Help Topics in PS CS3 Extended Missing

HC
Posted By
Holly_Carmichael
May 23, 2007
Views
381
Replies
4
Status
Closed
Hello,

I was recently given Photoshop CS3 Extended as a Mother’s Day gift. I am a fairly new user, only having used Photoshop CS2 Trial Edtion for a few weeks. I uninstalled the trial version and cleaned the registry, etc. Then I installed the new PS CS3. It seems to have installed just fine on my Dell PC, and I am running Windows XP Home Edition.

However, I don’t know why this is happening, but when I click the "Help" button I get a window that pops up called Adobe Help Viewer. Then I can put in the information I’m searching for to get help. The answer will flash by and then I get a line of type saying "This topic is in the Help system of another product. To view the topic, install that product. about:blank".

The problem is what product?? Doesn’t PS CS3 come with help topics included? Where do I get the help files? Is this an installation problem?

Thanks in advance for your advice, I am baffled,

Holly Carmichael

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HC
Holly_Carmichael
May 24, 2007
Hello Again,

I really need some help and advice on this issue. I’ve been all over the forums, scoured the .pdf help files, tried to download your Adobe Help Center (and that wouldn’t work three times due to some kind of server change error message) and I don’t even know if that help center software would fix my problem anyway, and I still find no way to get the help topics to work in the product in the help viewer in my new "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended" Version 10.0.

I’ve gone into add/remove three times to repair it and still the same issue occurs, I’ve gotten all the updates, Adobe Reader 8 updated, read and read and read and can not find any way to get the help topics in the product to work! I’m getting desperate for some help.

Can’t anyone please help me get this fixed? How can I get the Help Viewer to actually view the information? Browse doesn’t work right. It comes up with my products, let’s me choose them, but when I select a topic I still get the same message. No matter how many ways I try to use the help viewer, the answer is always, without exception:

"This topic is in the Help system of another product. To view the topic, install that product. about:blank"

Is there some product I need that I don’t have to make it work? What product, if so? NO information that I put in for a search works, no matter what product I choose from the drop-down menu to search in!

What do I need to do? Is my product defective? Do I need to exchange it?

Seeking help,

Holly Carmichael
M
mogens
May 24, 2007
Hi Holly Carmichael

I have the same – or similar – problem. My Windows is a localised version and the bug occurs for all applications in the Suite, as i have, and i found this on adobes support pages [http://www.adobe.com/ go/kb401498]: The help files won’t install as the installer can not handle localised special characters, that is special letters for non english/us Windows-languages – yes we all examine the calendar carefully, and find that it is indeed year 2007!
Well, i don’t know what language version your windows is, but from the fix above, if indeed there are som pdf help files among your install files, they should be located in a folder there named [Documentation]. You didn’t write wether your install files are packed in a single (downloaded) file, or is a normal install disc. In the latter case the location of the help files should be obvious. In the first case i would suggest you to try to unpack the install file, if possible (WinZip, WinRAR f.ex). The name of the help file for Photoshop CS3 is
[Photoshop CS3 Help.pdf] btw.

I hope this helps, allthough i know that it doesn’t actually fix your problem.

Tsk tsk Adobe..

Regards
mogens
MV
Mathias_Vejerslev
May 24, 2007
Holly,

You are not alone. I see the same error message as you do.

At first, I did not even get options in the Browse drop-down list in the help menu.

I have not come up with a definate solution, but in the end I figured it could be because I’m running a Danish Win XP with a US english Photoshop. I located the help file directory (in my case, it states the directory in the error message – C:/Program files/common files/Adobe/Help/en_US/Photoshop/10.0/help.html

I copied the help files here into the da_DK folder.

When I launch help in Photoshop now, I get the same error message, but the browse drop-down works, and I can select Photoshop, Bridge or Version Cue etc here, and from there it works.

If you are in the US with a US version, then maybe this workaround is not applicable. However, the help file is also available as a PDF file on your CD.

Mathias
HC
Holly_Carmichael
May 25, 2007
Dear Mathias,

I am very sorry to report that this fix did not work for me.

Like you, though, I also at first got nothing in the help viewer, now I get a list but clicking on anything in the list in any of the products, only returns a flash of the information and then the same error message. So, I am still stuck. No matter how many ways I try to use the help viewer, the answer is always, without exception:

"This topic is in the Help system of another product. To view the topic, install that product. about:blank"

It is infuriating. I do not have another product to look into.

I did find the .pdf help file on my CD and copied it to my desktop. Even so, I’d love the help to work in the products which makes things easier especially while you’re working on an image. It’s very slow to minimize a window and then have to open a .pdf and search in it.

I think I helped the "flash by" information situation, but only somewhat by updating my active x controls in IE7 and allowing them to run in files on my computer. But the information only flashes by a little slower, and then the error message takes its place. I discovered that it could be a java or active x problem when I went into the files you suggested and tried to run the help viewer and the help executable from there — Windows IE7 came up with a warning about the active x and wanted to know if I wanted to allow it to run. It brought up a bar at the top of the window telling me to click there for my options, and when I chose "yes" to let it run, it did. So, then I went into IE7 properties and on the advanced tab I checked the box allowing active x to run in files on my computer.

Then I rebooted.

Then I went back to Photoshop and clicked the help link in the product. I ended up with the situation I described above… still resulting in the message that the topics are in another product system saying I have install that product.

Doesn’t anyone have any idea what this product might be?? If the message is corrupted, or what?

I would appreciate any help you can give,

Thanks in advance, Holly

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