Convert RoboHelp for Word project to RoboHTML

I have a couple projects which are created RoboHelp for Word
in RH6. The projects now need to be converted to RoboHelp HTML
projects and Flash generated outputs. In conjunction with this I
have the following questions:
1) Can RH Word projects be opened in RoboHTML? If so, what
are the pros and cons and how is the conversion done?
2) These independently projects will be linked/merged with a
master project which in RH HTML. Will this cause some inherent
problems.
3) I know I can generate a Flash based output from RoboHelp
for Word, however, how differently will (if at all) RH HTML treat
these files if called from within an RH HTML generated project.
4) I will also need to generate Printed documentation in the
end. Any impact on that?
Thank you in advance. A detailed answer would be greatly
appreciated.

All those questions and in detail too. This is a forum, not a
book shop. :-)
What we can do is give you some general guidance so that you
can experiment safely, then come back with specific questions.
You cannot open your RH for Word project in RH HTML. What you
have to do is import the underlying document(s) excluding the
footers as they contain RH for Word information that is not
relevant. Before you do anything, zip up the existing project and
keep it somewhere safe. Now you can use the project and blow it
apart without worrying. If anything goes wrong, you extract the zip
copy and start over.
There's a topic on my site about importing ordinary Word
documents (as opposed to RH for Word doc files) and that will be a
good starting point.
First get all the existing projects converted and running
properly as independent projects before you give any thought to
merging.
When you are ready, then look at the topic on merging webhelp
that is on my site. Just adapt as necessary for FlashHelp. I think
you need at least RH6 to merge FlashHelp, maybe 7. Not sure without
checking. RH6 FlashHelp has some indexing problems as you will see
in another thread.
RH generates files after which they go to development. What
do you mean by RH HTML treating those files? Do you mean will their
HTML be written differently? Almost certainly yes but why is that
an issue as long as they look how you want?
You will be able to generate printed documentation and that
is covered by yet another article on my site. Maybe now you are
getting the picture as to why nobody can provide the answer in
detail on a forum.
You have a massive task ahead of you and I think it would be
foolhardy to start with your real projects. Starting from where you
are, I would create some small RH for Word projects and then go
down the path you have to. With small projects like that, you will
be able to understand what is going on and the issues. It's the
same reason why most driving schools don't start you off in a
Ferrari!
Good luck. Glad its your problem. :-)

Similar Messages

Converting RoboHelp for Word to RoboHelp HTML (v8)

I have a RoboHelp for Word (started at v6, converted to v7, and now at v8) project that I want to convert to a RoboHelp HTML v8 project.
The RoboHelp for Word V8 looks good, works great and builds good looking WebHelp and MS Html Help finished outputs! But, I can't seem to figure out how to embed Captivate App Demos (SWF) into the project. Another post in these forums indicated that this is easy with RoboHelp HTML; and after some testing, indeed it is! Great.
Now - the question is, how do I get my existing (looks good, feels great) RoboHelp for Word V8 project imported into RoboHelp HTML V8?
I made a copy of my RHWord project directory (so as not to screw anything up) and then opened RHHTML and chose to import an existing HPJ project. When asked whether to keep the project file XPJ or go to HHP, I chose HHP.
During the conversion, I get lots of "images not valid; invalid chars" on GIF files that RHWord has no problem with. It will not display nor publish these GIF files. Actually, it does display some of the GIFs in the RHHTML dev env, but then doesn't publish them!
Also, during the conversion, it asks if you want a single CSS for each file or one CSS based on one of the WORD docs from the RHWord project. The default was the former, so I chose it. After the conversion, many of the topics have CSS data that appears at the top (e.g. long list of font names) that end up getting published also. So why did this happen?
Also, after the conversion, many of the topics have non-displayable characters that do not show up in the RHWord version; source or published version.
So - my question is, how do I correctly go from a RHWord project that seems to edit and publish just fine to a RHHTML project cleanly?
I have tried to be as detailed as possible on each of these issues, but if more is required, let me know.
Thanks much for your assistance,
Jeff
Message was edited by: jonestech

The original post included a complaint:
"After the conversion, many of the topics have CSS data that appears at the top (e.g. long list of font names) that end up getting published also"
I didn't spot an answer to this part of the problem. I may have missed it
I see this also in importig a RH8 WinHelp project for conversion to WebHelp. It's no big deal to just delete the font list in projects that have just a single original Word doc, but I have a number of projects that each contain hundreds of Word docs, and the font list is inserted tt the top of each converted htm file.
So I am motivated to find a solution...
Any ideas RH troops???

