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You should have a minimum of version 1.2 (4.73.8252) installed. Earlier versions are too unstable. Later versions contain bug fixes and are more stable.
- Why don't I see a HH Version button?
The version numbers are a bit of a mess. There is a version of HTML Help 1.3. The Microsoft website speaks to a 1.4 version. And after downloading you get a message stating that you already have a newer version.
Can anyone please explain what the current version is?
The latest version of the HTMLHelp Workshop itself is 1.31. The 1.4 version number on the download package refers to the viewer component, but even that is out of date now. More recent updates to the viewer have been security updates to Windows, so if your computer is anywhere near up-to-date with security patches, you already have a newer version of the viewer installed--and that is the source of the message saying you already have a newer version. The message refers to the included viewer component, not the Workshop itself.
And all those 1.x version numbers are the external version numbers that Microsoft used to make it easy to distinguish one package from the next. The version numbers you see in Help > About are file version numbers of the various components, which bear no relation to the package version numbers.
A very useful page for figuring out what's what with those file version numbers is Rob Chandler's site http://www.helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_info.htm.
The heart of HTML Help (runtime) is hhctrl.ocx and the version number was 1.3 for many years. It went 1.4 when XP SP1 was released. Now because its part of the Windows OS, in Vista it is a version now 6.0 same as Vista OS.
When you start the program and click Help > About you see a version of 4.74. Now what you are seeing is the Compiler DLL version (HHA.DLL). This is not part of the Windows OS. It is a separate download and you get it when you download and install HH Workshop (htmlhelp.exe).
MS HTML Help 1.x Compiler (HHA.DLL)
Current Version = 4.74.8702.0
All authoring programs use HHA.DLL to compile to CHM.
Now the htmlhelp.exe (Workshop install) actually contains hhupd.exe (runtime
install).
At the end of Workshop install it runs hhupd.exe to update the runtime files
HHCTRL.OCX but this does nothing these days since HHCTRL.OCX is now part of
the Windows OS and can only be updated usuing HotFixes and Service packs.
So you just get the message "Already have newer version". Just ignore
this message.
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