EmacsWiki: Get Help (original) (raw)

Getting stuck? Trying to figure something out?

Built-in Help

Use the Emacs help commands to find out more about what’s going on. If you are not familiar with them, use ` C-h C-h` now, to learn.

Use ‘C-g’ to cancel whatever command you’re in. Use more than one ‘C-g’, if necessary, to quit some operations. An alternative is ‘ESC ESC ESC’.
Use ` C-]**’ (‘abort-recursive-edit’) like a super-‘C-g’, and command **‘top-level’ as well.
In many uneditable buffers, such as * help buffers, ‘q’ often quits that buffer/window.
HelpMenuBarPlus can help. It has a Whoops!? submenu of menu Help, just for when you’re stuck.

If starting Emacs with emacs -q fixes the problem then the problem is probably due to something in your configuration. Check your InitFile.
If emacs -q has problems but emacs -Q doesn’t, it might be related to your Emacs distribution or your local setup.

Remember that Emacs has many options, and the defaults might not be what you expect.
You might get better help if you describe what you want and politely ask for suggestions instead of saying that Emacs is broken.

You can post questions:

In the appropriate EmacsMailingLists or EmacsNewsgroups.
On relevant Stack Exchange sites. Please:
- Pose specific, concrete questions.
- Accept correct answers, to recognize people’s help and make it easy for other people to find the most helpful answers.
On Reddit’s /r/Emacs and /r/Orgmode subreddits. These are more discussion-oriented than are question-and-answer sites such as Stack Exchange.
On the EmacsChannel. If you need to share your config, use a service such as Gist or Pastebin.
With pay services such as https://www.codementor.io/emacs-experts/

Relax, and EnjoyWrestlingWithEmacs, knowing that others have gone through it and survived. ;-)

See CategoryCommunity to find more community resources.