A useful feature of PlotIT is online Help information. Extensive reference information can be accessed by selecting the Help menu option when it is present, by selecting a Help button in a dialog box when available, or by pressing function key F1 at any time while running PlotIT.
Help Anywhere, Anytime Using the F1 Key
A most convenient Help feature is the F1 key. It offers Help from within a graph or worksheet document, or a dialog box -- even when a Help command button isn't available.
For most screens, commands, dialog boxes, menus, etc. PlotIT can coach you through procedures as you do them, simply by depressing F1 when questions arise. When you are working with a dialog box, Help will display a facsimile dialog box, on which you can point and click for more information about input and options.
Selecting Help Menu Options
When selecting Help on the Menu Bar, you are presented with a pop-up menu as shown:
By selecting Contents, you will be presented with the main table of contents through which you may browse and access suitable topics.
Selecting Search for Help on will display a dialog box to help you search for a topic or keyword.
The How to Use Help option will give Help on using the online Help system, and About PlotITW will display a dialog box that contains copyright, registration, serial number, and other information.
Using Help as a Reference Manual
The PlotIT online Help system contains literally hundreds of pages of detailed information about all aspects of the PlotIT software.
The following paragraphs are very important to review and remember because they pave the way for smooth traveling through the comprehensive Help system provided with PlotIT.
Navigating Online Help
The PlotIT Help system functions the same as Windows Help. There is the Help Menu Bar and buttons along the top of the Help window. The buttons are labeled Contents, Search, Back History, <<, and >>. These controls are explained in your Windows manual, but some are emphasized here because of their usefulness and their tendency to be overlooked.
Most of us are comfortable with information organized in book form. Because it's online, Help doesn't operate exactly like a book, but rather offers these control buttons to provide a sense of where you are within a given chain of information.
Of particular use are the Back, History, <<, and >> buttons. The Back button will return you to previously viewed information. In other words, by repeatedly choosing this button, you will retrace backwards your path through Help topics already viewed in the current Help session.
The History button gives a sequential listing of every Help topic viewed during a PlotIT Help session, starting from the current topic displayed. This can be very helpful when you need a sense of how the information in the current topic fits within the greater whole. By reviewing the History listing, you are able to review the logical chain of topics that led you to the current screen. This acts to provide useful context to information at hand.
Related to the Back and History buttons are the << and >> buttons. These are called Browse buttons, and are used to browse through a series of related topics. By choosing <<, you will view the previously related topic. Similarly, choosing the >> button will display the next related topic.
Printing Help Screens
Most Help screens can be printed by your system's printer. When you want to print a displayed Help screen, select File/Print Topic from the Help Menu Bar.
Help Information that Cannot be Printed
Glossary definitions, Help hints, and other Help tidbits that, when clicked on, appear in shaded boxes overlaid on the current topic generally cannot be printed. They are, however, always accessible online.