Skip to content

Commit fb5a98a

Browse files
authored
Update facts for about_ files (#12399)
* Upcase H2 headers * Fix structure of About files * Update facts for about_ files * Fix grammatical error in PowerShell help writing tips Corrected grammatical error in help writing guidelines.
1 parent 3b7cdd6 commit fb5a98a

File tree

1 file changed

+59
-43
lines changed

1 file changed

+59
-43
lines changed

reference/docs-conceptual/developer/help/writing-help-for-windows-powershell-modules.md

Lines changed: 59 additions & 43 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
11
---
22
description: Writing Help for PowerShell Modules
3-
ms.date: 09/22/2025
3+
ms.date: 10/01/2025
44
title: Writing Help for PowerShell Modules
55
---
66
# Writing Help for PowerShell Modules
@@ -33,48 +33,64 @@ A module can include the following types of Help.
3333

3434
You can use a conceptual ("about") Help topic to describe the module and its members and to
3535
explain how the members can be used together to perform tasks. By default, PowerShell includes
36-
over 100 of these conceptual About Help topics.
37-
38-
- Conceptual Help topics are text files with UTF-8 with BOM encoding.
39-
- The filename must use the `about_<name>.help.txt` format, such as `about_MyModule.help.txt`.
40-
- For best display results, you should limit the length of each line to 80 characters.
41-
- You can use the following sample template as a starting point for writing conceptual Help
42-
topics.
43-
44-
> [!NOTE]
45-
> The `TOPIC` section header must start in the first column of the first line of the file. The
46-
> section content on the second line should match the filename, without the `.help.txt` suffix.
47-
> You must indent the content exactly 5 spaces. The third line must be blank. The
48-
> `SHORT DESCRIPTION` section header must start in the first column of the fourth line. You must
49-
> indent the content on the fifth line exactly 5 spaces. These requirements are necessary for
50-
> the `Get-Help` cmdlet to recognize the content correctly.
51-
52-
```
53-
TOPIC
54-
about_<subject or module name>
55-
56-
SHORT DESCRIPTION
57-
A short, one-line description of the topic contents.
58-
59-
LONG DESCRIPTION
60-
A detailed, full description of the subject or purpose of the module.
61-
62-
EXAMPLES
63-
Examples of how to use the module or how the subject feature works in
64-
practice.
65-
66-
KEYWORDS
67-
Terms or titles on which you might expect your users to search for the
68-
information in this topic.
69-
70-
SEE ALSO
71-
Text-only references for further reading. Hyperlinks can't work in the
72-
PowerShell console.
73-
```
74-
75-
Except for the first two sections, the structure of conceptual Help topics is arbitrary. The
76-
remaining section titles can be whatever is appropriate for your content. By convention, you
77-
should use the same capitalization, indentation, and blank line separations.
36+
over 100 of these conceptual About Help topics. The filename must use the `about_<name>.help.txt`
37+
format, such as `about_MyModule.help.txt`.
38+
39+
> [!NOTE]
40+
> The `TOPIC` section header must start in the first column of the first line of the file. The
41+
> section content on the second line should match the filename, without the `.help.txt` suffix.
42+
> You must indent the content exactly 4 spaces. The third line must be blank. The `SYNOPSIS`
43+
> section header must start in the first column of the fourth line. You must indent the content
44+
> on the fifth line exactly 4 spaces. These requirements are necessary for the `Get-Help` cmdlet
45+
> to recognize the content correctly.
46+
47+
```
48+
TOPIC
49+
about_<subject or module name>
50+
51+
SYNOPSIS
52+
A short, one-line description of the topic contents.
53+
```
54+
55+
You can use the following sample template as a starting point for writing conceptual Help topics.
56+
Except for the first two sections, the structure of conceptual Help topics is arbitrary. The
57+
remaining section titles can be whatever is appropriate for your content.
58+
59+
```
60+
TOPIC
61+
about_<subject or module name>
62+
63+
SYNOPSIS
64+
A short, one-line description of the topic contents.
65+
66+
LONG DESCRIPTION
67+
68+
A detailed, full description of the subject or purpose of the module.
69+
70+
EXAMPLES
71+
72+
Examples of how to use the module or how the subject feature works in
73+
practice.
74+
75+
TROUBLESHOOTING
76+
77+
Instructions for resolving common problems.
78+
79+
SEE ALSO
80+
81+
Text-only references for further reading. Hyperlinks can't work in the
82+
PowerShell console.
83+
```
84+
85+
You can use any style and markup you want, but PowerShell sees it as plain text and there is no
86+
special rendering of the text in the PowerShell console. The following suggestions ensure the best
87+
display results and readability.
88+
89+
- Use UTF-8 with BOM encoding to ensure any special (multi-byte) characters display correctly.
90+
- Underline section headers or use all uppercase letters to make they stand out. This makes the
91+
content easier to scan.
92+
- Limit the length of each line to 80 characters.
93+
- Indent code blocks and example output to separate them from the surrounding prose.
7894

7995
## Placement of Module Help
8096

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)