This guide explains how to remove the built-in help system. You might want to do this if you're replacing it with your own documentation system or if your application is simple enough to not need help files.

Step 1: Delete Help Files

Delete the entire wwwroot/help/ folder and all its contents:

• wwwroot/help/default.htm - User help index
• wwwroot/help/index.htm - Developer help index
• wwwroot/help/styles.css - Help styling
• wwwroot/help/user/ - User help pages
• wwwroot/help/developer/ - Developer help pages
• wwwroot/help/oauth/ - OAuth setup guides
• wwwroot/help/database/ - Database guides
• wwwroot/help/branding/ - Branding guides
• wwwroot/help/email/ - Email configuration
• wwwroot/help/mfa/ - MFA documentation
• wwwroot/help/removing-features/ - These guides

Step 2: Remove Help Links from Footer

In Pages/Shared/_Layout.cshtml, remove the help links from the footer:

<!-- DELETE: Developer Help link -->
@if (BWEnvironment.IsDeveloperPC)
{
    <a href="/help/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Developer Help</a>
    <text>&nbsp;|&nbsp;</text>
}

<!-- DELETE: Help link -->
<a href="@(ViewData["HelpUrl"] ?? "/help/default.htm")" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Help</a>

Step 3: Remove Help Links from Home Page

In Pages/Index.cshtml, remove the Quick Links that reference help:

<!-- DELETE: Developer Guide button -->
<div class="col-md-3 mb-2">
    <a href="/help/developer/getting-started.htm" ...>Developer Guide</a>
</div>

<!-- DELETE: Help Index button -->
<div class="col-md-3 mb-2">
    <a href="/help/index.htm" ...>Help Index</a>
</div>

Step 4: Remove Page-Specific Help URLs

Search for ViewData["HelpUrl"] in all page code-behind files and remove those lines. Common locations:

• Pages/Account/Login.cshtml.cs
• Pages/Account/ForgotPassword.cshtml.cs
• Pages/Account/Manage/*.cshtml.cs

Step 5: Remove Startup Validation Help References

If your startup validation pages link to help files, update Pages/StartupProblems.cshtml to remove those links or point to your alternative documentation.

Alternative: Replace with Your Own Help

Instead of removing help entirely, you can replace it:

1. Delete all files in wwwroot/help/
2. Create your own wwwroot/help/default.htm
3. Keep the footer link but point to your content

Alternative: External Documentation

Point to external documentation instead:

<!-- In _Layout.cshtml footer: -->
<a href="https://docs.yourcompany.com" target="_blank">Help</a>

Verification

After removal, verify:

• Build succeeds with no errors
• No help links appear in footer or navigation
• Direct navigation to /help/ returns 404
• No broken links elsewhere in the application