Revit's Help File

[BrenDillon-IHA]

Am I the only person who loathes using the new F1 system employed by Autodesk for Revit? The old system was easy to use. This new one never seems to be able to even come close to answering any questions or issues I might have. Often I just get fed up with it, curse a few times and run screaming to AUGI for the help I need. in fact, now that I think of it, the new Revit Help Files has NEVER actually been able to get me an answer for anything I've asked it. i suppose I could take half a day or so and try to figure out its ins and outs, but you shouldn't have to figure out the ins and outs of a help system should you?

[cdatechguy]

The search function has never worked for me.....I just go to the index and then I can find what I am looking for...

[renogreen]

I'm not in love with the Help function of 2011 or 2012. I thought it was well done and very useful in 2010.

[David Harrington]

and run screaming to AUGI for the help I need.

Our evil plan (bwahaahaa) is working perfectly.

[BrenDillon-IHA]

Our evil plan (bwahaahaa) is working perfectly.

I'll get you next time Gadget!

What really drives me nuts is that inevitably, I run into a problem when I'm on my laptop working someplace where I don't have internet access (or a bad connection). This iscompounded by the fact that the building we're currently in is upgrading its fiberoptic network, which means sporadic telecomm outages.
If my software is native to my desktop, there should be an effective, native help file as well.

[anthony.67953]

I always thought they made the help hard to use, so the end user will get more lessons for the dealers and keep the dealers fat with cash.

[Brian Myers]

I always thought they made the help hard to use, so the end user will get more lessons for the dealers and keep the dealers fat with cash.

If that was true they would give dealers stellar training and the secret help files, which they don't. :p

I have to agree, the help has been not very good, I'm surprised I've not heard more complaining about it. Further, it's now common to get links to the Autodesk Discussion Groups and AUGI Forums directly from the support staff at Autodesk. There used to be a day where Autodesk white papers and quotes directly from the help files were common, but not so much today. So it says a lot about the value of online resources (which doesn't help much if you have a bad internet connection).

[jsnyder.68308]

I agree with the observations in this thread generally. As an exercise, I took screen shots of the help menus from RAC 2009 through 2012. See if you can match the pictures up with the versions...it is not difficult.
The trend is obvious and seems to reflect the usefulness of the help for the most part. I am still using documentation from the 2009 version to help people learn this software - even though the command structure and interface has completely changed. It is getting harder to find help for sure.
Maybe it is a reflection of our economic situation, or similar to to airlines charging people extra for things that used to be included in a ticket price. Not looking forward to paying extra to use the can, although with advent of the wiki help file format it would seem that we are expected to write much of our own help files now. :(

[tomnewsom]

There was an Autodesk survey about help/support recently that had loads of those out-of-10 questions that I'm sure make lovely graphs for a researcher somewhere in the bowels of Autodesk HQ. I ignored them all and just put "forward all Help button pushes to AUGI forums"

[Joshua Kohl]

If you looking for a way to get the "local" or offline help where you don't have to access the internet try this:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=14994272&linkID=9243099

[Mike Sealander]

I've often thought Revit is a better application than the help files make it out to be.

[BrenDillon-IHA]

If you looking for a way to get the "local" or offline help where you don't have to access the internet try this:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=14994272&linkID=9243099

Very helpful, thanks!
You'd think Revit would give you an easy option when you go to use the Help as to whether to source it online or off.

[jeffh]

Not looking forward to paying extra to use the can, although with advent of the wiki help file format it would seem that we are expected to write much of our own help files now. :(

The intention of the wiki hlep format is to allow the larger community to contribute their own knowledge and personal experience to the help files. Knowledge shared here at AUGI and other places is a fantastic resource of Revit learning. The wiki format gives these communities a different place to share their knowledge with more users.

I hope, and encourage users here at AUGI to share their own knowledge on the wiki both in the community area and in the User Guide itself. All sections of the wiki are open for contributions.


If you looking for a way to get the "local" or offline help where you don't have to access the internet try this:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=14994272&linkID=9243099

If an internet connection is not avaliable at the time F1 help is requested you will default to the offline, local copy of the help files. If an internet connection is avaliable you will be directed online.

This solution allows you to bypass the behavior and ALWAYS look to the local copy of help. If you always look to the local copy of help you may not have the most up to date information. The wiki is being updated by both users and Autodesk staff on an on-going basis.

[cphubb]

I actually like the help search on 2011 and 2010.

However the new "WIKI" really sucks.
When I search in 2012 I am getting errors because I didnt select the correct software package. Funny I assumed when searching from Revit Architecture I would be looking for Revit Architecture answers.

I also think someone at Google told ADESK, dont bother writing anything when you can have the end users do if for you. Just disclaim it as not reliable and your fine.

[jeffh]

Just disclaim it as not reliable and your fine.

All entries to the Wiki are moderated and reviewed by Autodesk staff for technical accuracy before they are published.

[cphubb]

My beef is the "doing your job for you" not the disclaimer.

Why does the Wiki not know which application I am searching from?

[jeffh]

My beef is the "doing your job for you" not the disclaimer.

I tried to explain in my post above the fact that the help files are now published in a Wiki format does not change what we currently provide for user assistance. The wiki just allows for the greater community to add their knowledge as well.


Why does the Wiki not know which application I am searching from?

That is not the behavior I am seeing. I search from the infocenter bar in Revit and it opens a search in the wiki in the Revit section. I don't have any other Autodesk applications installed though. Maybe multiple apps cause the search to default out to one of the other installed applications?

Where is the wiki search opening to? I can't even force the search to do anythign without selecting a specific product.

[cphubb]

Its opening to the Main Autodesk Wiki Screen with my help question in the box and an error that says select the product your are looking for. DUH Revit thats where the search started.

Does the offline switch work in 2012? Are the standalone help files installed? I looked but could not find them in the Autodesk data folder. Only 2012 products installed are Revit Arch and AutoCAD via the Revit Suite

[jeffh]

Its opening to the Main Autodesk Wiki Screen with my help question in the box and an error that says select the product your are looking for. DUH Revit thats where the search started.

I am not exactly sure what the issue would be?? Does the context sensitive help go to the correct place, just wondering? If that is broken too it might give a clue as to what is happening with your search.


Does the offline switch work in 2012? Are the standalone help files installed? I looked but could not find them in the Autodesk data folder. Only 2012 products installed are Revit Arch and AutoCAD via the Revit Suite

Yes you can choose to not use online help if you like. Ironically this can be found in WikiHelp.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Revit/enu/2012/Help/Revit_User's_Guide/0005-Introduc5/0018-User_Int18/0047-Online_H47#GUID-7C76AE6F-21C2-4ADB-B1BA-44E4E29DFDFA

[cphubb]

Context sensetive help goes the same place.

BTW this worked in the Beta just fine. Added functionality?

Going to try from ACAD next to see what happens there.

[jeffh]

Going to try from ACAD next to see what happens there.

I just talked with one of my guys who implemented wikihelp searches for Revit and he told me AutoCAD does not use Wikihelp. So that experiment will not tell us a whole lot. We could not reproduce the problem you are describing. We tried using differnt browsers and everythign was working just fine.

From your description of the same exact problem in both infocenter search and context sensitive help it soulnd like for some reason when the string is getting passed to the browser the tail end is getting stripped away. This tail end is what hold the search string or the context id which tells wikihelp what to look for. if this was stripped off you would end up at the main wikihelp page like you are describing.

[cphubb]

I guess when I saw ACAD on the site I assumed it would use it as well. But then I noticed it was 2011 only on the WIKI.

Do youthink the string is gettnig dropped from Revit or IE?
Also the WIKI page is taking 30+ seconds to load. Time for a new server? Same problem? Timing out on the search?

[jeffh]

Something is strange for sure. The long load time is also something I am not seeing. I suspect something going on from IE but I don't know what to tell you to look for or try at this point?

[cphubb]

Offline Help