it and complain to the owners that you'd like it but the color is all wrong and it is all their fault.

I find this a bit ironic. With Vista, Microsoft has actually discontinued support for .chm files. Any programme that has help files written in this format will either go out to the internet for help or give you an error message.

Dear morons
Instead of posting stupid, ignoramus newbie questions here...wasting time, bandwidth, and hard drive space.... why don't you spare us, and use GOOGLE ? This is not computer 101 and besides, with a couple of exceptions (Fubar), it's pretty much the blind leading the blind. Computer illiteracy seems to rule the day at GOTD

CHM is compiled HTML, You can create the raw file in notepad but it requires MS's creation tool (which someone was kind enough to post here) - to compile it.

GOTD -This software is useful, thanks again for a good tool. Perfect, no... but as they say, the price is right.

I was able to download and install this program without a flaw! Not sure if I can use this yet, but it seems well made. Like the other contributors here, I to thought that it would have been great if you were able to create a CHM file from scratch, but none the less, I think the program has great value.

I also wanted to mention that it never ceases to amaze me and my friends how there is always one dude (# 31, Gepetto 88) that shows up to just to take pop-shots at some new comers to GAOTD or those who might not be as experienced as some others here in the computer world. Dude please lighten up! #24 simply voiced a common concern of millions of people about all of the acronyms! From the military, the government, all kinds of industries, products and procedures, just after some new product or procedure if released, the first thing to happen is that the assistant to the boss comes up with are “acronyms” for this new product. They quickly do this because they have problems with multi syllable words that they don’t understand or pronounce! Let’s all have fun, learn new things and most of help others to do the same!

Hi Guys, I am afraid that I agree with #24 - kinda. I am a newbie also and I come here everyday. I also invite all my friends to come here and I would like to think that if they have a legitimate question, some good-natured soul will help and answer them. I do not know what a chm is but just by reading everything here, I now have a better idea. I work 12 - 14 hours a day so I do not have time to do as much research as I would like either. I am not downloading this because even tho I think I could use it, I do not have enough information to be sure...and it is bedtime already. Please help us newbies guys...all of you were once newbies, try to remember how frustrating that was.

Installed and registered fine on my XP Machine. On my Vista machine, it showed install as complete when the progress bar only showed about 75 percent complete, but it still opened ok and registered ok. So far, it appears to be a complete install even though I tried installing a second time to be sure and the second time, it also said install was completed when progress bar showed 75 percent done.

Hi eveybody!!


Well after reading GAOTD review I was wondering who would actually be interested in editing the help file of a commercial software, apart from the software developers, taking also into account that more and more applications are nowadays getting away from the use of CHM and instead using HTML (offline or online).

The translation facility (GOOGLE and YAHOO) is very poor so if someone needs to translate a CHM file it's much better do it using Babelfish losing the formatting.


So, as matters stand, why not offer, at least once, something more useful for the mass of the PC users, who visit this site almost daily, whose alternatives cannot be found on the web for FREE such as software for eCommerce or editors to write and publish professional eBooks on the web?

THUMB DOWN for this GAOTD.

#4, I'm wondering if HTML can be converted to batch files and will it work on a TRS 80?

I don't think I will need a program like this, so I'll check tomorrow.

I’ve decided (on the advice of lot's of well wishers and game enthusiast's) to ignore the nay-sayers and continue to remind people that I’ve posted links to free games each day over in the games discussion threads, though all I’ll post is a few short sentence’s about the game and the download link.

I’ve decided to do this because there are always new people joining the community and they may not be aware of what’s available over in the forums; (which, I may add, also includes links to free commercial applications posted by other forum members), and also there is no other way of announcing that the games have been posted. There have been several interesting suggestions put forwards by other community members, but for the most part, they’ve been impractical, or impossible to instigate, so this method will have to suffice.

