This cool new app, “enables you to view, search and bookmark your documentation a lot faster than you could with the built in Flash support.” The interface is well-designed and gives users a familiar toolset from the past Flash Help panels but with improvements and added functionality. For me, running on OS X 10.5 this app ran great. The only thing you need to know is where the documentation you want to view lives on your system. They provide some tips for this on their site, just in case you don’t know off the top of your head or don’t feel like Googling it.

I recommend this app to anyone who is not happy with the current Flash help/documentation functionality. And if you are feeling generous I don’t think they’d mind if you donated a few bucks to the project.

» Download from here

The one thing I can’t get my head wrapped around is why in the world Adobe would remove the integrated Help system and replace it with a link to their online help documentation. While I see the benefit of online documentation being simpler to update and/or amend I can’t help but to hate this change. The Flash CS3 Help panel offered efficient access to the ActionScript API’s.

I have looked around for solutions and have noticed that quite a few people are bothered by this just as much as myself. On Lee Brimelow’s blog, theflashblog.com, a reader posted an interesting fix in a comment. Matt Przybylski, over at evolve.reintroducing.com also posted some details and further expounded on the idea of disabling the URL and viewing your Help files locally on your system.

Overall I am not satisfied with these solutions and I am looking into other alternatives. I am exploring ways of either bringing in the entire Help Panel from Flash CS3 into CS4 or just taking the content from CS3 and building my own Window SWF and loading a custom panel in CS4.

I will be sure to keep this post updated with any progress.