This looks like a great resource. I buy a lot of used tools on Craigslist, and of course, nobody ever keeps the manuals. So it's always the same time-consuming task:
1. Go to the manufacturer's web site, if they still exist, and see if they have a manual there
2. Search Google for "MODEL# pdf". Wade through pages of pond scum search engine spam and paid sites for a half hour. Apparently, enough people search for manuals to make this profitable.
3. Do some web research to find similar product model numbers (maybe 8029A manual would cover 8029B too?) and repeat 1-2 above.
4. Start searching through forums and other hard-to-index parts of the web.
It's crazy how tough it can be to find a user manual. In many cases, I end up finding one scanned by another end-user and posted online to be helpful. It's also a shame that 1/2 the comments here are about copyright. I can't see how taking a site like this down would in any way benefit a manufacturer whose manual is available. Unless the manufacturer is trying to make money selling their user manual, in which case to hell with that shitty company.
To go one step further, we had created the site https://www.allthingsmine.com and the ios/android app
which basically auto looks up the manual in online manual sites. In addition, it points to youtube videos for the product, provides specs if the product is available in our database.
Also users can also store their purchase receipts, price etc and get notified of price changes and view the trend if the product is sold by retailers such as Amazon, BestBuy, Walmart etc.
Will point to manualslib.com if it is comprehensive.
There are some more specialised enterprises, e.g. for T&M there is artekmanuals and some others ("The" Schaltungsdienst comes to mind). There are a bunch of other sites like manualslib, usually with a narrower focus, and there are almost always private collections as well.
I've started saving electronic copies of manuals, assembly instructions, etc for anything that I purchase. If there's no electronic copy available, I'll scan the paper manual. In all cases, I'm putting the documents into an instance of Mayan EDMS[0]. Mayan also automatically does OCR on everything that comes in, so even if the PDFs are non-OCR'd scans they're still searchable.
This is part of a larger project to significantly reduce the amount of paper that I'm keeping, which is why I'm using a document management system as opposed to a Dropbox folder. My goal is to divide the mounds of paper into things I need to keep for a long time (e.g., tax documents), and things that I can shred after a year (e.g., bills, receipts, etc). In all cases, I want the documents searchable and backed up.
Which scanner are you using? I've been trying to eliminate paper for a while now. I keep digital copies of everything I can download, but using a traditional flatbed/all-in-one scanner to digitize things that I on have on paper would take forever.
I'm terrible at organizing paper, and it's like a plague.
That's a project I have too. A few things I struggled with, would be curious to know how you solved them?
- backups. I plan on using it to go paperless and keep tax returns etc. I can't afford to lose that info, but I can't come up with a robust enough backup plan. How are you doing it?
- concurrency. It runs on a 8 years old home server, and when I scan multiple pages documents, the ocr slows down to a crawl. Have you run into this?
The manuals have a big watermark right through the center of each page, which isn't even translucent; it completely obscures the content behind it. See https://www.manualslib.com/manual/464698/Honda-Civic.html?pa... for a random example, where the watermark completely obscures the model number of the Honda Civic's automatic transmission.
Is there some way to pay to remove the watermark? Is that how this works, these manuals are effectively just free previews?
Copyright worries notwithstanding, it is a great resource. The first thing I do unpacking anything new is searching the internet for a manual (usually PDF) and saving it to my Dropbox. I keep paper manuals around for a while but recycle them after the end of warranty period to reduce clutter.
I wish every manual was mandated to come with QR-code or at least short URL to its own electronic version.
Incredible.. I was literally yesterday looking for a manual for my 80's boat motor of unknown model. A quick lookup and visual approximation allowed me to match the model on the manufacturer's site and download the series user's manual from here.
The PDF has been OCR scanned and allows searching. This is way easier than ordering the manual from a reseller. Copy to cloud, and now I have online copy of the manual always in my pocket..
I understand it is copyright infringement, but still super-useful. And I might still order a physical copy if the digital copy proves helpful.
Uh, I hate to be that guy, but isn't this just one big copyright lawsuit waiting to happen?
I think you can find most of these online in their respective manufacturer's sites for free, but I'm not entirely sure they would be cool with people lifting them and slapping them on another site.
Just wondering, why would vendors do this? I mean, I'd be looking for a manual here if I owned a product made by them. Why would vendors willfully screw their own customers (and nobody else)?
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know where they source their manuals? The "about" page describes them as developers, not hardcore collectors or warezy types.
I mean, most sites like this are about sharing, but this one just provides content freely and that's it. I couldn't find an "upload" button. Great for us though, but I'm still curious :-)
Quite a bit of it looks scraped. I searched for a manual I have been after for a while and found the same PDF (which I found on google) which appears to be a manual but isn't.
What a phenomenal resource. I'm really surprised at how comprehensive and fast it is.
Anyone know how they support something like this? There's got to be a bit of cost associated with the hosting and processing. Are they selling a commercial version of their software platform?
