Search problem with the offline documentation in Matlab 2023a

I have downloaded and installed the documentation on an offline machine. Also, I have pointed MATLAB (Matlab 2023a) to this documentation since I have used the --destination flag to install the documentation somewhere other than the default location, following the procedure expressed in Install Documentation on Offline Machines - MATLAB & Simulink (mathworks.com).

Now, I can access and explore the offline help without any problem. However, when I try to search the help for a command (e.g., plot), the following error message appears:

“An error occurred while parsing the search string plot.

Please modify your search string and try again.”

Can anyone help me to solve this problem?

[Coo Boo]

Can anyone help me to solve this problem?

Answer 1

[Rishav]

Hi Coo Boo,

It seems like the issue might be related to the indexing of the offline documentation. When you install the MATLAB documentation on an offline machine using the --destination flag, the indexing of the help content needs to be rebuilt to match the new installation location.

To rebuild the indexing, try the following steps:

1. Open the MATLAB documentation folder by typing docroot in the MATLAB command window. This will display the path to the documentation folder.

2. Navigate to the folder helpsearch within the documentation folder. This folder contains the search index files.

3. Run the build function with the name of the index file as the input argument. For example, if you want to rebuild the MATLAB Command Window index, you can run:

build('commandwindow') 

This will rebuild the index file for the MATLAB Command Window.

4. You can also rebuild all the index files by running the buildAll function:

buildAll

Once the indexing is complete, try searching for the "plot" command again and see if the error still persists.

Regards,

Rishav Saha

[Coo Boo]

Dear Rishav Saha

Thanks for your kind feedback.

I cannot find "Search" in the "Preferences" window. Could you please explain more?

[Rishav]

Hi,

I have updated the steps. You can check that out.

[Coo Boo]

Thanks again.

However, I cannot fild helpsearch folder within the documentation folder. Instead there are many folders like 5g, audio, etc. that contain helpsearch-v4_en folder individually.

Also, Matlab does not recognize build fucntion.

[Marci Frye]

I am having the same issue on my offline system and I need to rebuild the search index. The buildAll is unrecognized for me too. Help please.

[Bidisha Sinha]

I have same problem... However I do not find the folder "helpsearch" to navigate to....image below

[Rishav]

Are you using network version of MATLAB?

At this moment, a workaround is to add the "docroot(newDocInstallFolder/help) " command in "statup.m", so that it will work for all session.

[Pascal Poncet]

Hi ,

same issue for me with offline doc .

>>

I have same problem... However I do not find the folder "helpsearch" to navigate to....image below

However, I cannot fild helpsearch folder within the documentation folder. Instead there are many folders like 5g, audio, etc. that contain helpsearch-v4_en folder individually.

Also, Matlab does not recognize buildAll fucntion.

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