Find a command and the help browser in Vectornation

A full vector app has hundreds of commands, and nobody remembers where all of them live. Rather than opening menu after menu, you can ask. Vectornation by Zaweba has two ways to find your way: Help > Find a command, on Ctrl+/, which searches commands by name, and Help > Vectornation help, on F1, a searchable help browser that opens at the page for the tool you are using.

Searching for a command

Press Ctrl+/ and start typing what you want to do. The search looks through the app's commands and shows matches as you type. Pick one and it runs.

This helps in two ways. If you know a command exists but not where it is, you find it in a second. And if you are not sure whether something exists at all, a quick search tells you. Try a word like simplify, halftone or package and see what comes up.

Help that knows what you are doing

F1 opens the help browser. It does not start at a general contents page. It opens at the page for the tool in use, so if you are halfway through a job with the width tool and wonder what a setting does, F1 takes you straight to the answer.

The help browser is searchable, so you can also look up a topic directly. It is part of the app, which means it works offline and matches the version you have.

Learning the app with them

When you are new to Vectornation, use Find a command as a way of exploring. Search for a job you do in your old program and see what turns up. When you find a command you will use often, note its menu and shortcut, which saves searching next time.

Use F1 whenever a tool behaves in a way you did not expect. Most surprises come from an option or a modifier key, and the tool's help page usually explains it in a paragraph.

A good routine for a new tool is to pick it, press F1 and read its page once before using it in a real job. Five minutes of reading often reveals the option that saves an hour later, and because the page opens at the tool you are holding, there is no hunting through contents to find it.

How they fit with shortcuts

Find a command is in some ways the opposite of a keyboard shortcut. A shortcut is fastest for the commands you use constantly. Searching is fastest for the ones you use now and then. If you find yourself searching for the same command every day, give it a shortcut in the Keyboard shortcuts editor.

Tips for searching well

Search for the job rather than the exact name. If one word does not find it, try another. Outline might find Create outlines, cut might find Divide objects or Crop.

Keep searches short. A couple of letters often narrow the list enough.

When a search finds nothing, that is useful information too. It may mean the job is done another way, and the help browser is the place to look up the job in plain words and read which tool covers it.

Keep the help browser in mind for settings, not just tools. Preferences, print options and export settings have their own explanations, and reading one page before an important print job can save a reprint.