Did you tried the Help Workshop that ships with VFP5? I don't say it will solve your problem, but it works fine. I remember I tried to use a Help compiler 2 years ago and I had "The topic does not... " message all the time (because of a bug in the help compiler). Unfortunatelly I don't remember the name of the compiler.

If it's not a bug in the compiler:
This error message appears when you have a link (in the rtf file: something double underlined + something hidden) that points to a non existing footnote (ie the hidden text doesn't match the footnote's text). Check if the spell is exactly the same. Also, be careful to not have weird characters in the footnote.

Vlad

>Hi,
>I have a utility to make a windows 95 .HLP file. When I SET HELP TO MYHELP.HLP, I keep getting the error:
>
>The topic does not exist. Please contact...blah, blah, blah.
>
>I know this is a windows error msg not a VFP3 error msg but can anyone help?
>
>Is there a better method for on-line help?
>
>Thanx,
>JM