Hi All…
When I click on the “Help” menu item like “Unity Manual,” “Scripting Reference,” etc. nothing happens. Guessing they’re supposed to open in a web browser, but I’m getting zip.
Thanks!
Well, all the same docs are available on the web, so you could just shrug (hopefully after filing a bug report) and read the docs there. I usually find it faster to type a few words into Google than to use the offline manuals anyway. I only use the built-in help if I’m on a plane or otherwise disconnected from the world.
Thanks for you quick reply Joe. I don’t mind searching the web, but I found this error while doing a tutorial which showed a keyboard shortcut in MonoDevelop which would immediately open the Unity manual entry to a specific command. That’s super cool…and it doesn’t work…which I’m guessing is connected to the fact that Unity doesn’t seem to want to open any browser link for me.
BTW…does it work for you when you choose “Unity Manual” from the help menu?
I believe the documentation should be installed in a subfolder alongside the Unity application. You can navigate to where you keep your applications and look at the folder containing Unity and it’s associated data and check to see if the documentation is installed correctly.
Some one was recently pointing out how helpful it is to be able to get specific references when clicking on anything in Mono Develop. As a Noob I sure wish this was working so I could directly open the manual. Anyone else have any idea why none of the references are opening either from within Unity, nor from Mono Develop? Thanks!
An offline version of Documentation/Script Reference Will be copied to unity install directory when you installing unity. You can find it in /Editor/Data/Documentation/en/Manual/Index.html
If you didn’t Found it there and you think it was erased, Reinstall ‘UnitySetup32.exe’ or ‘64’
Still you can find it Online .
Hey Xspeed…the manuals are on my hard drive at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Unity\Editor\Data\Documentation\html\en and something similar in the C:\Program Files\Unity5 for Unity5. I can open them manually in my browser. That’s not the problem.
Mono Develop has a special Key Binding (default is Control + ') which should bring up the reference automatically. Also there are menu items inside Unity to open the manuals. None of these are working. I understand there are work arounds, but I’m trying to figure out how to get the program to work properly so it will be easier/faster to learn.
Thanks All.
Please define “not working”. Does it do nothing? Does it open the raw data in a text editor? Does it open the wrong thing?
More details please!
Hey Adam…
Here are the details:
- I click on “Help” menu item and then “Unity Manual”
- The hour-glass pops up for a split second and then disappears.
- Nothing happens. Zilch. Nada.
Basically the same thing when I click on “Scripting Reference,” except the hour-glass doesn’t pop up at all.
From inside Mono Develop when I click the default “key binding” for the “Unity API Reference” nothing at all happens. When I choose “Unity Community” under the “Help”/“Web” menu in Mono I get this error message: “Could not open the url http://forum.unity3d.com”
To me it seems like Unity isn’t connected to my web browser, but I’ve checked and everything else opens links fine in Chrome.
Thanks again for your help.
I have the same problem like you. But i don’t worry about it. i made a bookmark for ‘index.html’. On my browser.
i doesn’t had any problems when opening Help > Web > Unity Community.
does anyone know what is the problem was?
Sadly, I can’t reproduce this on my windows machine. I don’t get this in the Mac either. Is there any more information you can give us?
Hey Adam…actually I’m glad it isn’t happening to you. 
I’m guessing something went wrong with my installation. I’m going to uninstall both version 4.6 and 5.2 to see if the problem is resolved. Otherwise I might need to dig into the registry to see if Unity is missing something it needs to open the browser from within the program. I’ll report back when I have some more information. Thanks again!
If you really get stuck, give support a shout and see if they can help you. FWIW, I did see an issue where the Win OS tried to open the linked docs pages in win pad, but iirc, that was just the OS ointing the doc to the wrong application. Unfortunately, my windows support experience is minimal.
I’m going to finally take the time and uninstall and re-install today. I’m wondering if the problem has something to do with the fact that I have Unity 4.6 and 5.2 on my machine…or because of the order installed or ??? Will report back what I find soon.
Okay…Mystery is solved. I uninstalled both versions of Unity today and when I re-installed them it was still NOT working to open any of the help items either from the Unity menu or by key binding from inside Mono Develop.
I decided to check to make sure Chrome was default browser. It was…but then I changed default to Firefox and it WORKED! Changed back to Chrome…nothing. When I went to the new folder where the documentation was installed I tried to double click there and go an error for something which is a known bug in Chrome.
I uninstalled and re-installed Chrome…and NOW it is WORKING!!! It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but for a Noob its really helpful to be able to get to the documentation quickly…especially to exactly the right page directly from Mono.
Thanks so much all…especially to Adam for your time and effort.
Hey Xspeed…see the message above for the solution I found. Cheers.
I’m using chrome and opera (chrome as default). not Firefox. but i found an Ancient version on my disk. I searched it like searching a dinosaur bone. i have set fire fox as Default. but still i cannot open script reference from MonoDevelop( working in unity). is an update for firefox will fix it?.
Xspeed…did you check the Key Binding to make sure you have the right keystroke to open the reference from MonoDevelop? Does help open when you choose it from the menu directly in Unity? If it works there then your settings to open directly to the browser are okay…but if not then you might have the same problem I had. BTW what operating system are you using.
I have ever changed the key bindings.
tried Ctrl + ’ and Help > Unity API Reference
Both Doesn’t work.
yes, I can open help from Unity Directly.
i am using Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate.
you don’t have to waste your time to help me.
Thank You!.
Xspeed…my pleasure to try to help…but unfortunately I don’t think I have any ideas about why the help is opening in Unity and not MonoDevelop. Very strange. Hope your work-around is good enough or that someone else comes up with a solution. Cheers.