No Help files in MacHelp

[Spectrum]

Not a huge problem, but a slightly frustrating one for someone new to Tiger...

When I select Mac Help from the Finder toolbar, I just get an empty Help window - nothing display, and search queries go nowhere.

Other helper are fine (iTunes etc).

I've found what I think is the MacOX Help file in: HD/Library/Documentation/Help

When I open from there, I get the default Mac OS X Help Window with "what's New in Tiger?" etc, but none of the links go anywhere, and I cannot search from this window either.

So: Any ideas how I restore the Help file? Is there a preference list I can trash somewhere?

I'm on a new 15"PB1.67. OS10.4.3 build8F46

Secondly - what I really wanted to search for was if there is a way to force the finder to create a thumbnail of a JPEG file (some sort of script) that does not entail me opening and resaving the file- I don't want to unnecessarily lose quality on the JPEG).

For most of my photo files this occurs automatically, but not for these that I imported from a CD.

Cheers!

 

[yellow]

This is a good spot to get info on recovering from Help Menu failings:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/helpviewer.html

 

[Will Cheyney]

A damn useful site that...

 

[Spectrum]

Many thanks!

I did this:

1. Corrupted Help Viewer preferences files or cache

Quit Help Viewer if it is open.
Open your Home > Library > Preferences folder.
Trash the following three files, it extant:
com.apple.help.plist
com.apple.helpui.plist
com.apple.helpviewer.plist
Open your Home > Library > Caches folder.
Trash the com.apple.helpui folder.

Help is back up and running

...unfortunately - no answer in MacHelp for my thumbnail/icon question... Any ideas?

---

This is a good spot to get info on recovering from Help Menu failings:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/helpviewer.html

 

[Spectrum]

Hmmm...

Well, I just restarted and the Mac Help probelm is back.

Solved it by trashing the com.apple.helpui folder in Caches again.

Not sure what is causing this... Is it because I didn't empty the trash?

 

[yellow]

Shouldn't be.. Unfortuantely, the Help system is OS X is very much sub-par and seems to be on the back burner of "things to freaking fix" for Apple. It's sucked from day one. It's pretty much a glorified web browser, yet 100x slower.

 

[mkrishnan]

Secondly - what I really wanted to search for was if there is a way to force the finder to create a thumbnail of a JPEG file (some sort of script) that does not entail me opening and resaving the file- I don't want to unnecessarily lose quality on the JPEG).

While any folder is open, View -> Show View Options -> check "All Windows" and click the "Show Icon Preview" box. This should do what you're asking for. At least, it seems to automatically show previews for me from pictures from any source. You can tweak the icon size here too so that the previews are sufficiently big.

EDIT: Although it's the standard always-suggested-never-helps solution, for your help cache issue, try repairing permissions. It might really be relevant here, because bad permissions might explain why these files keep getting created in a corrupted fashion each time you reboot....

 

[Spectrum]

While any folder is open, View -> Show View Options -> check "All Windows" and click the "Show Icon Preview" box. This should do what you're asking for. At least, it seems to automatically show previews for me from pictures from any source. You can tweak the icon size here too so that the previews are sufficiently big.

Thanks. I already have this check box ticked. The point is: the icon thumbnails show in the finder window (Good). But when I "Get Info" the icon at the top-left is a generic JPEG icon. For other photos, this is also a tiny thumbail.

The reason I want to the tiny thumbnail is so that I can select it, copy it, and paste it onto a particular folder full of photos. This is how I have my photos arranged: Sets of photos in folders, with a representative image pasted over the folder icon so that I have a visual image of what is inside.

To clarify: the problem files DO show a preview image at the bottom of the Get Info window, but not at the top-left. But you cannot select the preview image as one to copy.

Thanks for the suggestion though

EDIT: Although it's the standard always-suggested-never-helps solution, for your help cache issue, try repairing permissions. It might really be relevant here, because bad permissions might explain why these files keep getting created in a corrupted fashion each time you reboot....

I'll try this - a good suggestion.