I made something like this for car manuals but got scared of a lawsuit and shut it down. It was really popular anyway but I learned a lot about cars in the process.
I can see some in French and Spanish. Is there a way to sort by language? I think this would be a good data source of bilingual text for my Chinese translator app.
i just used this for a new washing machine. the Electrolux support site requires one to provide the exact model number to search manuals--no browse, no index. rather than go downstairs to read the number off the machine i searched the web and found manualslib.
so to the point besides being annoyed by crappy manufacturer websites: should i be worried about exploits buried in pdfs? isnt it possible to hide rootkit attacks in a pdf?
[+] [-] ryandrake|8 years ago|reply
1. Go to the manufacturer's web site, if they still exist, and see if they have a manual there
2. Search Google for "MODEL# pdf". Wade through pages of pond scum search engine spam and paid sites for a half hour. Apparently, enough people search for manuals to make this profitable.
3. Do some web research to find similar product model numbers (maybe 8029A manual would cover 8029B too?) and repeat 1-2 above.
4. Start searching through forums and other hard-to-index parts of the web.
5. Check torrent sites? (now I'm getting desperate!)
It's crazy how tough it can be to find a user manual. In many cases, I end up finding one scanned by another end-user and posted online to be helpful. It's also a shame that 1/2 the comments here are about copyright. I can't see how taking a site like this down would in any way benefit a manufacturer whose manual is available. Unless the manufacturer is trying to make money selling their user manual, in which case to hell with that shitty company.
[+] [-] standan|8 years ago|reply
Will point to manualslib.com if it is comprehensive.
[+] [-] dom0|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] userbinator|8 years ago|reply
Companies like John Deere exist, who don't even want you to repair your own equipment...
[+] [-] maaaats|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vram22|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] killin_dan|8 years ago|reply
has worked every time for me
[+] [-] Mister_Snuggles|8 years ago|reply
This is part of a larger project to significantly reduce the amount of paper that I'm keeping, which is why I'm using a document management system as opposed to a Dropbox folder. My goal is to divide the mounds of paper into things I need to keep for a long time (e.g., tax documents), and things that I can shred after a year (e.g., bills, receipts, etc). In all cases, I want the documents searchable and backed up.
[0] http://mayan-edms.org/
[+] [-] Declanomous|8 years ago|reply
I'm terrible at organizing paper, and it's like a plague.
[+] [-] coaxial|8 years ago|reply
- backups. I plan on using it to go paperless and keep tax returns etc. I can't afford to lose that info, but I can't come up with a robust enough backup plan. How are you doing it?
- concurrency. It runs on a 8 years old home server, and when I scan multiple pages documents, the ocr slows down to a crawl. Have you run into this?
[+] [-] devrandomguy|8 years ago|reply
Is there some way to pay to remove the watermark? Is that how this works, these manuals are effectively just free previews?
[+] [-] cdash|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stronglikedan|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mynegation|8 years ago|reply
I wish every manual was mandated to come with QR-code or at least short URL to its own electronic version.
[+] [-] toomuchtodo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vesinisa|8 years ago|reply
The PDF has been OCR scanned and allows searching. This is way easier than ordering the manual from a reseller. Copy to cloud, and now I have online copy of the manual always in my pocket..
I understand it is copyright infringement, but still super-useful. And I might still order a physical copy if the digital copy proves helpful.
[+] [-] kpxxx3|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] disconnected|8 years ago|reply
I think you can find most of these online in their respective manufacturer's sites for free, but I'm not entirely sure they would be cool with people lifting them and slapping them on another site.
IANAL, of course.
[+] [-] exhilaration|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skrebbel|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tyingq|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skrebbel|8 years ago|reply
I mean, most sites like this are about sharing, but this one just provides content freely and that's it. I couldn't find an "upload" button. Great for us though, but I'm still curious :-)
[+] [-] cjhanks|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pyre|8 years ago|reply
There's an upload button on the top right of the page for me. Clicking it asks me to login / signup. It's not exactly hidden.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] xbryanx|8 years ago|reply
Anyone know how they support something like this? There's got to be a bit of cost associated with the hosting and processing. Are they selling a commercial version of their software platform?
[+] [-] arjie|8 years ago|reply
This is a problem I've had for ages when buying old hardware. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
[+] [-] gesman|8 years ago|reply
PDF rendering looks crippled from quick check on some pages.
Otherwise - looks like promising repository.
[+] [-] theklub|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peterburkimsher|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] banku_brougham|8 years ago|reply
so to the point besides being annoyed by crappy manufacturer websites: should i be worried about exploits buried in pdfs? isnt it possible to hide rootkit attacks in a pdf?
[+] [-] marvel_boy|8 years ago|reply
Just open it on a Safari or Chrome browser instead of a native pdf viewer.
[+] [-] armstrong|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zmix|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] armstrong|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pawanpe|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bungie4|8 years ago|reply