Bring Help windows to the front

Why doesn't macOS bring Help windows to the front when open them, instead of hiding them?

This problem may have been made more obvious with Stage Manager in macOS 13 Ventura. The most likely cause is a hidden preference setting that you may have changed long ago. Open Terminal, and enter the command

defaults read com.apple. helpviewer DevMode

If that returns 0, Developer Mode is turned off. Turn it on again, using

com.apple.helpviewer DevMode -bool true

If the first command returns 1, you need to turn it off instead. so type

com.apple.helpviewer DevMode -bool false

Log out, and log back in again, as this will ensure that the new setting takes full effect, although it can be applied immediately. You may also find utilities like MacPilot offer a simple graphic control, saving you using the command line.

> Start up in Sonoma or Ventura

I'm about to travel with my MacBook Pro running macOS 14 Sonoma, but want to start it in macOS 13 Ventura to run older software. What's the best way to do that?

Options range from downgrading the system on its internal storage, to dual-booting it from both versions. Apple's recommendations for downgrading at beta.apple.​com/restore involve reinstalling the original version of macOS that it came with, leaving you to upgrade it from that to Ventura. Dual-booting from two versions of macOS installed on internal storage can cause problems, and would take a lot of disk space.