diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 93c6d588..615a8356 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -35,3 +35,4 @@ Defines.cs
 SparkleShare/sparkleshare
 po/sparkleshare.pot
 SparkleShare/Nautilus/sparkleshare-nautilus-extension.py
+gnome-doc-utils.make
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 9394c5eb..53981ba0 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 SUBDIRS =	\
 	build	\
+	help	\
 	NotifySharp \
 	FriendFace \
 	SparkleLib \
@@ -8,8 +9,11 @@ SUBDIRS =	\
 	data \
 	po
 
+EXTRA_DIST = gnome-doc-utils.make
+
 DISTCLEANFILES = \
 	intltool-extract        \
 	intltool-merge          \
-	intltool-update
+	intltool-update		\
+	gnome-doc-utils.make
 
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index b220e638..3af42db6 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ check_autotool_version $LIBTOOLIZE 1.4.3
 check_autotool_version intltoolize 0.35.0
 check_autotool_version pkg-config 0.14.0
 
+if [ $(pkg-config --modversion gnome-doc-utils 2> /dev/null) ]; then
+    run gnome-doc-prepare --automake --force
+else
+    echo "gnome-doc-utils not found; user help will not be built"
+    echo "AC_DEFUN([GNOME_DOC_INIT], [AC_MSG_NOTICE([])])" > build/m4/gnome-doc-utils.m4
+    ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I build/m4 $ACLOCAL_FLAGS"
+    touch gnome-doc-utils.make
+fi
+
 run intltoolize --force --copy
 run $LIBTOOLIZE --force --copy --automake
 run aclocal -I build/m4/sparkleshare -I build/m4/shamrock -I build/m4/shave $ACLOCAL_FLAGS
diff --git a/build/m4/shamrock/gnome-doc.m4 b/build/m4/shamrock/gnome-doc.m4
index e8896bd7..3f5f638e 100644
--- a/build/m4/shamrock/gnome-doc.m4
+++ b/build/m4/shamrock/gnome-doc.m4
@@ -1,6 +1,22 @@
 AC_DEFUN([SHAMROCK_CHECK_GNOME_DOC_UTILS],
 [
-	GNOME_DOC_INIT([$1], HAVE_GNOME_DOC_UTILS=yes, HAVE_GNOME_DOC_UTILS=no)
+    AC_ARG_ENABLE([user-help],
+           AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-user-help], [Enable building the user-help [[default=auto]]]),,
+           enable_user_help=auto)
 
-	AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_GNOME_DOCS, test "x$HAVE_GNOME_DOC_UTILS" = "xyes")
+	if test "x$enable_user_help" = "xauto"; then
+        PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GNOME_DOC_UTILS,
+            gnome-doc-utils,
+            enable_user_help=yes, enable_user_help=no)
+    elif test "x$enable_user_help" = "xyes"; then
+        PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GNOME_DOC_UTILS, gnome-doc-utils)
+    fi
+
+	if test "x$enable_user_help" = "xyes"; then
+        GNOME_DOC_INIT([$1], enable_user_help=yes, enable_user_help=no)
+    else
+        AM_CONDITIONAL(ENABLE_SK, false)
+    fi
+
+	AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_GNOME_DOC_UTILS, test "x$enable_user_help" = "xyes")
 ])
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6c7d0e13..37f64697 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ SHAMROCK_EXPAND_LIBDIR
 SHAMROCK_EXPAND_BINDIR
 SHAMROCK_EXPAND_DATADIR
 
+dnl Help files
+SHAMROCK_CHECK_GNOME_DOC_UTILS(0.17.3)
+
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 
 AC_PATH_PROG(GMCS, gmcs, no)
@@ -96,6 +99,7 @@ build/m4/shave/shave
 build/m4/shave/shave-libtool
 data/Makefile
 data/icons/Makefile
+help/Makefile
 FriendFace/Makefile
 NotifySharp/Makefile
 SparkleDiff/Makefile
@@ -116,5 +120,7 @@ SparkleShare ${VERSION}
 Configuration:
        Prefix              : ${prefix}
        Nautilus plugin     : ${have_nautilus_python}
+       User Help           : ${enable_user_help} (requires gnome-doc-utils >= 0.17.3)
+
 "
 
diff --git a/help/Makefile.am b/help/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7fa2e1e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/help/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+if HAVE_GNOME_DOC_UTILS
+include $(top_srcdir)/gnome-doc-utils.make
+
+DOC_ID = sparkleshare
+
+DOC_INCLUDES = legal.xml
+
+DOC_PAGES = account-creation.page	\
+	advanced.page			\
+	index.page			\
+	introduction.page		\
+	share.page
+
+DOC_LINGUAS =
+
+dist-hook: doc-dist-hook
+endif