Compiling Robohelp for Word project as MS HTML Help

I am compiling a RoboHelp for Word X5 project as a Miscrosoft
HMTL Help file (.chm) and on the first page of each one of my
projects books is a paragraph of all the different font names (see
below). How the heck do I get rid of this?
i.e. ...Arial;Courier New;Symbol;Wingdings;MS Sans
Serif;Times New Roman CE;Times New Roman Cyr;Times New Roman
Greek;Times New Roman Tur;Times New Roman (Hebrew);Times New Roman
(Arabic);Times New Roman Baltic;Times New Roman (Vietnamese);Arial
CE;Arial Cyr;Arial Greek;Arial Tur;Arial (Hebrew);Arial
(Arabic);Arial Baltic;Arial (Vietnamese);Courier New CE;Courier New
Cyr;Courier New Greek;Courier New Tur;Courier New (Hebrew);Courier
New (Arabic);Courier New Baltic;Courier New (Vietnamese);

Hi jfullington
Check out the following link. I think it may answer your
question.
Click
here I believe you are interested in Snippet number 56.
Out of idle curiosity, is a compiled .CHM only one of several
outputs you are creating and you still need WinHelp? If it's the
primary output, you should really consider moving away from
RoboHelp for Word and toward RoboHelp HTML.
Cheers... Rick

Converting RoboHelp 7 HTML Project to RoboHelp 9 for Word Project?

Due to complications in localization, I've been asked to evaluate authoring in doc files instead of HTMs, since the tool we use for localization (Across Server) seems to work better (or so we're told) with doc files.
I've only authored in RoboHelp HTML with a CHM output for the last several years, so I'm unfamiliar with RH for Word. But I have used Doc-to-Help many years ago, so I'm somewhat familiar with the implications of using doc files.
How would I go about doing this conversion? Is there some utility that does this, or is the best way to export to a printed output and then import that output into a new project?
I'm also going to evaluate this using RH 9 since I'm considering upgrading from RH 7. I only have Word 2003.
Thanks in advance,
Jared

RoboHelp for Word has only had minimal changes for the last two versions. Take a hint. Also enhancements to RoboHelp HTML outputs have not been mirrored.
I suggest you do some work in RoboHelp for Word and see how much you enjoy it.
As for conversion, open RoboHelp for Word and see the import options. Your idea seems to be the way to go, if you really really have to.
Oh, one more thing, you will not get much help in the RoboHelp for Word forum because there is hardly any user to user support.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

WinHelp Project in RoboHelp for Word v7.0

I inherited a WinHelp 4 RoboHelp project and have worked with
it successfully for a few years, converting it to various versions
of RoboHelp. I was able to open it recently in RoboHelp for Word
v7.0, after getting MS Office 2007 installed on my machine, but it
won't save any edits I try to make to the Word docs. My choices to
Save are: "Yes", "Yes to All", "No", and "Cancel". The only way to
get the Word doc to close is to choose "No", and then my changes
are not being saved.
When I opened the WinHelp 4 project in RoboHelp for Word
v7.0, after getting MS Office 2007, there was no prompt to convert
it to Word 2007, and the Word side displays "Compatibility Mode" at
the top. (When I opened a WebHelp project in RoboHelp for HTML
v7.0, after getting MS Office 2007, I was prompted to convert the
project).
Also, when I click "Generate Primary Layout", nothing
happens. No error message, no popups, nothing.
I read on another page where someone suggested re-instaling
RoboHelp v7.0 for someone who had these issues with a project that
had been opened before receiving MS Office 2007, but I did not open
mine until after getting this. If anyone else is having these
issues, I would appreciate your thoughts.

I think the point in the thread you read was that RH has to
be installed after Word. It's not about the opening of the project.

