HelpEdit
Help authoring and documentation for Windows
License: Freemium. Freemium licensing: the software is available to download and use for personal purposes. A paid license is available for commercial use and unlocks the licensed experience.
HelpEdit is a free Windows help authoring tool designed for creating professional documentation, user manuals, online help systems, and technical guides.
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Version: 2.4 (October 21, 2026)
Changes in v2.4: Improved CHM export.
What HelpEdit does
- Create and publish help documentation in WebHelp, CHM, and PDF
- Create structured software documentation projects
- Visual HTML editor for help topics
- Topic tree with root and child pages
- WebHelp export with searchable content
- CHM help file generation
- PDF manual export
- Internal topic links and external hyperlinks
- Image insertion, replacement, removal, and resizing
- Table editor with row and column tools
- Reusable variables, snippets, and conditional content
- Free for personal use
Create Structured Help Projects
HelpEdit organizes documentation into a clear topic tree. You can add root topics, create child topics, rename pages, move topics up or down, change their hierarchy, and build a logical table of contents for your manual.
- Topic tree with root and child pages
- Reorder and structure topics for a logical manual
- Each topic keeps its own HTML content file
Visual HTML Help Editor
The built-in editor lets you write help pages without manually coding HTML. You can format text, choose fonts and font sizes, apply colors, set line spacing, create headings, align paragraphs, and use bold, italic, underline, bullet lists, and numbered lists.
- Rich text formatting and headings
- Images, tables, topic links, and custom HTML
- A visual editing workflow for help content
Publish to WebHelp, CHM, and PDF
HelpEdit can export your documentation to several important help formats. Publish browser-based WebHelp, generate classic Windows CHM help files, and export a PDF manual from your project.
- WebHelp with a table of contents and topic pages
- CHM help file generation for Windows software
- PDF manual export from the same project
Reusable Content, Variables, Snippets, and Conditions
HelpEdit includes reusable documentation features for maintaining consistent content across many topics. You can define variables, snippets, and conditions, then use them inside your help pages.
- Variables for names, versions, and repeated text
- Snippets for reusable HTML content blocks
- Conditions to include or exclude content on publish
Project Appearance and Styling
HelpEdit includes project-level settings for customizing the look of your documentation. You can configure the project title, default font, text color, line spacing, page background color, header styling, table borders, link color, link style, and WebHelp footer text.
- Project-wide font, color, and spacing options
- Header, table, link, and footer styling
- Consistent appearance across published documentation
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