Links to JDK documentation

Also of interest:

• Release Notes
• History of Java SE versions
• What does Long-Term Support mean? (2021), and related video (2023), by Nicolai Parlog

If you have no internet connection on your development machine, or if you want to stop the Web traffic for accessing the documentation, you can store the documentation on your local hard drive.

1. Start your favorite Web browser and navigate to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html#docs
2. Find your desired documentation, accept the license agreement, and then click the link displayed under the Download header.
3. In Eclipse, open the Window menu, then select Preferences.
4. In the search bar, type jre, and then click Installed JREs.
5. Select the one named java, or another term like jre1.8.0_181.
   • Its type must be Standard VM.
6. Click the Edit button.
7. In the JRE system libraries section, select the library ending with rt.jar, and click the Javadoc Location... button.
8. Mark the Javadoc in archive radio button.
9. In the Archive path field, enter or Browse for your full documentation path (e.g. /home/docs/jdk-8u181-doc.zip).
10. In the Path within archive field, enter or Browse for the location of the api/index.html file (e.g. docs/api).
11. Click the Validate button to ensure everything is set correctly.
12. Click the OK button, then the Finish button, and finally the Apply & Close button. Your documentation is now linked to the file you specified.

To use offline Java API Documentation in Eclipse, you need to download it first. The link for Java docs are (last updated on 2013-10-21):

Java 6
Page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk-6u25-doc-download-355137.html
Direct: http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/6u30-b12/jdk-6u30-apidocs.zip

Java 7
Page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/java-se-7-doc-download-435117.html

Java 8
Page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/jdk8-doc-downloads-2133158.html

Java 9
Page:http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/jdk9-doc-downloads-3850606.html

1. Extract the zip file in your local directory.
2. From eclipse Window --> Preferences --> Java --> "Installed JREs" select available JRE (jre6: C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6 for instance) and click Edit.
3. Select all the "JRE System libraries" using Control+A.
4. Click "Javadoc Location"
5. Change "Javadoc location path:" from "http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/" to "file:/E:/Java/docs/api/".

It must work as it works for me. I don't need Internet connection to view Java API Documentation in Eclipse anymore.