The full-text search stop list

A stop list decreases the size of the full-text search index, which results in a smaller compiled help (.chm) file because fewer words are indexed. This is especially important if you have a large documentation set. All words in the stoplist are omitted from the search. These are usually commonly occurring words or numbers, such as "the," "and," or "1" that a user is unlikely to search for.

When the help editor creates a new help project, it automatically adds a full-text search stop list file stoplist.stp to the project folder. The HTML Help Project (.hhp) file already assumes you will use a stoplist and has the relevant property set in the [OPTIONS] section.

Full text search stop list file=stoplist.stp

Changing the stoplist content and localization

The default stop list contains English words to be excluded. If you target another language, you will have to change the stoplist content.

1. Open the stoplist.stp in your  Project Folder in Notepad
2. Type your own list of words to exclude, each word on a new line.
3. Save changes.

Add full-text search stop list option

You can add a full-text search stop list option to the HTML Help Project (.hhp) file using Notepad or HTML Help Workshop.

Add full-text search stop list option using Notepad

1. Close the Help Editor
2. Open your project (.hhp) file in Project Folder in Notepad
3. Under the [OPTIONS] section, add the following line
   
   Full text search stop list file=stoplist.stp

Add full-text search stop list option using HTML Help Workshop.

1. Close the Help Editor
2. Open your project (.hhp) file in HTML Help Workshop,
3. Click Change Project Options.
4. Click the Files tab, and then enter the name of your stop list (.stp) file in the Full text search stop list file box.