Convert HTML or Word to CHM without installation
I would like to convert an HTML file or a Word file (.doc, .docx or .rtf) to a .chm file. I searched for ways of doing this and they all said that I should install a program on my computer. Is there a way of doing this without installing anything (online, with a program initially installed on Windows or with a USB version of a program)? I also accept a CHM editor as long as it doesn't need to be installed. I found a way to open a .html with hh.exe (the program that opens .chm) but as soon as I rename it from help.html to help.chm it doesn't work.
Answer
As far as I know the answer is – no. I've seen never an online version or a USB solution for effective HTMLHelp (CHM) compiling.
You can’t rename a foobar.html to foobar.chm and get this working for a single file, because CHM is like a zipped webpage with all files needed inside and some more internal files e.g. for full text search or an index with keywords. Please see snapshot of a special view with FAR HTML below (left side only, navigation pane).
You can't rename from .zip to .chm too, because the internal structure of a CHM file is complicated and you need a compiler for generating CHM's.
Background:
Please note that the proprietary file format is normally generated by MS HH Workshop (hhw.exe). It’s nearly 20 years old und was first shipped with IE4 and Windows 95. It’s deep integrated to the Windows operating system.
The HTML Help compiler is part of MS HTML Help Workshop (HHW.exe). This is a free, very basic authoring system provided by Microsoft and must be installed before any other authoring tool (e.g. such as FAR HTML) can compile to a .chm help file.
HTML Help Workshop (HHW) installer is called HtmlHelp.EXE and contains a copy of the HTML Help Run-time installer (HHUpd.EXE). There are a few Independent Software Vendor (ISV) that install HHA.DLL and itcc.dll separately instead of installing the full MS HH Workshop (htmlhelp.exe). This is generally an OK practice if the ISV knows what they are doing. But there are many problems. ISVs please keep in mind the safest approach is probably to install the full Workshop.
HTML Help is in maintenance mode, which means no new features are expected for either the runtime or the compiler. All mainstream development on HH has stopped – but HTMLHelp (.chm help files) is still recommended as software application help (for offline (local) help).
At the time of writing (announced 1996-Feb) HTMLHelp is the only Microsoft help platform available for general application help. WinHelp is deprecated and no longer ships with the Windows OS. Visual Studio products such as MS Help 2 & Help Viewer only ship with VS.
