Installed and activated on XPHome SP2 and activated with no problems. Haven't really tested it a lot yet, but I think this will be useful. I have an older one called 'Help Creator' as well, and will be interesting to see how to two compare. I do write html by hand so that will be a plus.

to #28 Fubar,
Curt wasn't necessarily incorrect:
In 2002, Microsoft announced some security risks associated with the .CHM format, as well as some security bulletins and patches.[1] They have since announced their intentions not to develop the .CHM format further, and will be moving to a new generation of Windows Help called Microsoft Assistance Markup Language in the Windows Vista operating system.

Exactly what was the mindset behind blocking Ctrl-V method for copying the serial to the program? I know it's a pretty insignificant annoyance, but if the programmers show such little sense with the very first thing you do with this program, it doesn't bode well for the more important tasks later.

Fubar's comments are right on the mark. The former version was frustrating since you could only open existing files. This version helps you create new files... much, much better.

Also, having the previous version installed, installing this was a breeze. Thanks GOATD and Gridinsoft.

Can't download the Trial Version from the Author Website ... how dependable can their software be!?!?
G!:)

#64: Thanks Giovanni... The Vizacc app you referred to looks interesting. You wondered what use something like CHM Editor might be for non-developers...

Speaking just for myself, many, many times I want/need to explain how to do something, but trying to do it in plain text is tedious & can sometimes be hard for others to understand -- a picture (or diagram) can really be worth a thousand words. Yet I don't have the time, or often motivation ;-) , to spend a fair amount of time creating html or more complete CHM files for something like that -- especially since when you're doing that much work the scope of the project seems to expand on its own. CHM Editor might be a good way to knock something out pretty quickly.


------
Those experiencing errors running CHM Editor might want to post in the GridinSoft forum... There was a similar post dated last November, & the developer thought it was fixed.
------
#77: "Is there a list on machine FUNCTION shortcuts / “Hotkeys built into windows or ???”"

Google on something like Windows Shortcut key.

Firstly, on my XP SP3 machine here, I don't have the 'Files tab' problem that other seem to be having >shrug<.

I've written several Help files professionally, and I have to say that CHM Editor is OK for small Help projects or for use by inexperienced Help writers, but it lacks several features which a 'pro' Help author would expect. It's not possible to build your own Index or Keywords, for example, and worst of all, there's no way to insert a table (an absolutely ESSENTIAL feature for any Help file beyond REALLY simple ones). The developers of CHM Editor seem to be really proud of their automated Google or Yahoo! translations; the reality is that anyone needing to write a multi-language Help file would either bite the bullet and pay to have it translated professionally, OR pass the file to a colleague (or Internet buddy ;)) who is a native speaker of whatever language. Automated translations invariably look 'wrong' to native speakers and are frequently laughable: so I wouldn't be plugging that as a USP if I were them.

On the other hand, looking at the 'free' alternatives, HelpMaker is still (after all these years!) somewhat buggy in places, but CAN insert tables and support manual index building, as well as 'pop-up' or 'extra' Help windows, and is VERY MUCH worth grabbing in its current version, before they finally produce their 'super duper' new version which seemingly will be supported by a database (oh dear!), and which will in my opinion wreck their product. It's currently my relctant preferred product in the freeware arena (try it and you'll soon find the 'huh?' editing bugs in it). To confirm: yes, HelpMaker CAN produce CHMs, and well as HLPs and pure HTML.

HelpNDoc is also pretty good, and would be my choice if I had to produce a printed document and Help file from a common source file. As you correctly, say though, it's not free for 'commercial' use, and I'm not sure it's worth their asking price. It has slightly fewer features than HelpMaker, but is much less buggy in my opinion. If you don't need the more 'fancy' stuff that HelpMaker can do, or if you're working on a commercial project, HelpNDoc would be the better choice.
CHM Editor, then, is great for the small stuff which doesn't need much in the way of formatting or tables ;), or for the newbies, but not really suitable for anything more complex. I also worry about the standard of English on the Gridinsoft site...maybe they auto-translated it from the original Ukrainian using CHM Editor?!! :D

So I'd give CHM Editor itself a 4/5 for beginners, but only a 2/5 for larger Help projects.

Installed and activated fine on Vista. Copy an pasted fine for me using registration box, not included text file.

Havent used product but did notice it also includes a transilator.

FYI another ending deal. Raxco has released PerfectDisk 10 (disk defragmenter). It's Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Hyper-V certified, and supports Windows 7 (Microsoft isn't certifying anything for Windows 7 yet). Coupon code PERFECT10 gets you 20% off through the end of this month.

