I have just installed version 8.0 on a new x86 PC. Neither all or any of the “Help files” language options in the installation are selectable.
There is a previous posting regarding this as a problem with Version 7.0.
I have included a screenshot.
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Thanks for the swift reply and thanks for the link.
The pdfs are very good but, like others I expect, the Help menu option really ought to offer the built-in help instead of the message “Help file ‘kicad’ could not be found”. This message seems to indicate an installation error.
If there is a problem with the help files at this time then maybe clicking Help should say so?
I am not sure why the Windows installation doesn’t have the help files. Just wanted to offer a workaround in the meantime.
Nothing new… nothing changes. Probably in version 99 we will have a help files.
Just installed 8.0.1 and the issue is still the same.
So it’s one of those we don’t have an issue, that every one knows about, and no one has the authority to fix? Maybe it’s like political amnesia. We all forget about it within a week?
Do these files exist?
Can we manually install them?
If there is an argument that the files are all online then why bother with the installer we cant use? Why not link direct to the online files?
^^^^^^^^^^^
This.
I’m confused by it too. If the Help files exist, the installation option and the Help menu should work. If they don’t, the option should be removed from the installer, and the Help menu should take you to the online Help.
By the way, I just want to say that the set of documents linked above are excellent and I appreciate the work that has gone into them. Obviously they don’t work like Help files, but they are good.
I have no additional info on the Windows installer, unfortunately. I just wanted to note that while the forum is a good place to look for peer support, any bugs should eventually be written up on the KiCad gitlab so that the developers can actually track them.
In this case, it looks like the issue was originally reported back in v6 and hasn’t been resolved: Unable to Install Help Documentation on Windows Installer (#144) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Packaging / kicad-win-builder · GitLab
If the issue is affecting you, consider giving the issue a “thumbs up”. The popularity of an issue doesn’t guarantee that a developer/packager will volunteer to look into, but may make it more likely.
Done. Thanks in advance. 
I installed 8.0.2, and it’s still a thing. I am pointing this out here, because this thread isn’t being marked closed over and over again.
Also although the conversation on Gitlab issue #144 reflected some of my own speculation that we might simplify the process by making the online files default. 8.0.2 does not reflect this via installer or in application. So the issue persists. Gitlab issue #172 lays out the exact issue in better detail. Both are closed in a way that lends me to assume one one though the issue was, resolved.
I suspect that with how few of us have chimed in, we can draw conclusions on how often any one tries to use the help files, or notices they wont even install. Sad.
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