The PDF link downloads a copy of the docs to disk.
OK, so maybe I’m stupid (no comments, thanks very much) and these have always been available, or maybe they’re new: Apple has PDF user manuals for Pro Apps available for download.
One of the big disappointments when Final Cut Studio 3 was released was the lack of PDF user manuals—help in FCS3 was only provided through Apple’s user-abusive help viewer, which in 10.6 is an icon-less, non-alt-tabbable, always-on-top annoyance.
Many folks, myself included, complained bitterly about this step back in usability, and Apple at some point heard our whining. Today, when browsing the Final Cut Server docs online at http://documentation.apple.com/, I found that there was a link at the top of the left sidebar’s table of contents that let me download a PDF.
The online doc pop-up list lets you choose other pro apps, too.
Missing a PDF? Just want to check out an app? Here ya go…
You don’t even need to dive into the doc you need a PDF of; the top-level doc pages for each app have “View as PDF” links handy, and where such links aren’t shown, the main link itself downloads a PDF, at least in those cases I’ve tested.
Here, the setup guide is a PDF; the others have explicit PDF options.
PDFs! You can search them! You can navigate them with keyboard keys! You can alt-tab between them and the apps they’re describing! You can find info easily again!
Thanks, Apple: holiday prezzies came early this year!
FTC Disclaimer: Nobody paid me to post this, and the PDFs are free to anyone else, just as they were to me. No special deals here: these aren’t the material connections you’re looking for. Move along…