Robohelp for html project conversion to Robohelp for word

We have created our documentation using Robohelp for HTML v
5.0.1
We find that the html editor in the program is too
restrictive. We would like to convert the entire project into
Robohelp for word.
I cant find any way to do this. We're willing to buy a 3'rd
party utility of hire someone to do it.
Can anyone provide some suggestions...

Peter,
We are Amish when it comes to robohelp. :) So please excuse
our ignorance... You say:
>>As far as the printed document output is concerned,
neither version of RH
>>will give you that so you get much the same
>> document either way. What do you have in mind to
support the claim?
and
>> You put a page break in the Word source, the topic
loses the content after the page break
I was thinking that its easy in Word to put in a page break,
but did not actually try to generate a document from it!! Thanks
for clarification...
Our current work around idea is this: We will try to embed a
special line in the document, like "<replace with new page >"
then we can do a search and replace on the word document to insert
the page break. Then we can create a single macro that is run
everytime after the document is to be printed.
Does anyone have any thoughts about that possible work
around?
Im really glad to see this is such an active forum..
We did look at your site it was very helpful. Thanks.
Mitch

RoboHelp for Word will not show new .WMF graphics

I am working on a help file, and I have to insert equations that I would like to attach pop-ups to. I add the .wmf graphic and add the pop-up, but when I compile the image is not there. This is an older file that was converted over to Robohelp for word and it has .wmf graphics that compile. The only ones that do not show up are the new ones I add to the project. There is just a blank space where the graphic should be. The only way I can get the graphic to show is to convert it into a .shg graphic and then it works. I don't want to keep converting the .wmf file to .shg it is just a waste of time, and it makes my image folder double in size. I have tried inserting the equation as an object in word, but that will not allow me to link it to a pop-up and still have the equation there. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Peter and Brian, THANKS so much! RoboHelp for Word is working
now.
Peter, your advice to install RoboHelp AFTER installing Word
was key in solving this problem.
For a quick summary of the result -- our Help Desk
uninstalled and reinstalled Outlook, Word, and RoboHelp. Then they
reinstalled Word and Outlook; needed to change an "Advanced"
setting in outlook; to get Word to stop giving me the error
messages, they needed to redo my user profile. Then after I was
confident that Word and Outlook were working correctly, this
afternoon I installed RoboHelp X5 via my CD, and then downloaded
and installed these two patches from Adobe.com:
- rho_x501.exe (for the RH Office Word 2003 Support Update)
- rho13_x502.exe (for the Microsoft XP Service Pack 2 Support
Update X5.0.2).
I'm so thankful that RoboHTML and RoboHelp for Word seem to
be working well! Thanks again!
Janice
P.S. I do have one more question about a patch that I've not
yet loaded, but I'll post that under a separate subject.

Importing Word docs from a RH for Word project

I have a HUGE RH for Word project that I'm trying to convert
to RHTML (RH Office X5). We generate CHM with this project, and
we've got map ids for all topics. I've been to Peter Grainge's site
to get some ideas, but I don't think they're going to work. There
are so many Word files and topics (537 and 2,974, respectively)
that the more I think about it, the more I think that a conversion
to RH HTML might not be worth it.
When I tried to import all of the Word documents and also
convert the TOC (converting the Index isn't an option since it
never worked with our large number of Word docs) and use the
HTMLHelp.css (using the Import wizard), RH HTML crashed twice after
40 minutes.
So, I created a new RH HTML project and tried to import just
one Word doc from the RH for Word project, and selected the same
wizard options. As I expected, the Word doc imported, but even
though I told RH to split the topics on Heading 2, it also copied
in the characters (#S+@) that preceded every topic heading and
incorporated them into the Topic Title. AND, RH HTML did not
"convert" the TOC - it was blank.
In another post I saw a reference to this patch -
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb07-10.html.
I'm not sure it's related, although when I examined my second
failed import attempt, the imported topics were visible in the
project folder only by using Windows Explorer - RoboHelp HTML did
not display them from within RoboHelp.
Does anyone know if this is the patch that will fix this
issue as well?
By the way, based on the number of questions I've seen posted
about RH for Word 7 with zero replies, I'm thinking I'm going to
run into issues as well, even if we leave it in RH for Word when we
upgrade to version 7. It seems that its size is an issue for RH
HTML.
Thanks,
Jim
Thanks,
Jim