Thanks #15, that did the trick! Even though I tried cutting & pasting from the readme.txt it still didn't work. But your trick of right clicking on the selected text & copying & then right clicking & pasting worked great. I probably won't use this program very much but I've occasionally wished that I could edit .chm files & make them readable in Linux. Here is hoping.

just like 42,45,52, and 68

"Access violation at address 0050D0AD in module ‘chmeditor.exe’ read of address 0000000A"

is received during operation.

anyone come up with a solution for this?

I tried several different CHM files thinking it may have been a corrupt file, no good....

For the people who can't ctrl+V to paste the product code (including myself) right click and select paste. Problem solved!

#62 pawtucket jdb: Thanks for the help, although I knew that was there, I thought it was just for xp interface instead of classic. However, I also remember that I don't like its slow one-at-a-time scrolling through a list that changes every time, so now I'm looking for a way to turn off that list of recently used progs that comes first so that at least the list won't be different every time, thus saving me time. What I'd really like, of course, is a "toy", tweak or freeware that lets me change the program listing to fit my own needs, such as turning the page in a sense and starting on a new screenful when I fill the first one up, which I'm about to do. Otherwise, I may have to take some drastic measures and hope I don't get rid of the wrong programs!

It's nice to see a developer using feedback to improve their product. Nearly all of the suggestions from the last offering have been implemented in this new release.

No problems installing on XP-pro SP3. I had the registration key from the readme file on the clipboard before starting the setup and it pasted right in.

This is a very neat, fast and useful program. Especially for software developer, distributor and programmer.

It's very simple to use too with WYSIWYG editor.

Thanks GAOTD!

I'll soon be creating a special review blog about software offered here next week or as soon as a good product being offered.

Thanks again GAOTD team, and thanks to GridinSoft for creating an awesome program.

just downloaded zip, unzipped it,read the instructions,copied the reg code,installed the program, opened it up and pasted the reg code...presto! just slick as GS.

To tell the truth this software seams useful to the person who needs it. I happen to not be one of those people. But Just because I am not needing to use it doesn't mean it is bad. For what it does it does well. To the maker I say good job but I have no personal use for it. Thanks though GAOTD. SO in conclusion I will mark it with a plus. Reason being it is a good program. I just have no use for it.

Justlike Ashraf said,it works fine if you use mouse right click to
copy and paste. I registered mine fine (xp) and did not realize there
was a problem with registering, until I started reading the comments!.

Bachupan

This is very useful and valuable software. I was able to change a key application to add a link to additional help from a support web site within a matter of minutes. I was surprised to find there is not a bullet or number list format option as this is a very common thing. I was frustrated with the ctrl-v limit too and didn't read the work-arounds until after the 5 minute key entry. :)

Outside of that, this is a nice upgrade to the previous version with the properties view, create new, prompt for save when changed, and more.

I installed for the first time on one machine (XP SP3) and do not have the violation problems mentioned above.

On another XP SP3 machine, I uninstalled the old version using control panel, then downloaded and installed this version. I was not prompted for the reg key and I have no problems with access violation.

Thanks Gridinsoft and GOTD!

Thumbs up from me. Dmitri always writes good code.

Copy and pasted just fine for me, too. No problem. :)

I love this little program. I had it before and lost it during a system re-create. I'm delighted to have it back. Thank you GAOTD!

Mine unzipped and installed just fine on Windows XP SP3. Funny thing though, it registered itself automatically. It says it's registered to Give Away of the Day and then just a few numbers not the long string listed on the read me file.

Mr. B (#42), I received the same error except Windows XPsp2. I clicked on the Files tab and it occurred.

Access violation at address 0050D0AD in module ‘chmeditor.exe’ read of address 0000000A.

I didn’t have a previous version of the software installed.

Chris

Same problem here using XP SP2.

Installed in seconds. Entered the code by pasting: shift-insert.

This is a nice little app - granted it probably has limited usage for most but it does what it describes pretty well. I had no trouble on XP (SP3) with it. Very intuitive and simple to use. The only thing I wish it had was a built in spell check. I didn't check to see if you could embed html links to other sites -that would be nice too.

If you have a need for this kind of app I'd snag it.

Installed on XP sp3 without problem. In about an hour of testing creating simple CHM file proves that this program is QUITE basic. Unless you a HTML programmer, you could do very little.
In the nutshell, you can't
. create more chapter!
. do anchor link from some text to another location on the CHM
. make text flow with picture inserted in between in tight format
. add link to external text file is cumbersome and unintuitive
. etc.

