You're preaching to the choir, Shaun. I'm totally with you on having a printed book; nothing replaces picking up a physical reference and being able to make bookmarks, liner notes etc and read them anytime sans computer interface. However I've learned to live without them and instead print out sections on-demand as needed from the now defunct PDF's.

And you're right; there's really no reason that you shouldn't be able to pay a third-party service for being able to have a full-on printed manual.

In fact, when you purchase a new car or motorcycle you *can* pay the dealer to get the full service and parts manual (something normally reserved for dealer techs) so why this hasn't been adopted by the software industry is curious.

To quote a classic head strong movie about three men and some GOLD!!!:

"Manuals we dont need no stinking manuals"

I have lots of them with my FCS1 and FCS2 and they are a good shelf filler but have found the programes easy to use and always seek out user experience on forums via the wibblenet!

Count me in the Shaun and Robert camp ... for me the HTML manual really doesn't improve on my own personal electronic manual experience at all, at least not yet. It doesn't lend itself to printing especially well, and for what its worth, in my scan through so far, it actually seems a bit thinner on details (although that may be me trying too hard to find things wrong with it). I guess on the upside it should offer the facility for always being up to date (via online page retrieval / software updates). But surely it would have made sense to offer users the option to purchase a hard copy (or even soft copy) of a "proper" reference manual? Ah well, it is what it is .. and Apple aren't deaf or dumb despite occasional appearances to the contrary. Things may yet change on this front.

Just to add one more independent confirmation of offline manuals.

I unplugged the ethernet cable and opened the following:

This is what you get in the help menu. Note: Release Notes and New Features will require an internet connection.
Attachment 13436


When you select "Final Cut Pro Help" you come to this help app, not Preview and a pdf.
Attachment 13437


When you select "Final Cut Pro 7: User Manual" you get this with a search area.
Attachment 13438



The other apps (Motion, DVD Studio Pro, Color) all work the same way.

What I don't like about this help app is that it is a top-layer window linked to FCS, so you can't bounce back and forth between it and the FCS app you are using with command-tab. The only good solution is to minimize it down to the dock.

I have always had a fondness for printed manuals, especially when scripting in DVD Studio Pro, but I have to say that after upgrading to every version of FCP/FCS since v1.25 I am probably personally responsible for the demise of about 5 trees! All those manuals from over the years have their own shelf dedicated to them. I think Apple assumes that if you are buying an upgrade you already have the manuals from the previous versions... and the "new features" amendments work just fine for most of us. This is also the cheapest Final Cut upgrade ever and I can only assume the lack of manuals was the major factor in the lower price.

This functionality wasn't available in my ADC copy and was obviously added in a later release. And it seems that there's confusion amongst many users on how this is accessed. So the validity of my original post is incorrect and this thread should be removed so people don't freak-out with the incorrect info!

There is interesting information in this thread about the cons and pros of HTML manuals, that I didn't know.

Just change your original post, edit it with for instance a line at the end with:
EDIT: It's now cleared up that...
Easier, no?

Mathieu: there is only a limited amount of time in which one can edit one's posts and I believe that time has passed. Otherwise, yes, that would be easier.

I would have except the time limit for editing has passed so that's no longer an option. Only a moderator can make changes like that now.

All,

I have already changed the title of this thread to remove the phrase "buyer beware" and personally agree that there's good
info here. My feeling is that we should leave things the way they are and move along, but we'll see if Chris feels otherwise.

Stays. There's real value in this thread as a "teachable moment" on several different levels. Closed though. Let's move on.

Just to note that the Final Cut Pro 7 manual in .PDF format is available for download from Apple:

http://www.documentation.apple.com/e...ual%20(en).pdf