Help viewer is not loading content

Question

Level 1

8 points

Help viewer is not loading content

When I try to view the help files for certain apps, nothing loads. I get a spinning gray wheel. I first noticed this when trying to view the help files for iPhoto (9.5.1), but other apps such as iTunes and iBooks Author have the same problem. Some apps do have help files that work -- probably the ones that ship with Mac OS X such as Calculator.

I am having the same problem on two different MacBook Pro models, both running Mavericks 10.9.4. They are on different networks (my home and work machines).

I did look in the Console for clues and see this whenever the help fails to load:

9/8/14 4:36:31.254 PM HelpViewer[26182]: https://help.apple.com/Library/Documentation/Resources/Flamingo/6/flamingo.js: TypeError: 'null' is not an object (evaluating 't.length') (line: 2)

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 8, 2014 1:42 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Sep 8, 2014 1:48 PM in response to kjios

You might try this:

Go to the /Home/Library/Caches/ folder and delete com.apple.helpd and com.apple.helpviewer folders.

Next in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder delete com.apple.help.plist, com.apple.helpd.plist, and com.apple.helpviewer.plist files.

Restart your computer.

Exposing the /Home/Library/ Folder

Pick one of the following methods:

A. This method will make the folder visible permanently. Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and paste the following at the command prompt:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

Press RETURN.

B. Click on the Desktop, press the OPTION (⌥) button, select Library from the Finder's Go menu.

C. Select Go To Folder from the Finder's Go menu. Paste the following in the path field:

~/Library

Press the Go button.

Reply

Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Sep 8, 2014 3:46 PM in response to kjios

Sometimes just closing and reopening the Help window will clear up the problem. If it doesn't, log out or restart the computer and try again. Otherwise, you may need to delete the Help cache.

Back up all data before proceeding.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.helpd

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A Finder window should open with a folder selected. Move the selected folder to the Trash. Log out, log back in, and test. Help pages will be slow to load at first.

If that doesn't work, the problem may be caused by network conditions. It may go away by itself, though I can't say how long you should wait.

A persistent failure to load help data has been reported as an issue with satellite networks. Test on a different network, if possible. I've also seen at least one report that Photo Stream in iCloud can mysteriously interfere with Help. I'm not sure whether that's true, but try disabling Photo Stream, if applicable.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combinationcommand-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Reply

Answer 3

kjios Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 9, 2014 6:27 AM in response to kjios

Thank you for these suggestions. I'm still having problems, but I was eventually able to get at the help files I needed by retrying enough times.

Also, there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern as to which help files load and which don't, as I previously thought. Once the iPhoto help started working, Calendar and Reminders help stopped working. If the help files are loaded over the internet, is the problem on Apple's end of things? As I mentioned, I'm having the same experience on two different computers with different network connections. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Reply