File extension HLP
| File type | Help Format |
| Developer | Microsoft |
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What is a HLP file?
HLP file format is an older version of help files available on Windows family of operating systems. It was developed by Microsoft, which owns rights to this format. HLP file contains system or application documentation, and indexed to allow comfortable searching and viewing of the contents.
HLP file is created by compiling RTF file. Newer Windows systems may have problems with reading HLP files without installing additional software tools.
Program(s) that can open the .HLP file
Windows
Mac OS
Linux
How to open HLP files
If you cannot open the HLP file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports HLP among those that are installed on your device.
A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the HLP file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.
Possible problems with the HLP format files
The inability to open and operate the HLP file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the Help Format file. Below is a list of possible problems.
- Corruption of a HLP file which is being opened
- Incorrect links to the HLP file in registry entries.
- Accidental deletion of the description of the HLP from the Windows registry
- Incomplete installation of an application that supports the HLP format
- The HLP file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
- The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the HLP file.
- Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a HLP file are out of date.
If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the HLP file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the HLP file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the HLP file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.
Similar extensions
| .adm | Administrator Policy Template Format |
| .adml | Microsoft Administrative Language-specific XML Template Format |
| .admx | Microsoft Administrative XML Template Format |
| .aml | Microsoft Assistance Markup Language |
| .ani | Animated Cursor |
| .ann | Microsoft Windows Help Annotation Format |
| .aos | Archos Signed Encrypted Data Format |
| .asec | Google Android Encrypted Application Package Format |
This extension
can be converted to:
How to associate the file with an installed software?
If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.HLP) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected HLP file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the HLP file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.
Is there one way to open unknown files?
Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. HLP) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.