Open / view .chm file under Linux or FreeBSD

by Vivek Gite · 15 comments

Chm file is a Microsoft Compressed HTML Help file in a proprietary format for online help files. Under Linux/FreeBSD or UNIX you can open .chm file using following three different programs which makes it possible to browse native Windows CHM files:

Install chm viewer

Use apt-get or yum command to install chm viewer:
# apt-get install gnochm
OR
# apt-get install kchmviewer

Gnome Desktop User

Use gnochm program as follows
$ gnochm file.chm

KDE Desktop User

Use kchmviewer (very nice and highly recommended) program as follows
$ kchmviewer file.chm

Other tool

xchm program is quite outdated but works:
$ xchm file.chm

Featured Articles:

Want to read Linux tips and tricks, but don't have time to check our blog everyday? Subscribe to our daily email newsletter to make sure you don't miss a single tip/tricks. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here!

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Deepak 03.23.06 at 2:58 am

If you have KDE installed Open the file with Konqueror and naviagate from within.

2 asdf 07.03.07 at 4:52 am

Or you could just use xchm

$sudo apt-get install xchm

3 nidhi 11.29.07 at 12:23 pm

i used konquerer it worked fine thanks

4 sun 03.09.08 at 10:19 pm

i installed kchmviewer and it works fine but i prefer konqueror …i tried to open .chm from within the konqueror but it opens it with kchmviewer … i tried right click and open with other application=konqueror ..still it forces it to open with kchviewer …. i actually like the konqueror fonts… please some one ..help..

5 s 04.30.08 at 11:47 pm

Currently gnochm doesn’t allow you to do in-page search and change fonts. xchm is better.

6 prabu 05.19.08 at 4:21 am

Really Good . Excellent

7 Abhishek 05.21.08 at 2:17 pm

Thanks!

8 himadri 06.18.08 at 9:22 am

Thanks for the help /. Konquerer works .. so does kchmviewer …

9 Irudayaraj 08.02.08 at 3:36 pm

it very much useful.

thank you.

10 Mad Big Dave 10.08.08 at 5:32 pm

and where are the repositories for the kchmviewer? I ran the update commands and it didn’t find the install packages.

11 Pankaj 04.09.09 at 3:59 am

thanx ….

12 Ziegfried 05.11.09 at 1:30 pm

Thanks a lot! You saved my day!

13 WC 07.07.09 at 10:27 pm

Thanks!

14 alpha.scot 07.11.09 at 5:30 am

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

15 macca 09.06.09 at 8:57 am

I installed Gnochm. The layout is excellent unlike xCHM where the main content is squished to the right of the panel. Unfortunately Gnochm crashes & closes after viewing about 10 pages, or sometimes when choosing a Chapter from the left plane.
Any solutions?

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Previous FAQ:

Next FAQ:

nixCraft FAQ PDF Collection Now Available To All