Calling the TwinCAT 3 documentations

From Visual Studio^® 2013, the TwinCAT 3 help system uses the Beckhoff Information System if no local TwinCAT Information System has been installed. In this case, the TwinCAT 3 context help uses the browser of the operating system to search for the articles online in the Beckhoff Information System and to display them according to the search in the system's web browser.

An Internet connection is required for this and the address https://infosys.beckhoff.com must be reachable.

With the installation of the TwinCAT 3 Information System, the help system is set to use the local help.

The use of the local help or the online help respectively can be set in the TwinCAT Help menu (Visual Studio^® 2013 and later).

In the Help menu, open the submenu "Define help settings".

Browser: Searches online in the Beckhoff Information System for articles on the context help used.
Help Viewer: Searches in the installed local TwinCAT 3 Help for the corresponding articles

You can call the local help system via the Windows Start menu or in the TwinCAT 3 Engineering (XAE) via the context help (F1 Help) or the Help menu.

Calling up the TwinCAT 3 documentation via the Windows Start menu

You have downloaded and installed the TwinCAT 3 Information System.

During the installation, a shortcut to the Help Viewer was created in the Windows Start menu. Depending on the system configuration and the (pre-)set installation components, several links may be available (e.g. for the German and English versions of the TwinCAT 3 Information System).

1. Open the Beckhoff folder in the Windows Start menu.
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2. Click Information System <Language> - VS <Version>.

The TwinCAT 3 Information System is opened with Help Viewer.

Calling up the TwinCAT 3 documentation via the Help menu

TwinCAT 3 Engineering is open.

1. Open the Help menu and select the Show Help command.
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The TwinCAT 3 Information System is opened with the Help Viewer of the Visual Studio^® help system. In the tree view of the open Help Viewer, select Help Viewer - Home > Welcome to the Beckhoff Information System > TwinCAT 3.
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Calling up the TwinCAT 3 documentation via the context help

With the context help, the position of the mouse pointer (for graphical elements) or a selected text expression within the editor is evaluated by the help system in order to display the appropriate linked help text.

	Limited help function due to different language settings If you have installed the TwinCAT 3 Information System in a language other than Visual Studio^®, the help system is only available to a limited extent.

	Various displays From Visual Studio^® 2013 it is possible to use the context help with the Beckhoff Information System. Depending on the setting of the help system, the result is displayed locally in the Help Viewer or in the system's web browser.

The following guide shows you how to use the local TwinCAT 3 Help. The online help is used analogously. Only the articles are displayed in the web browser.

A TwinCAT 3 project is opened.

The Start in Help Viewer command is enabled in the menu Help > Define help settings (from Help Viewer 2.0).

1. Open an editor for the supported text-based TwinCAT 3 programming languages, e.g. ST or C++.

2. Select the desired expression and press the [F1] key.
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The Help Viewer opens, and the corresponding article from the TwinCAT 3 Information System linked to the selected expression is displayed.
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