I apologize to those who wished to be informed about free games for bowing down to those that thought it was not the place to post. I’ll try and post details as early as possible from the start of a new giveaway; though generally I’ll be posting the details and download links several hours before the official giveaway change over, so it’s always worth checking the forums around midnight GMT. :)

==========================================================================================

Today’s free game is actually a series of three called Realms of Arkania 1: Blade of Destiny, Realms of Arkania 2: Star Trail and Realms of Arkania 3: Shadows of Riva. I recommend the last title; though it is three downloads totalling 445Mb, wheras the other two combined is a little over 20Mb. It's worth it though, especially if you have no Fantasy RPG games. You can find out a lot more by following the link below:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/3962#post-42632


Other games I’ve posted since last posting details on these comments section are as follows:

Creatrix
Worms and four versions of Tetris
The Incredible Machine
Penumbra (see also The Suffering posted by FranckW in good software we need to know about)
True Lies and Steel Empire
Island Wars
Ocular Ink


Regards Stephen

Ya know, I think its pretty damn rude of people to treat people, who do not know what different abbreviations are, badly. You need to remember when you had no idea what HTML or STFU even meant. We were all there before and instead of being rude, a better way to handle it would be to advise without meaness.

I would like to post a note about .chm files just because your anti-virus picks it up as a virus doesnt mean it is virus infected!!! I recomend you extracting the files from the chm. That way you can test every single file in it individually i have done so and found that the contents have contained no viruses with the programs such as pc-cillin that said it was virus infected. But after scanning the extracted files no viruses were detected. Please keep that in mind before you delete your .chm files

I make help files with another tool, and have always wanted the ability to make a quick change to one of my old chm files. This does it very well. Great find.

re: #47 - "this is the workaround:"

Good grief - search/Copy/load/paste/cut/purge/save as...

To the developer - Would it be so difficult to put a "Create new .chm file" button?

I mean, I don't need an existing .doc file to create a new doc... I don't need an existing .txt file to use notepad...

From #10: "I was hoping to install it on my old PC 80286 with Windows 3.0"

What?!? You're still using a 286? Hasn't that thing gotten trampled in a dinosaur stampede by now?

This one installed without errors. Better than the last couple tries of GAOTD.
This probably will be limited need by me, but I may use it to 'fix' problems that someone else's chm has errors like spelling or formatting of words. Or wrong language - I can switch to mine.

$50 cost??? ouch!!!
I use WinCHM to do create help files.
to answer previous questions...
1) what is html? [.html] is the most basic computer language used for creating web pages... there are also pages like [.asp]- wich are for dynamic web pages that pull data from databases stored on the website and stuff.
2) what is CHM? CHM is the windows standard for help files. meaning, just about anybody with windows can open up and read a CHM help file. CHM files have a built in SEARCH feature that sets them apart from other programs. Adobe Acrobat has a search feature, but i really dont like its interface.

I downloaded a complete king james version of the bible that was created using html web pages, then i ran a script to change the page styles and stuff, then i compiled it into a CHM file-> now it is a searchable bible. Very cool for people that want to create help files or tutorials and stuff.
I don't think my WinCHM will do different languages thou- so maybe using a program like this to translate and re-save would be a valuble option.
Giveaway often gives away very odd software- one mans trash is another mans treasure! I personally love all the developers goodies.

To reply post number #47 :

It's possible to blank out the exisiting .chm file that you have opened into the editor, but it's not possible to make new navigation tabs !

So when you clear the document, you can only edit a new front page, and not many sub directories.

I hope Helpsmith will return on Giveawayoftheday.

The ultimate .chm editor, and there you can make new chm files with as many sub directories / navigation tabs as you want !

For those of you thinking you can't make a new chm file, this is the workaround:

Open existing help.chm file for any program on your hard drive, then do a file save as and give it a new name.

Then delete what's in the chm file or edit to your hearts content for your new named file.

I tried it and it works beautifully.

Judith

This seems to have been slated but it is pretty good at what it does and for a developer like myself it is handy to modify current help files for projects I have done in the past and updated with new features.

As a software developer, I can tell you that it is difficult to produce any software. Unfortunately, this software's creator has no excuse for putting out such a non useful program. Sure, it has lots of potential. I know that if the software worked, I would have a need for it every single day.



Anyway, apart from the rambling, this program, as stated above, does not allow you to create new CHM files. Okay, now that we all know that, let us move on. The program also will not allow you to change certain aspects of the CHM file.


