# .HLP files on a Mac
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hlp-files-on-a-mac/295567
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 21, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hlp-files-on-a-mac/295567 "2005-03-21T15:31:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hlp-files-on-a-mac/295567/1 "2005-03-21T15:31:40Z")
Years and years and years ago, **cmkeller** sent me his famous _Legion of Super-Heroes_ database, which was in the form of a help file.
At the time I owned Microsoft Office 4.x. IIRC, I was able to read the database with no trouble.
These days I use the nearly-latest version of Office for Mac OS X (I forget the version number, but it’s the version most nearly parallel to Office XP). I asked for, and received, a new edition of the _Legion_ database from **cmkeller**.
I can view the database just fine here at work, on my PC running XP. But at home, with OS X 10.1.5, I cannot get Office to open it.
I feel certain I should be able to open .HLP files. After all, .PPT, .XLS and .DOC files are all cross-compatible. And Office/OS X does have its own help system.
Maybe I just need an additional patch or interpreter or something? Anyway, I’d appreciate any help the Teeming Millions could offer.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hlp-files-on-a-mac/295567/2 "2005-03-21T18:45:36Z")
MacOS X’s Help system is merely a subset of HTML; odds are, whatever Microsoft’s .HLP format is, it’s something entirely different (and probably proprietary).
You may need a program to convert Windows HLP files to some other cross-platform-compatable format. [Here](http://www.softpedia.com/get/Authoring-tools/Help-e-book-creators/Windows-HLP-To-RTF.shtml) is one such tool; I don’t know if there are any comparable free alternatives.
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hlp-files-on-a-mac/295567/3 "2005-03-21T19:29:28Z")
Hmm. Not a great solution, but I’ll take it if there’s no alternative.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2005, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hlp-files-on-a-mac/295567/4 "2005-03-22T09:14:20Z")
Here’s a [free decompiler](http://www.helpscribble.com/decompiler.html) (scroll down to the Decompiling section).