Import InDesign files into RoboHelp HTML

Hello,
My company is moving toward online help. We currently use InDesign to author our manuals and then export them to pdf for publication. I've been on the phone with Adobe trying to see if there's a way to easily import InDesign into RoboHelp. We're on an older version of RoboHelp, so I'm told this is possible, but I can't get any help until we buy RoboHelp9. I know that we can import our pdfs into RoboHelp--I'm just wondering if there's a way to import InDesign files directly into RoboHelp. Has anyone tried to do this? Anyone have any suggestions? It seems these two programs should play nice together, doesn't it?
Louley

Hi there
To my knowledge it is not possible to accomplish. I've been using RoboHelp since 1992 and I've never seen it done.
The only way I can fathom it working would be if InDesign could save as an HTML page. Then import the HTML. Or possibly produce a PDF from InDesign, then import that. But even importing the PDF may not give you the results you want.
Cheers... Rick
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Adobe Technical Communications Suite - Importing Framemaker Files into Robohelp

We have just started using the Adobe Technical Communications
Suite to import our Framemaker files into Robohelp. (We have about
a year’s experience of taking Framemaker files into Web Works
Publisher, with good results so we were hoping for a similar
experience with Robohelp).
Please can you help us with the following two problems:
1. Importing FM files into Robohelp has posed some immediate
table formatting problems. We imported the FM files by reference
according to the instructions but cannot format the tables, ie.
Colors etc.
2. Can you also tell us if there is a way to set up our
graphics in Framemaker to import into Robohelp without first having
to run them through a batch file scenario to change the size for
online help. Also, can you explain why the imported graphics are
being put into separate folders in Robohelp – is there a
system option where we can stop this from occurring.
We are a little frustrated because we are long-time users of
Robohelp and Framemaker and are finding some of the new features of
TCS are not as helpful as we first thought. I am sending these
questions after spending several hours going through the Robohelp
Help and the Adobe website and not finding the answers.
Thanks for your help,
Asra S.

I have purchased the Technical Communications Suite and am
working with it now. I am finding several short comings in the
product – 60% great product and 40% not so great. I have been
using FrameMaker and RoboHelp for about 11 years and also I am a
Webworks (ePublisher) user. I was expecting (at a minimum) to have
the same functionality as ePublisher in TCS - ePublisher works
seamlessly with FrameMaker. Quadralay worked with me the first
month to answer my questions to ensure I was pleased with the
product - and welcomed/appreciated my feedback. In some cases they
provided me with scripts to accommodate my needs. I am finding on
message boards and forums that a lot of users as very disappointed
with your product so far. Are there any plans on
improving/enhancing the product to accommodate our basic requests?
The standard answer we get concerning graphics and tables is
to use conditional text. This is not single-sourcing and is a
horrible recommended work-around – a hack if you will. We use
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File process to simply generate my newly updated FM files to online
help. How efficient is that? VERY!
I have provided a list of the basic missing
functionality/oversights that would greatly improve the product and
satisfy a lot of your current users. Some of these issues may be
user misunderstanding and in that case I seek guidance on what
I’m doing wrong. Take the other issues into consideration
because these are not just my issues, but a TON of your users.
Hopefully you are user focused and are as concerned as we are.
Please welcome this feedback as a way to improve the product.
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your other outputs and is available in ePublisher, so it must be
possible.
- Table formats are not configurable – why? Sometimes
the converted table format from FM isn’t 100%.
- Imported file structure (folder for each chapter) totally
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reduce the file size by 50% and sharpen. I replace the graphics
with my graphics and they look marvelous in online help. I copy my
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into FM at 260 dpi for my printed docs. Can we have the option on
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folder?
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import. This is used for standardizing my inserted tables with
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files when imported.
- My output .chm file is not picking up my Project Settings.
It will not display Favorites, My Window Size, it’s not
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character tagging carries forward throughout the rest of the
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I started testing the product four days ago and these are the
major issues that are keeping me from moving forward with my
overall plan to move to structured FM. I’m now between a rock
and a hard place because now my department does not have the
software to do their job. