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Online, Help, Environment, Options Dialog Box

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Use this page of the Options dialog box to specify what Help sources you intend to use for Help searches and F1. You can access this dialog box by clicking Options on the Tools menu, moving to Help in the Environment folder, and then clicking Online. If the Online page does not appear in the list, select Show all settings in the Options dialog box.

Note

The dialog boxes and menu commands you see might differ from those described in Help depending on your active settings or edition. To change your settings, choose Import and Export Settings on the Tools menu. For more information, see Visual Studio Settings.

When loading Help content

These options apply to full-text search, and also to F1 Help.

  • Try online first, then local
    Displays content from MSDN Online, if available. If no Help is found on MSDN Online, locally installed Help content is then displayed.

  • Try local first, then online
    Displays content from sources installed on your computer. If no Help is found locally, MSDN Online content is then displayed.

  • Try local only, not online
    Displays content from sources installed on your computer only. If no Help is found, an error topic appears.

Codezone Community

  • Providers
    List the possible Codezone Community Web sites that can be included in Help searches.

  • Provider details
    Displays a brief description for each provider selected in the Codezone Community list.

  • Download Provider List
    Click to download a list of Codezone community providers. You must have an active Internet connection to download providers.

    Note

    This option appears only if you have never been connected to the Internet while Visual Studio is being used. For more information, see Help Sources: Local Help and Online Help.

Search these providers

These options affect full-text searches. By selecting or clearing a provider, you are adding or removing the provider from the search results list. The order in which providers are listed in Search these providers determines the order in which the search results for the provider are displayed on the Search page in Help.

  • Local Help
    Help content installed on the local computer.

  • MSDN Online
    MSDN Online content on the Web.

  • Codezone Community
    Content from partner Web sites selected in the Codezone Community option.

  • Questions
    Content from online discussion groups, forums, and so on

Read the privacy statement

Displays the Microsoft privacy policy for online use.

See Also

Concepts

Help Sources: Local Help and Online Help

Reference

Help, Environment, Options Dialog Box