What to Do When You Can't Open the FoxPro Macintosh Help File

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After installing FoxPro for the Macintosh, you find that you can't open the Help file by any method from within FoxPro. Typing HELP in the Command window or pressing the F1 key fail to start Help. Often, attempts to start graphical Help do not produce any errors; the Help file simply refuses to open.

Many times this problem may manifest itself on a single computer. Other computers that have FoxPro installed from the same disk may function correctly.

Because this problem frequently does not produce an error message, it can be particularly difficult to troubleshoot.

The role of the FoxPro Help engine described in this article in assigned to a file named Microsoft Visual FoxPro Help, located in the Microsoft folder.

Steps That May Enable the FoxPro Help File

1. Open the Finder in Macintosh, and click the File pad. Choose the Find option, and type FoxHelp.hlp to locate the file. Double-click the file and see if the Help file opens. If it doesn't, there's a problem with the .hlp file. Run the uninstall from the Microsoft FoxPro setup folder, and remove the Help files. Then reinstall the help files after performing steps 2 and 3. If Help does start, proceed to step 2.
2. Turn off FoxPro, and rebuild the Macintosh desktop by holding the OPTION and APPLE keys down while choosing Restart from the Special menu pad. Start FoxPro and try to invoke Help.
3. Turn off FoxPro, and boot the computer without extensions by holding down the SHIFT key while choosing Restart from the Special menu pad. Start FoxPro and try to invoke Help.
4. Quit FoxPro, turn off Apple Talk, and restart FoxPro.
5. Quit FoxPro, and move the FoxPro Help Engine file to the same folder as the FoxHelp.hlp file. The FoxPro Help Engine usually resides in the Microsoft folder. Start FoxPro, and use the SET HELP TO command to point to the location of the FoxHelp.hlp file.
6. Quit FoxPro, and restart the computer without extensions. Open the Setup folder in the Microsoft FoxPro folder. Double-click the Microsoft FoxPro Setup icon, and choose the Add/Remove button. Remove the Graphical Help option, and then reinstall it. This will require the FoxPro Macintosh installation disks.

If all of these steps fail to enable Help, create an alias for the Help file, and invoke it from the icon, provided that double-clicking the FoxHelp.hlp in Finder works.