Opening a compiled Web Help system
When I click Project>Compile in HelpSmith to produce a web help system, it opens the generated help system in the browser and everything works fine.
But if I launch the generated index.htm file manually in Windows explorer, some functions do not seem to work. For example, I cannot select a topic in the TOC, search topics by keywords, etc.
How do I open a web help system outside of HelpSmith?
HelpSmith uses a built-in web server
When you generate a Web Help system, HelpSmith opens in the web browser through the built-in web server using an address like: "http://127.0.0.1:8080/...".
This approach allows you to test the generated web help system locally without restrictions that are applied by web browsers to HTML files which are located and accessed from the local computer.
If needed, you can control HelpSmith's web server in program settings, as explained here.
Security restrictions for local HTML files
For a Web Help system to work correctly, it should be located on a web server and accessed through the http:// (or https://) protocol, but not through the file:// protocol.
Otherwise, web browsers can apply security restrictions to HTML and JS files, which are accessed from the local computer directly (i.e. through the file:// protocol). As a result, this prevents topic navigation, full-text search, context-sensitive help, and other functions from working properly in different web browsers.
How to publish a Web Help system
If you need to publish a Web Help system, you should use a web server software. For example, to publish the help system on your web site, you can simply upload the generated "webhelp" folder to the web server provided by your hosting service.
Alternatively, if you need to publish a web help system in your local area network, you can use a web server software (such as Apache, etc.), which can be setup and configured by your system administrator.
Thank you, it explains why opening the index.htm file directly (through file:// protocol) did not work.