Hi Jim,
just as an encouragement: we sucessfully converted a HUGE RH
for Word project (4,300 topics) to RH HTML a while ago, including
TOC, index and everything. I must admit though that we had all
those topics in only 25 word documents. Maybe you can reduce the
number of documents by moving the topics? There will always be
problems you run into and afterward, we had to go through every
single topic and check the formatting, but I guess you'd always
have to do this. But I think it's worth it, working in HTML is so
much more convenient.
Good luck!
Kathrin

Generating RoboHelp for Word with RH6 in HTML Doesn't Remove MSO styles

Here's the Word portion of the question, which I really
should post under a separate heading. (The WebHelp portion is under
WebHelp - DiMost, posted March 19, 2007)
In RHx5, I use(d) RoboHelp for Word to convert my documents
from an Information Mapping format (with tables) to a stripped-down
document that I converted to HTML without all the Word inline
styles.
- Applied a "conversion" template to the doc
- Imported the doc into the RH for Word file.
- Converted the styles and removed page breaks
- Converted ONE heading to the main topic
- Created WinHelp and checked to be sure there are no
corrupted tables and the topic converted
- Generated in WebHelp
- Imported the HTML document output to the main WebHelp
project. (The document arrives without all the MSO word inline
styles)
- Applied the CSS for the project.
Document conversion complete....all the inline styles were
removed.
NOW, RH 6 retains all the styles and converts every heading
style to a topic, even though RH5 did not.
Converting it in RoboHelp for Word x5 worked really well, but
doesn't appear to work now. And importing the Word doc directly
into RH6 for the WebHelp project is still the huge mess it was
before. It looks like it still requires hand-stripping all that
code out by hand.
Believe me, I have tried everything (including freestanding
apps) to get rid of the Word (MSO-whatever) embedded styles out of
the Word HTML.
I welcome any ideas. Thanks!
Diana

I don't think anything changed on defining what should be a
new topic. Check the options as you import as that can make such a
difference and of course your RH6 settings will be different
initially.

Can Robohelp for word support .PNG images

Hii,
Can anyone pls tell me whether Robohelp for Word supports
images in .PNG format ?? (I am working on a Winhelp 2000 project) I
am able to get good results for smaller word documents without
converting the images into Help images, but the larger documents
are not letting the help file to be generated. The generation
process stops at processing the .rtf file. I don't want to convert
my images, which consist of .bmp and .png files, into Help images
because the output is very ugly.

Thanks, that helped get rid of the problem. I had around 700
images (ranging from small menu icons to full screen windows) in my
Word document, and was trying to import the same into RH7. I
divided the document into smaller documents because of the said
problem. Now, one of these documents was again creating problem. I
followed what you suggested regarding the images for that specific
part only, and the problem has gone. Now my concern is, will those
parts, where I have not inserted the images using the RH7 menu,
create problem later on. For now, they are working perfectly, and
the images are getting displayed properly. I have not converted any
images into help images. But, the Insert Image dialog box did not
support PNG files, hence I had to save the images as BMP (24 bit)
first. What problems can I face because of simply importing the
documents along with the images. Removing all the images, saving
them, and inserting them again using the RH7 menu is going to take
a hell lot of time.

RoboHelp for Word 7 is not saving the rtf and won't compile .hlp

I use RoboHelp for Word 7 to produce WinHelp files. It's been working fine for several months on this computer.
Just in the past week, I had an issue with my Word 2007 when trying to open a .doc file. I got the message that the converter nswrd632.wpc wasn't found. After searching on the Microsoft forums, I edited the registry and registered that converter.
But now (and this may be unconnected to the Word converter message) RH won't save the .docx or .rtf file. Whenever I click Save All, nothing happens. When I click Exit Project, the message comes up about needing to save the files, and I click Yes to All. Nothing happens except the message closing. No files are saved and RH does not exit. The only way I can exit RH is to click No, which of course means my changes aren't saved. I can't save the .docx file through the Word menu, either.
I also cannot compile the file. Again, no error message, just doesn't compile.
I have searched the forums for RH for Word, with the result that I've reinstalled RH, made sure the RH add-ins are enabled, and deleted all the .dot files. Nothing is working. I went to Peter Grainge's Snippet 112 and followed the directions there--no change.
I have found that after making my edits in the Word document, if I manually save the RTF file by going to the Word Save As directory, the edits will be saved and RH will compile the .hlp file - one time.
Any ideas?

