&Lauri.Watts;

# Getting Help

## User Manuals

Most applications come with a comprehensive user manual
, which you can reach various ways:

- By pressing F1 inside the application.

- From the menu bar: Help Application name

- By browsing to it in &khelpcenter;

- By using the help KIOslave in &konqueror;. So, in the Location Toolbar, simply type `help:/Application name`

- Online at http://docs.kde.org

## Context and What's This Help

Many applications also provide context help in two forms: Tooltips, and What's This help.

### Tooltips

Tooltips are small informational windows or balloons that display when you hover the mouse over an item on your screen without clicking.

&kde; uses tooltips in many places to provide brief help or information about an item on your screen. For instance, most toolbar buttons inside applications will display their name in a tooltip if you rest or hover your mouse over them.

Tooltips have another function, which is not specifically tied to help. In the &konqueror; file manager and on your Desktop, tooltips can provide information about files. This is commonly referred to as meta information.

You can find out more about meta-information tooltips in the section about the &konqueror; file manager.

### What's This?

What's This? help is usually more detailed than tooltips. You can access What's This? help in two ways:

- By pressing the ? button in the titlebar of the window.

- By pressing the key combination &Shift;F1

The cursor will change to a pointer with a question mark next to it. Click on the item you want to know about, and a small window will pop up displaying information.

## Mailing Lists, Newsgroups and IRC

### Mailing Lists

&kde; provides many mailing lists which can provide you with help and guidance in using and configuring your Desktop.

Some of the lists you might find useful are:

The &kde; User List

  This mailing list focuses specifically on OS-independent questions and discussions regarding using &kde;. Operating-system-specific questions and discussion are off-topic here. For example, the question How do I change the margin size for KWord documents is appropriate for this list; whereas How do I set up my printer using &kde; under UnixOS X.Y is not. Questions asked and discussions here should apply to all &kde; users using the applicable &kde; software, not just those using the same operating system.

  You can subscribe to this list at https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.

  You can find archives at http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde.

The &kde;-&Linux; List

  This mailing list focusses specifically on questions and discussions regarding using &kde; on &Linux;. Questions and discussions can involve any issue confronting desktop users who run &kde; on a &Linux; system. Hence, questions such as How do I setup a networked printer for printing from &kde; on LinuxDistro X.Y are appropriate here. If you prefer a list limited to OS-independent questions and discussions concerning &kde;, please use the general &kde; mailing list.

  You can subscribe to this list at https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-linux.

  You can find archives at http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-linux.

### IRC

There is a #kde channel on Freenode (irc.freenode.net) for support and other general talk about &kde;. As usual, you can access this channel by using any of &kde;'s popular IRC clients which include konversation, &ksirc;, as well as &kopete;. For more information, check the section.

## More Resources

There are many other resources which you may found useful; some of these are listed below:

dot.kde.org

  This website has a searchable &kde; news resource where you can find out about a superfluity of innovations in the world of &kde;.

kde-look.org

  The paramount resource for &kde; icandy, including themes, window decorations, wallpapers, mouse themes and icons for your &kde; desktop. Note also that the site contains a howto section on how to install the most common of these.

wiki.kde.org

  The official &kde; Wiki. From here you can have access to a plethora of information ranging from frequently asked questions and HOWTOs to tips and tricks. The wiki should never, however, be used as a substitute for the respective application's handbook or the official &kde; documentation.