.HXC File Extension

An HXC file is a Microsoft Help 2 project file. It defines the contents of a Help 2 collection. For example, HXC files contain a project's title, help registration information, and pointers to included help content files.

Microsoft Help 2 (also referred to as Microsoft Help 2.x) was a help engine used by Microsoft Visual Studio 2002 to 2008, Microsoft Office 2007, and Microsoft Office 2010. To create Help 2 content, developers used help authoring programs such as Help 2 Workshop. Help projects created using these programs stored their metadata in HXC files.

Each HXC file contains XML-formatted information that defines a project's contents, organization, and other information. After a developer finished creating their Help 2 project, they could use their HXC file to build a compiled .HXS file, used to actually deliver help content to users.

NOTE: Microsoft Help 2 was replaced by Microsoft Help Viewer, with the release of Visual Studio 2010.

Because HXC files are XML files, you can open them and view their contents with Microsoft Visual Studio Code (multiplatform) or any other text or source code viewer.

If you want to open a Microsoft Help 2 project, to view or edit the project's contents, you can do so with Innovasys HelpStudio (Windows) or Microsoft Help 2 Workshop (Windows).