Hi, I have a nearly identical problem, except my project uses .doc files instead of .rtf files. I was able to solve the "cannot save" problem by following the information below. I still have not resolved the "cannot compile" problem.
I'm using Windows XP, RH7 Build 100, Office 2007. My project was created using Office 2003 and I did not experience any of these issues until I recently upgraded to Office 2007.
This fix was sent to me by my group's "tech" guy.
A number of Adobe RoboHelp for Word 7 users have reported that they cannot save changes or generate an output. The cause has been isolated to the RHComAdd.DLL being disabled.
Check for that in Word:
For versions up to 2003 go to Help | About | Disabled Items. If RHComAdd.DLL appears, re-enable it.
For Word 2007, go to the Office Button | Word Options | Add-ins. Under "Manage" select Disabled Items and click Go. If RHComAdd.DLL appears, highlight it and re-enable it. (THIS IS WHAT I DID)
Alternatively, you can re-register the DLL. Go to Start | Run and type in the following line, assuming you have installed RoboHelp to the default location.
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 7\RoboHELP\RHComAdd.dll"
How does this DLL get disabled? The cause has been identified as a Word document being opened in Internet Explorer rather than in Word.
This problem was fixed in Build 7.0.2.
Hope this helps you. I'm still working on the compile error.
-Shannon Mooney

Adobe RoboHelp for Word 8.0 - Issues

Hi
I am using a Trial version of RoboHelp for Word 8.0, and would like to receive comments on the following issues:
It would appear that Manual Page Breaks in the middle of a long topic (inserted for printing purposes), are causing the data from beyond that point on to be ignored.
Links (hyperlinks) in the Word document "appear" to be links in the generated HTML ... but are not links.
All Tables in the Word input are set at 100% ... but the generated HTML is "fixed width".
Images in the Word input are links to an image library (absolutely mandatory in this application) ... but it appears that the generated HTML is using the Word version of the image, rather than the image in the image library. This results in poorer quality and differences in size when compared to the images in the library.
Any comments greatly appreciated.
MBarryH

For 1, Peter is correct. You will need to remove the page breaks in your document within a page. RH uses hard page breaks to indicate a new topic is there.
For 2, Word uses a different method to insert hyperlinks like mailtos. RH needs to use its own code to make these links (i.e., Insert html and mailto:). You will need to remove the hyperlink, then insert the link using RH. If you have many of this mailto links to replace, use Word's copy and paste to copy the RH code for the link and paste it where needed.
For 3, I believe HTML code only supports fixed width tables. It will not automatically make the table wider when the window is maximized. I find the best width for tables to be 6 inches.
For 4, images placed in Word docs are often created in different graphics programs. RH uses more simplifed graphics programs such as Paint. I suggest you open each imgage in Paint, then save as a bmp file using a more familiar name than image001.bmp, etc. During the compile, RH will convert the bmp to a good gif file and use it in the topic. Then, in your doc, delete the image and then select to insert the graphic using this function in RH. This makes a direct link to the image file. You can also modify the image directly and changes will appear in the pix when you compile it. It is easier if you are viewing the doc in true code in RH rather than WYSIWYG. If the image is in the doc itself, the imagennn.bmp is ignored. Note, if you must use the WYSIWYG, these images show up as blank areas in your doc when you are in draft view. Word 2007 only makes them show up when you are in print view. So, you may want to consider putting a border around the image so you can see it in draft view.
I have used RH for Word for over 15 years. Word adds more quick editing features than RoboHTML does. For example, paint, search and replace -- all in terms of something you already use when working with Word. The only adjustments you may have is when MS comes out with a new version of Word itself. As MS makes Word easier for the novice user, they sometimes cause problems for the powerusers. However, there are always ways to work around these issues. RH for Word is easier to use if you use the show formatting marks in Word so you can tell what is happening. You will be able to see the code used in the RH links and the paragraph marks to see what Word is doing. Be aware to spellcheck your doc, choose to hide these marks and spell check will ignore text formatted as hidden.

