help viewer problem, os x intel

[Aeronautical]

Hello.
I just bought a new 17" Intel Imac on friday. Performance and everything else is amazing compared to my old 350mhz Indigo Imac that died on thursday.

However, when I try and use mac help (using help viewer) it won't complete any of my topic searches, and the links for quick subjects don't give any response either. It won't even let me access the help index.

Has anyone else experienced this problem on a new intel mac?

[mad jew]

Maybe try emptying a folder named com.apple.helpui in your Cache folder. :)

[Aeronautical]

thanks madjew, but i don't have a file with that name in my cache folder. Perhaps that could be the problem... there aren't any fiels in there with help in their names.

[mkrishnan]

Aeronautical, please see if any of the advice on this page can help you:

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

[Mr MacBlue]

Aeronautical, please see if any of the advice on this page can help you:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/helpviewer.html
This is a really helpful site.

You could also download OnyX 1.6.8 and re-initialize your Mac OS X Help. OnyX runs on Mactels as well, so you should be fine. The link is
http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html
Maybe this helps.

[Aeronautical]

thanks for the input all, I'm keeping a note of your replies in case it happens again. But I sorted it this time by doing a clean install. A little extreme, but it worked.

[GimmeSlack12]

My Help menu doesn't work at all anymore. I don't know why. But I do remember reading something in MacWorld about the Help Viewer not being updated for a long time. They said that Viewer hasn't been optimized or something like that . I'll go look for the article.

EDIT: Here it is:
http://www.macworld.com/2005/03/secrets/maymac911/index.php
Apparently the advice given is the same as what Mad Jew said. But it explains the problem too.

[plinden]

thanks madjew, but i don't have a file with that name in my cache folder. Perhaps that could be the problem... there aren't any fiels in there with help in their names.
It's actually called Library/Caches/com.apple.helpui

I've had the same problem and deleting the contents of the folder did help.

[samanthas]

Mine does that too, and it's blank. I've done all that was recommended and it worked but then I searched something and it just went back to being blank and I couldn't search anymore. I've deleted the folder and plists like 5 times already.

[Aeronautical]

It's actually called Library/Caches/com.apple.helpui

I've had the same problem and deleting the contents of the folder did help.

I never had this file in my cache folder, I haven't checked since I re-installed, so I'm guessing I should find it there now, unless i'm looking in the wrong place.

[calebjohnston]

You want to go to your home folder/library/caches/then the com.apple.helpui folder and delete everything in there.

[Spectrum]

I still have this problem - even after updating to 10.4.4 then archiving and installing back 10.4.2 and updating to 10.4.3. (10.4.4 was too buggy for me.)

Deleting the pref files did work temporarily - but then upon the next restart all the searches just come up blank again.

Edit: also for some reason - spotlight and search do not find the helpui file - even though I can find it easily in the caches folder...

Edit2: actually Spotlight won't find ANYTHING in my /user/library...

Is this normal???

[frenetic]

Well, for what it's worth, my spotlight does not find the com.apple.helpui folder, but it does find com.apple.help.plist and com.apple.helpviewer.plist. If I remember correctly that is because spotlight excludes certain folders when searching... I think this should be user definable, but that is the way it works (at the moment at least).

[mad jew]

Yeah, it's normal (and crap) that Spotlight won't find your Help cache folder. I suppose it could be a good thing considering how bloated some search results would become.

Aeronautical, it's a folder (not a single file) that can be found by clicking on your name in the side bar, double clicking on Library and then Caches. The folder should be in here. :)

[env1sion]

i have this same problem. none of the files/folders you guys mention are on my computer..

[mad jew]

Are you running Tiger or Leopard?

[env1sion]

Are you running Tiger or Leopard?

im running leopard. i tried using the Onyx program like someone mentioned and selected maintenance, reset tab, and then "Mac Help." that solved my problem. thanks guys