Install the Maya Help

By default, your installed version of Maya 2012 launches the Help from the Autodesk.com Web site. You can download and install a copy of the Maya 2012 Help using the following instructions.

Prepare to install the Maya Help

Before you install the Maya Help, ensure that you have done the following:

Install Maya 2012.
Download the Autodesk Maya 2012 English Documentation installer for your platform from www.autodesk.com/maya-helpdownload-enu.
This file installs Maya Help for 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

Install Maya Help on Windows

This section describes how to install a local version of the Maya Help on your system. You can also install the Maya Help on a shared location such as an internal network or web server. See Install the Maya Help on a shared location.

Double-click the Autodesk Maya 2012 English Documentation executable file.
The installation wizard appears.
Extract the Help files to a temporary directory, then click Next.
These files are automatically removed from your system after the installation completes.
Follow the instructions in the installation wizard.
By default, the Maya Help is installed in the following directory:
- C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2012\docs\Maya2012\en_US on Windows 32-bit systems.
- C:\Program Files(x86)\Autodesk\Maya2012\docs\Maya2012\en_US on Windows 64-bit systems.
You can change the install location of the docs directory during the installation if necessary.
Start Maya.
In Maya, open the Help preferences window by selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences.
The Preferences window appears.
Under Categories, click Help.
In the Help Location section, select Installed Local Help.
Click Save and exit the Preferences window.
The Maya 2012 Help is now available from the Help, F1, and context sensitive help menus.

Install Maya Help on Mac OS X

Double-click the Autodesk Maya 2012 English Documentation executable file.
The Maya Help package appears in a Finder window.
Double-click the package (.pkg) file.
The installation wizard appears.
Follow the instructions in the installation wizard.
By default, the Maya Help is installed in the following directory:

/Applications/Autodesk/maya2012/docs/Maya2012/en_US.

You cannot change the install location of the docs directory.
Start Maya.
In Maya, open the Help preferences window by selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences.
The Preferences window appears.
Under Categories, click Help.
In the Help Location section, select Installed Local Help.
Click Save and exit the Preferences window.
The Maya 2012 Help is now available from the Help, F1, and context sensitive help menus.

Install Maya Help on Linux

Extract the Maya Help package from the compressed files you downloaded.
Open a shell as a super user (using su -) and navigate to the directory where you extracted the packages.
Type ./setup and press Enter.
The installation wizard appears.
Follow the instructions in the installation wizard.
By default, the Maya Help is installed in the following directory:

/usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/docs/Maya2012/en_US.

You can change the install location of the docs directory during the installation if necessary.
Start Maya.
In Maya, open the Help preferences window by selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences.
The Preferences window appears.
Under Categories, click Help.
In the Help Location section, select Installed Local Help.
Click Save and exit the Preferences window.
The Maya 2012 Help is now available from the Help, F1, and context sensitive help menus.

Install Maya Help on a shared location

On Windows and Linux platforms, you can install the Maya Help to a shared location, such as internal network or web server, so that it can be accessed by multiple users. You can then set the Maya Help preferences on individual systems to access Help from this location.

NoteOn the Mac OS X systems, you can only install the Maya Help to the default directory. To use the Maya Help from a shared location, you must copy the docs directory to a shared location. Individual systems can then set their Help preferences so they access Help from this location.

When choosing a shared location, ensure that the directory path to the Maya Help does the following:

Points directly to the Help location. For example, \\CompanyServer\SharedLocation\MayaHelp\docs\Maya2012\en_US.
Do not use an alias path.
Points to the directory containing the index.html file. For example, the path pointing to the English Maya Help ends at the \en_US directory.
Uses either http or https protocol for a web server location.

To install Maya Help to a shared location

Extract the Maya Help files for your platform and start the installation wizard as described in steps 1 and 2 of the Maya Help installation instructions.
See Install the Maya Help on Windows and Install the Maya Help on Linux.
During the installation when asked to confirm the destination folder for the Help install, depending on your platform, click Change (Windows) or Browse (Linux), then specify a shared location for the Help.
Individual systems can then set their Help preferences so they access Help from this location.

To set Help preferences for a shared location

Start Maya.
In Maya, open the Help preferences window by selecting Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences.
The Preferences window appears.
Under Categories, click Help.
In the Help Location section, select Custom, and then click the icon to browse to the shared location of the Maya Help, or type the directory of http path directly in the Custom field.
Click Save and exit the Preferences window.
The Maya 2012 Help is now available from the shared location.