Poll is CLOSED
Poll
How Should MATLAB's Help Documentation Be Presented?
Online Doc + System Browser
11%
Online Doc + Dedicated Browser
11%
Offline Doc +System Browser
11%
Offline Doc + Dedicated Browser
23%
Hybrid Approach (Support All Modes)
23%
User-Definable / Fully Configurable
20%
35 votes
18 Comments
Time Descending
Thanks for sharing the issue with how the F1 help window is appearing. We are aware of this issue and working on a fix. Thanks again for the feedback!
Have anyone noticed that when viewing a function's help in the MATLAB Desktop Editor or the Command Window(F1 key), the window doesn't show the full content and there is no scroll bar?
The condition is that the pop-up help window extends beyond the bounds of the main MATLAB interface window.
I can confirm that the F1 help is abbreviated. Scroll bars do show up on my Mac if one finds an entry long enough, such as ode45 or uigetfile. Most entries I tested at random were short enough not to need scrolling.
Thanks for sharing. However, the problem I’m encountering is exactly that the part circled in red in the screenshot is not displayed fully — the text is being cut off so I can’t read the help. Even if there is a scrollbar, it doesn’t allow me to scroll to view the content.
env: R2026a prelease
os: windows 10 22H2
I can confirm that whether the entire help page can be viewed by scrolling depends on whether the parent window is large enough. If it is too small, part of the page is not accessible.
I believe @Andres is on to something. This behavior is similar to how MATLAB Online manages windows and undocked figures--nothing can go outside of the browswer window. It would seem that the help window can only acess the parent region (command window, editor, etc.), not the local display itself.
Good point, that seems to be the case. But scrolling is actually designed for precisely this situation. However, below a certain available area of the parent region, scrolling no longer works either, as the window size is not correctly adjusted to the available area and part of the window is therefore cut off.
However, in R2025a, if a help child window extends beyond the parent window, the child window will reposition itself to fit instead of having its content cut off and become unreadable. I prefer this behavior.
I tried an older version（R2024a） — it could go beyond the parent window’s bounds and I could freely resize and move the window, which was more convenient, although the old version displayed the full help content rather than a brief overview.
The dropping of the Help Browser in 2024b is a is a significant feature downgrade for MATLAB users.
MATLAB help documentation pages grouped together in one place and isolated is a major boon to Matlab productivity in 2024a and earlier. Having the documentation page scattered among all the other unrelated webpages is highly undesirable. They get lost in the shuffle and often new instances of the same page get created later. This change negatively impacts both Matlab work and general work.
Using the “doc” command in MATLAB 2025 (which opens in external browser) is 2-3 seconds slower than using the previous Help Browser. As someone who frequently uses "doc" command, these pauses add up, and also interfere with concentration on the task at hand.
I've thought about this for a long time and I completely agree with your point.
One of MATLAB's strengths is that its centralized documentation quickly presents the functions you need; having complete MATLAB topics is essential for me to stay focused on the current programming task. When the documentation is dispersed across web pages, it does slow me down a bit (2–3 seconds or more) and reduces my concentration on the task.
My suggestion is to provide an additional offline documentation application that doesn't depend on MATLAB being open — a proprietary viewer(or Dedicated Browser) that opens the docs, turning it into a standalone 'documentation app'.
When pressing F1 for help in the MATLAB Editor or command window, the help popup should show a concise syntax/usage hint like in R2025a, with an option to jump to the web browser for full details. If there is offline documentation, it should not require opening IP addresses or network ports to navigate? users should be free to open and search the documentation independently? However, a proprietary viewer should be provided?
The help prior to R2024b was: fast, worked anywhere, clean, didn't spawn a new browser window. Don't break what works!
I am a professor and want my students to have a standalone help source from Matlab that doesn't require a web connection, and doesn't distract students with a full browser. Yes, I know about offline access - I use this on my machine - but it is a little bit too complicated to get a class full of students to implement correctly without a hassle.
PLEASE revert to the old help. It was fine.
just add for my personal reference's comment
First of all, I understand that Mathworks do not want to maintain their own browser engine.
In my opinion, this would be the simplest solution:
Current web browsers support browser profiles that any user can create. Pages opened in a specific browser profile are opened together in tabs in a separate browser window, and a browser profile can have a specific theme so that the window stands out visually from other browser windows.
Mathworks would 'only' need to find a way to let users select a specific browser profile for the documentation.
I created the doc replacement “docu” for myself, which does exactly that. However, the browser and profile must be specified in the code. Using a favorite that calls up the documentation for the term at the current cursor position in the editor makes it reasonably convenient, but native implementation would of course be desirable.
I hadn't got very deep with it yet, but it felt like the MATLAB web browser was pretty useful. One could navigate to some base location, let the user browse around, and then pull information from that particular website.
It also seems like the documentation generated for user-defined functions/classes is using remnants of the MATLAB browser. Let's hop that does not go away--it's streamlines the documentation process by automatically linking properties/methods with the class and takes care of "See also" hyperlinks.
I am not clear about what "system browser" means in this context?
It means web browser(Google Chrome,Mircrosoft Edge,...)
In response to the poll initiated by @Noah(https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/discussions/general/877300-thoughts-on-2024b-removing-the-dedicated-help-browser-and-forcing-you-to-use-the-web-browser), there has been significant interest recently in the format of help documentation. I have launched a new poll using a different approach and hope to see your contributions and perspectives.
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