Help fly out window has no back button

Geoffrey Goodfellow

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but am I the only one that cannot figure out how to go “back” while navigating the Blackbaud help window pane? When I enter Core for example, in the upper-right, to the right of my user picture, there is a question mark in a circle. When clicked, this question mark opens a fly-out window of help. I actually find this resource handy, and it is much more contextual than it used to be years ago. However, if you click any of the links that open to a new help screen, I can never seem to get back to the previous screen. Instead, I typically click the question mark again to close the fly-out window and start all over from the beginning which can be frustrating at times. Is it my browser? Some other “back” trick I'm missing?

Jessi Walters

@Geoffrey Goodfellow you're not imagining it; there's no back button. I often scroll to the bottom of the flyout to click “Open in browser” so I can use the browser back button.

Bryna Gleich

@Geoffrey Goodfellow
The browser's back button should work for the help panel widget. The browser's back button also works when you open the help in a new browser window tab.

To confirm, I just tested it with the help panel in its default docked position and the “back” button on the Google Chrome browser took me back to a prior help topic without also taking me back in the main user interface. It did the most recent “back” since my last “back” was in help not the UI.

If this isn't working for you, let me know what browser you're running so I can try it in that one too.

Coco Parham

@Geoffrey Goodfellow Great question! I have always clicked the “X” and started over.

Vickilyn Gill

@Geoffrey Goodfellow I usually just right click/control click and select open in a new browser. Wish it was more intuitive. Feels weird to leave the page you need help with and not be able to easily navigate back to it.

Geoffrey Goodfellow

@Bryna Gleich Many thanks for your help. I can confirm that the browser back button is indeed working to return the help topic back to the previous screen. That is very helpful to know. I've been so conditioned never to use the browser back button while working in a database with editable fields because it sometimes causes problems with data resubmissions that I never even gave that thought. Every single other location in K12 software there is a back/cancel/navigation button provided within the software, so it didn't even occur to me to try that back button. I was also duped by the fact that the URL doesn't change when you navigate to a new help window, so I didn't even consider there was something to go “back" to.

Thanks for sharing the intended experience. Much appreciated!

A back arrow on the help interface itself might be a great addition to consider.

Bryna Gleich

@Geoffrey Goodfellow You're welcome. I think we ditched the extra button to try to de-clutter the help panel. You aren't the first to miss it, even though the browser's back button also works. Re-adding the more obvious button for “back” is under consideration, but I can't promise an eta. I did pass this feedback along to our team who manages the panel itself. Thanks for letting us know!