I guess you could use some HTML text editor, the one that is more capable, to create your document. Then, import it into this software to compile and create the CHM file. For that, I think you can find better software out there to complish these tasks within itself.
I will uninstall this software.
Thank you GOTD for the offering.

Hi eveybody!!

GOSH another REPEAT: ok this version is much better than the previous one but I was wondering who would actually be interested in editing or creating the HELP FILE of a commercial software, apart from the software developers themselves, 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) sucks so if someone needs to translate a CHM file it’s much better do it using more professional translators even though, by doing so, you lose the formatting.

So, as matters stand, I won't keep this GAOTD in my PC, simply because I don't need it (unfortunately I'm not a SW developer...LOL!!), but this doesn't mean I'll give it THUMBS DOWN as many GAOTD visitors unfortunately usually do here on a daily basis.

It could actually be useful for my (envious) fellow-country "friends", attending the Italian GAOTD forum (no more than 10 - 15 people there), who most of the times give up installing the GAOTD because it's not supported in ITALIAN LANGUAGE since most of them don't know and even don't want to learn the English language (can you believe it guys?? LOL!!)


BETTER FREEWARE ALTERNATIVE TO CREATE and EDIT CHM FILES:

HelpMaker (ImageMaker, ButtonMaker, IconMaker, Batch Image Conveter, PDF Merge, PDF Manual Designer and SHG editor).

http://www.vizacc.com/



But, if you wish, you can also crwate a new CHM FILES use this:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms669985.aspx


and then edit it with this GAOTD.



Finally I just wonder why GAOTD TEAM repeatedly releases (unsuccessful) REPEATS such as this one (it got 58% THUMBS DOWN last September even though this GAOTD has nothing to to with the previous one) rather than something else more useful for the mass of the PC users (who needs to make a help file??), 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 with a more effective and reliable translation service than this one able to actually translate not just the CHM file!!


Cheers

Giovanni

Yeah, tried code from readme and the GOTD box. That was weird, but thanks for letting me know, I will fix the review in a little bit. :)

#57 windowsexplorer

right click start button
left click properties
click start menu
insert period in start menu
click custom
click advanced
go down stat menu
insert check in scroll programs

Hope this is what you need.

Are there any freeware alternatives that anyone can recommend?

As an aside, this is another example of the screwy voting system. Most posts are positive, with very few negative ones, yet 42% thumbs down.

Installed and activated easily for me, open the readme.txt file included in the zip and copy the key, when the program opens simply right-click paste the key.
This IS an updated version of the one given away last year, in that version you couldn't create a new .chm file, in this one you can.

I didn't think many people would really have use for this but since there are 57 comments showing as I'm writing this I guess I'm wrong about that. Does what it says and fairly easy to use, especially if you need just parts of a .chm file. Don't think I would pay $64 for it but for free today I can't complain, especially since I needed a version that could create new .chm files and this one does.

I give it thumbs up
Thanks GridinSoft and the GAOTD Team!

I only installed this program out of sheer curiosity after seeing all the comments about being unable to paste in the registration code. I just right clicked and hit paste, I can't imagine what could be simpler?

As for the program itself, it installed quickly and has a very clean, intuitive interface, and after just playing around with it for a few minutes, it appears useful for those who need to create help files in different languages.

I installed today's new (December 2008 build) version in a separate folder as suggested in #45 above and it automatically came back as registered with the old 7-digit number from last July's version 1.2 which I still have on my computer in a different folder! Saved me the possible hassle of typing in that long string, ain't it great? Haven't actually tried to use it yet, so I don't know whether I'll get the error messages referred to above, but if I do, I'll just go back to the older, less complete verssion, I guess. I can spare the hard drive space, but the funny thing is I'm just about out of space to list all my GAOTD programs even though I've already switched back to the classic view. Anybody out there have any suggestions for a way to see a longer program list?.

I haven't read all of the comments yet, but Vista users may do better running in Windows NT Compatibility Mode. I kept getting access violations, even in XP Compatibility Mode.

#13, #22 yes looks like fubar may have hit the nail on the head, I may have experimentally updated it had the update succeded and forgotten about it... so get it while you can if there is even a remote chance you'd like to correct some annoying error in an apps chm help file.

Right click copy right click paste no problems.

#44--Sorry, I don't "copy" how that works; could you be so kind as to provide a step-by-step procedure to follow (if someone is so inclined) since I apparently am not as much "up" on some things as I thought!?

Mr. B (#42), I received the same error except Windows XPsp2. I clicked on the Files tab and it occurred.

