The Learn panel and offline help in Paint by Zaweba
Press F1 in Paint by Zaweba for the Learn panel of offline help topics with buttons that run commands, plus What's New and System Information.
Help that needs an internet connection is no help on a train, in a studio with poor signal, or on a computer you keep offline by choice. Paint by Zaweba keeps its help inside the app. Help > Paint Help, or F1, opens the Learn panel, a set of offline topics you can read while you work.
The Learn panel
The Learn panel sits alongside your other panels rather than in a separate window, so you can read a topic and try it at the same time. Because it is offline, it opens instantly and works anywhere.
The best part is that topics have buttons which run the commands they mention. If a topic explains a filter or an adjustment, you do not have to go and find it in the menus; press the button and it runs on your picture. That makes the panel a quick way to learn where things are, and to try them without getting lost.
A good way to start is to open a picture you do not mind experimenting on, press F1, and work through a topic with the picture in front of you. Use the buttons to run each step, then look at what changed in the Layers and History panels. History lets you step back, so nothing you try is permanent.
As you get more confident, use the panel as a reference rather than a course. When you meet a task you have not done before, look it up, run the command from the topic, and carry on.
What's New
What's New explains what has changed in the version you have. It is worth a look after each update, because new tools and options are easy to miss otherwise. Paint by Zaweba is under active development, and new features often arrive in places you would not think to look.
System Information
System Information gathers details about your computer and the app and copies them to the clipboard. Nothing personal is in it. It is there for when you want to report a problem or ask for help, so you can paste the details in rather than having to work them out.
Other ways to find your way
The Learn panel pairs well with Edit > Search (Ctrl+Shift+P), which finds any command by name and shows its menu path and key. Use Learn for understanding and Search for reaching. The contextual task bar also teaches as it goes, by offering the natural next step after a selection or layer.
Keeping it handy
Tab the Learn panel with a panel you use less often, so it is a click away without taking space. Beginners may want it visible for the first few weeks, and then tuck it away.
If help seems to be missing
If F1 does not seem to bring the panel up, it may be docked somewhere out of view or tabbed behind another panel. Reset panels from View > Panels and it will be easy to find again, or reach it from the Help menu.
Offline help suits an app that is offline by design. Everything you need to learn Paint by Zaweba is already on your computer.