For instance, it will not allow you to add, delete, change the name, or rearrange the bookmarks in any way. It will come up with a nasty 'Access Denied' message.

The only functionality of this program is to edit the text on the pages already created in the CHM file. Oh, and of course translate it. But really, who here, would need to translate a CHM file if this program can't even modify important aspects of existing CHM files, much less create new ones!?



Apart from all the negativism, GOATD has provided quality software in the past, and we all hope that they can do the same in the near future. Sure, none of us commenting on these Giveaways want this site to fail. We just want what the good stuff to come back.

Thanks GOATD, but today has been a little bit of a letdown.

I was another user excited to have a decent interface for making chm files to attach to my programs, only to be disappointed that it can't MAKE chm files. I know it doesn't claim to have that ability, but if you've already got a chm file, you probably have the editor you used to do it in the first place.

As a minimum, it would be nice if they'd include a 'blank' chm template so that one could right-click in a folder and choose 'New->CHM file', THEN use this program to edit it. It turned out to be too much work to strip down a third party chm file I was able to find on my machine. Think I'll try that MS one lined to above...

This works!
I guess some people don't like it as much as others, but heres my rating:
5/10
Webmaster Reviews
It's better than most you see!

You can make a new CHM-file with a little editor-trick. Just empty an existing one and fill it with your own info.

Why is the Dutch flag the same as our Norwegian flag?

Found it. It's called Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. It can make and decompile CHM files. The interface sucks (old Windows 98-styled interface), but it does what it's supposed to do. Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=00535334-c8a6-452f-9aa0-d597d16580cc&displaylang=en#filelist .

I remember that Microsoft had a CHM editor that was made a long time ago. I can't remember what it was exactly called, but I'll post a link if I find it. This program has a nice interface, and it seems to open CHM files just fine (I tried the one from the program file). The reg info is funny. I never heard Giveaway of the Day been called Giveawayoftheday Inc. Cool :)

I also question the veracity of the line "Besides, CHM format is increasingly being used for creation of electronic books (e-books)." I work with a group that creates e-books and we do not (and probably never will) use CHM format. CHM is not high of the list of available formats for the e-book readers currently on the market.

The ability to translate CHM files makes this software of marginal use to the average person; however, most will be able to live quite happily without it.

It is not state of the Art.
But is it worth 50 dollar ?
Chm is really an UGLY format.
A 100 pc working chm to
editable or non editable pdf format is the program
that I want to have and I am disposed to put money
on it.

GOTD I think I love you

I wonder what a CHM file means....dont laught @ me .....
lol

To #23 - would you want a text editor than only allowed you to edit and translate existing text files?

What this does is clever, but it seems to be a rather half-baked concept. Of course, if you could find an equally good EXE resource translator, then you could have a go at translating programs as well.

Post #24: don't get all jacked up because you can't read the frigging first line of the description. Go find the Wizard of Oz and ask him for a brain...GOTD can't help you in that department.

THANKS GOTD, I downloaded an ebook just yesterday and was wondering how I could remove some of un-needed graphics when I print. This may just come in useful.

#24, Lyn:"why do they use CHM ?
What does it mean?
Im tired of the use of acronyms, they assume everybody knows what they mean.
There are some nubies here!
What the hell is CHM?
what is HTML?
The list is too long to continue."

The life is too short to explain everything to you. Reborn and start again.

Hmm, I could use a CHM editor to create help files, but this one is only an editor without ability to create new CHM files.
This is a good software, but I have no use for it.

#24: CHM - Compiled HTML Help File. HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language. I think you should not download this because this tool is not for noobs.

To (24) lyn: - What the hell is CHM? ... you demanded.
If you are a nubie here, I suppose you are here to LEARN about new things by trying out the software provided for free by this site GAOTD (..ooops GiveAway Of the Day)(to provide us with constructive feedback about today’s offer). ... or by learning from the people who post useful comments on this forum. But, it serves you no purpose to be here, if you do not bother to first READ what it is already posted.

FYI, the term CHM was well defined in the very introductory paragraphs of today’s giveaway (at the top of this web page). Also, if you had bothered to do a GOOGLE search on this acronym (all by yourself), the very first item that shows up is a pointer to Microsoft Compiled HTML Help - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help

... and, if you wish to learn even more about CHM, you can READ all about it at this other place. This acronym could have other meanings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHM

And once you get there, you can READ all about it and you can come back to this forum and explain it to the rest of us; but do not bother, because most of us (ie. even the nubies) already know, since we most likely took time to READ what is already explained in this forum or we took time to learn to use the simple tools needed to find such information on our own (ie. not to be spoonfed by others).

Of course, had this acronym not been defined already or if the definition was not clear (mumbo-jumbo), you have every right to request a clearer explanation. That is why some of us come to this GAOTD forum (ie. both to help others on things we are experts on and also to LEARN from others about things we are still nubies on). However, one important pre-requisite is that we must be able to READ.

What a waste of time. How many people in this world need this kind of SH*T ? And GOTD should be for programs with MUCH wider appeal. I am very disappointed with this days giveaway. Thumbs down to GOTD.

whom ever is in charge of this site, Must be taking "I don't Care anymore pills"...

installed on win xp sp3 works great!

Besides, CHM format is increasingly being used for creation of electronic books (e-books).
I've seen this claim before, not just from this company. Perhaps someone creates ebooks using CHM, but I don't think I've ever seen it offered as an ebook format from any of the major or even minor publishers. So I'm not sure what use it would have in the marketplace as far as ebooks.

Marie

TO Fubar: I’m curious what your “day job” is. You are obviously very knowledgeable about computers and software and without question “the man” we all wait for, when deciding whether the day’s download is worthwhile. I don’t want to be intrusive, but I think we all would all like to know how you have come to be the top GOTD guru. On behalf of all of us, thank you for all your efforts. —- Respectfully, Mr. Lee

To answer #24 who is obviously suffering n00b frustrations...

Google is your friend!! Try this useful resource for abbreviations to EVERYTHING (sorted by category) http://www.abbreviations.com/

Now it's all better! Right?

why do they use CHM ?
What does it mean?
Im tired of the use of acronyms, they assume everybody knows what they mean.
There are some nubies here!
What the hell is CHM?
what is HTML?
The list is too long to continue.

The programs name is CHM Editor, not CHM CREATOR. The program does what it claims, Edits pre-existing CHM files. No need to complain about a creation feature that it doesn't claim to have.

Take Note: This file type can become infected and should be carefully scanned if someone sends you a file with this extension. The starting characters, ITSF, stands for InfoTech Storage File; Microsoft's name for the library that reads/writes .CHM files.

There is an irony here that a program geared toward help files has itself, no help file. I guess they’re taking the WYSIWYG to the extreme because that is the extent of the support for users of this program. Correction – There is a forum at their web site where someone can post questions about features and functions. How long a wait until you get an answer is anyone’s guess.

After looking it over for a bit I find that it is not anything more than a way to edit text already created. In other words only edits pages already created and does not do that as well as it should.

I have used an html editor layed out exactly like this editor is and find it is a great editor. Have not had the oppertunity to use this editor as of yet, but love the similarity of the editors. Thanks GOTH. :)

does not:
create new chm files
create new pages in chm files
edit indexes and tables of contents

does:
edit the content on pages of an existing CHM file with an RTF style editor (most of the controlls you find in wordpad)
translate as stated

a few places I found it was not quite as userfriendly as it could be but nothing major. generaly a good program but only a text editor, not a help file creator

It's a good idea, but with a bad name. This tool is NOT a CHM editor, as it cannot create a new CHM from scratch. It's a tool to modify an existing CHM file without having to decompile and recompile it. It is really easy to use.

So far so good. However, it cannot be used to modify some of the characteristics of the original CHM. For example, many CHM files have the bookmarks and/or search tabs disabled. This is really a pity, as those options are very useful, especially when the documentation is large, and they can be enabled easily just by turning an option on when building the original CHM. But CHM Editor cannot change those options. Why? It's probably extremely simple, and it's THE THING I need. For this reason, I give it a thumb down, but I'll keep this giveaway. I hope a forthcoming version will have the possibility to edit those options and will be compatible with the GAOTD key.