Access violation at address 0050D0AD in module ‘chmeditor.exe’ read of address 0000000A.

I didn't have a previous version of the software installed.

Chris

FYI another ending deal from a previous GOTD supporter, is CS Odessa ConceptDraw Office, a collection of three of their tools related to mindmapping, project management, drawing diagrams, etc. It's available until the end of this month for $149, or $150 with a landscaping (gardening, etc.) drawing plug-in. It's listed as an upgrade, so it's not clear whether it checks for existing CS Odessa software.

I'm actually surprised to see so many comments already, as not too many people bother with CHM files. I do happen to like them lot and use them frecuently. They are ideal to pass information on. Files usually are much smaller than a Word document, you can see all the images all the time, you can add buttons to navigate, you have a tree structure for faster orientation etc.

CHM Editor will be keeper and I appreciate they added the option to actually create CHM files. With the easy switch to source code it's pretty to easy make replacements of fonts (comment 46), use Ctrl + H to do so.

However, for creating CHM files I will continue to use HelpnDoc. (www.ibe-software.com/products/software/helpndoc/download.php or http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/HelpNDoc-Download-17665.html)
It's text editor is much more powerful and you can actually write all your text in all the colors and all the bullets with it. Inserting images and tables is a snap and easier than in Word. It allows you to set all the Hyperlinks that you want etc. It is super easy to use, yet provides great results and the best of all: you push a button and it COMPILES the file in CHM or HTML or both. It's the best compiler ever.
Pura vida, AlexSJ

#43, Chris Locke, while I agree it's quite basic, you can do a lot by editing the files. I successfully added more chapters by editing the content file, but saving and restarting the editor was required.

Obviously, there's something wrong with the code. Sometimes I get the access violation, and sometimes I don't. It seems to be initializing something incorrectly (or not initializing). Fortunately, I have AnVir, so I can just right-click the title bar (or use the System menu), open AnVir to the process, and kill it. There seems to be about a 50/50 chance that it will work correctly on any given session.

#20 you are right--my copy from July 15, 2008 shows as version 1.2 - BTW it also shows as having had only a 7 digit registration number, which I may try to re-use just to see what happens. Wish me luck. Anybody know if we need to uninstall old one before installing new?

Nice, we needed something like this. Only problem we found is that when we press the Files Tab and then on any of the files - we get an Access Violation. Otherwise this is great for us software developers to get the keywords for linking to our applications.

Is it possible to change font and text size in CHM file using this program?

After reading that Fubar (comment 23) had installed over his previous CHMeditor version 1.2.6, I also installed over my previous version.

After launching, I loaded a CHM (CHMeditor.chm) file, but if I click on any of the tabs in the left pane (ie. Files/Properties etc) I get the error message below.

ACCESS VIOLATION AT ADDRESS 0050D0AD IN MODULE 'chmeditor.exe'. Read of address 0000000A

Having received the error above I proceeded to uninstall, clear the registry of any chmeditor entries and rebooted my machine. Upon re-boot I re-installed but still get the same error. I uninstalled again etc and re-downloaded the giveaway but I still get the errors.

I've emailed Gridinsoft but don't expect a reply because of the 'No technical support' condition. Of course this means that if I don't sort it out before midnight tonight, I will not be able to use this new version - nor my previous version (which is now uninstalled).

My advice if you have already the previous version installed and you really do want to install this new version, then install it to a new path to test it first - ie. NOT C:\Program Files\GridinSoft\CHMEditor

Has anyone else had this problem?

Trevor

Actually, my previous comment does stand. Sort of. Although it does create .chm files, its a terrible editor. You can only add topics, and not new chapters. You can't insert links to other topics easily, and while it does look good, its incredibly limited.

As a translator, it probably works well, but as an editor, its way too basic. :-(

Access violation at adress 0050D0AD in module 'chmeditor.exe' read of adress 0000000A

that happens when i set filelocation manually when creating a new file, cant be a good sign could it
occured in xp servicepack3 and vista x64

nonetheless gridinsoft has been more than generous to gaotd
perhaps an quickfix could be to avail before the day is over?

cheers!

Annoying that this software only edits and doesn't create .chm files. .chm files are useful to create little guides - more structured than a Word document or Notepad file, and easily searchable, etc. A wysiwyg editor is great for these types of files. Shame this software is so limited.

I opened README.TXT before I ran setup and copied the key to my clipboard with Ctrl-C. At the registration screen, I used a right-click/Paste. Worked fine.

You *CAN* paste the key if you right-click in the box and choose Paste from the context/popup menu.