Upgrade from Robohelp for Word 6

Our company is planning to upgrade the RH that we are using due to the issue on Chrome browser not displaying the TOC and search function not working.
We have been using Robohelp for Word in version 6. I know it's outdated but it was working for us and as they say "if ain't broke don't fix it" or some such things. The chrome related issue might have been there for a long time but it just came into out attention recently.
I am trial testing RH 11 and my main issue is the link in TOCs to most of the topics are missing. I've posted 2 discussion but not fixed yet.
Can anyone please advise the best way to tackle this scenario? Do I convert the Word to HTML in RH 6 first before upgrading to RH 11? Is there a list of task to do to prepare my projects in the upgrade to RH 11?
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Hi awu10 and welcome to our community
While I have no answer for you on this issue, I'm wondering
why you are using RoboHelp for Word if you are interested in
WebHelp output? RoboHelp HTML is the more logical choice here.
Additionally, you will find a wealth of folks that know how
to assist with questions like these for RoboHelp HTML, while those
using RoboHelp for Word are a diminishing group.
RoboHelp HTML has a very "Word Like" interface. The big
difference between the two (aside from the fact RoboHelp HTML was
specifically designed for creating HTML Help and WebHelp) is that
instead of working on a document with many topics inside, you work
on individual topics as you go.
Just a thought... Rick

This is a bit of information for folks that use Robohelp for Word.

I know this is all a day late and a follar short but for those folks that still use Robohelp for Word:
If your company is going to Windows 7, X5 will not work. You need to bump it up to at least RH8.
Even after you upgrade, if you use the tripane (winhelp_2000) view in RH for Word, it will not work on Windows 7 even with the microsoft patch. With the patch it will look like an older version of RH in winhelp_4. At least I have not been able to get it to display.
What will work is if you compile it in Webhelp. You will loose some links. I know I should be moving to Robhelp Html and I tried, but when I did that I got a lot of garbage at the top of all my topics, I lost all my external links and I would have to retrain my partner...
Now about links. My only complaint about Robohelp for Word was it's limited external linking capacity. If you use RH for Word you know you can only brouse to the net or to an htm or html document. It doesn't mean you can't link to a PDF or an excel spread sheet. You just can't brouse to it. You can manually enter the path. I just changed 740+ htm links to pdf links (pdf in same file as htm and the names were the same except for extension) and it worked. If you intend to try this back up.
Anyway, if this helps anyone great..if not thanks for letting me babble. I like my Robohelp for Word in Webhelp format.
Peggy Theo.

Thanks for posting this Peggy.
It is worth adding that there is another way of continuing to work with Word - using Linked Documents in RoboHelp HTML. You create Word documents entirely independent of RoboHelp and then create topics by linking those documents in a RoboHelp HTML project.
You cannot create WinHelp that way but WinHelp is on life support and requires users to download a viewer, you cannot distribute it. It really is time to move on from WinHelp.
RoboHelp for Word is not getting much development and does not get the new features being added to RoboHelp HTML.
Linking is covered on my site.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RoboHelp for Word installed from RoboHelp 10 won't work with Word 2010

I have a Help project created in RoboHelp for Word 8. I recently upgraded from Word 2007 to Word 2010 and discovered that RH8 for Word won't work with Word 2010. So I purchased RoboHelp 10 and have installed RoboHelp for Word from it. Alas, RH for Word STILL won't work with Word 2010. When I try to open my project, I get this message:
Before I bought RH10, I live-chatted with an Adobe sales person who assured me it was compatible with Word 2010.
BTW, I tried to roll back to Word 2007, but I was getting weird behavior running Word, so I have reinstalled Word 2010 and want to stay there.
Any ideas?

I have just installed Rh10 for Word on a new machine and initially I got this message.
I wonder if you have followed those instuctions? I changed the setting to Enable All.
The other possibility is what do you have set for the default version? If it is 2007 and that no longer exists on your machine, then Rh will not be able to proceed. The dropdown should show 2010
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Convert RoboHelp for Word project to RoboHTML

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