Preferences for the Help Browser

Product Filter

If you have MathWorks™ products in addition to MATLAB®, such as Simulink®, toolboxes, and blocksets, set the product filter to limit the product documentation and demos used:

  1. Select File > Preferences > Help.

  2. Under Product filter, select the check box for Enable product filter. Click Select products.

    The Help Product Filter dialog box opens.

  3. Select the products whose documentation and demos you want to appear in the Help Navigator. Click OK.

    The Help Navigator updates to include only those products you specified. The product filter settings are saved for your next session of MATLAB.

  4. When you want to use documentation and demos for all installed products, in Help Preferences, clear the check box for Enable product filter.

The Release Notes entry in the Help Product Filter dialog box applies to the Release Notes overview document for a release, for example, all products in R2008a, not to the Release Notes for an individual product, for example, MATLAB Release Notes for R2008a. Release Notes for a product are considered part of the product's documentation. For example, MATLAB Release Notes are considered part of MATLAB, and Communications Toolbox™ Release Notes are considered part of the Communications Toolbox documentation when you use the Help Product Filter.

Example Using the Product Filter

If you want to perform a search and have many products installed but know the information you are seeking is in the MATLAB or Communications Toolbox product, in the Help Product Filter, click Clear All and then select MATLAB and Communications Toolbox.

The Contents shows only MATLAB and Communications Toolbox, the Index shows only entries for MATLAB and Communications Toolbox, and the Search for feature looks only in and shows only results for MATLAB and Communications Toolbox documentation and demos. Demos lists only demos for MATLAB and Communications Toolbox products.

PDF Reader — Specifying Its Location

If you want to view the PDF version of the documentation, use the link on the roadmap page for that product. To open the PDF file, the Help browser needs to know the location of your PDF reader (for example, the Adobe® Acrobat® product).

On Microsoft® Windows® platforms, the MATLAB software reads the PDF reader location from the registry, so you do not specify its location.

On The Open Group UNIX® platforms, the default PDF reader is Acrobat® and MATLAB determines its location. If a different command starts your PDF reader, specify it using preferences. Select File > Preferences > Help, and enter the full pathname in the PDF reader field or use the Browse for Folder (...) button to navigate your file system to select it.

General — Keep Contents Synchronized

By default, the displayed page is synchronized with the Contents or Demos listings. For more information about this feature, see Synchronize the Contents Listing and Demos Listing with the Display Pane.

To turn synchronization off, select File > Preferences > Help. Under General, clear the check box for Keep contents tree synchronized with displayed document. Select the check box to turn synchronization back on.

Help on Selection — Specifying Where It Displays

When you are working in the Editor or the Command Window, you can display the reference page for a function using the help on selection feature. Use this preference to specify where the reference page displays:

In pop-up window — the reference page displays in a small pop-up window in the Editor or Command Window.

In Help browser — the reference page displays in the Help browser.

For details about the feature, see Get Help for a Selection.

Help Fonts and Colors Preferences

Set fonts and colors for the Help browser the same way you would for other desktop tools. This section describes the process for the Help browser:

Specifying Font Name, Style, and Size

You can specify the font name (also called font type or family), style, and size used in the Help Navigator.

For the display pane, you can specify the font name and size for the text font, but changes do not impact the style. For the code font, your changes to size apply, but changes to name and style have no impact. The following example shows the results of specifying Microsoft Comic Sans® MS, bold, 14 point for the text font; note that the bold has no effect.

Image of Help browser showing example of font preference changes.

Use the same method as you would to specify fonts for any desktop tool — for more information, see Fonts Preferences for Desktop Tools. By default, the Help Navigator uses the desktop text font. The display pane is considered to be an HTML Proportional Text tool, and by default, uses the desktop text font.

This example changes the display pane font:

  1. Select File > Preferences > Fonts > Custom.

  2. From the Desktop tools list, select HTML Proportional Text. The Help browser display pane is considered to be an HTML Proportional Text tool, as is the MATLAB Web Browser. Changing the font preference affects both tools.

  3. For Font to Use, select Custom, and then specify the font characteristics:

    After you make a selection, the Sample area shows how the font will look.

  4. Click OK. The Help display pane fonts use the new settings. The MATLAB Web Browser fonts also use the new settings.

Specifying Colors for the Help Browser

You can specify the background and text color used in the Help Navigator. Use the same method as you would to specify the background color for any desktop tool — for more information, see Colors Preferences for Desktop Tools.

If the background color preference for your desktop tools is a dark color, you might not be able to see index entries in the Help Navigator because they are links, for which the default color is blue. To see the links, change the Hyperlink color preference to a light or other contrasting color — for more information, see Other Colors.

You cannot specify colors for the Help browser display pane.

  


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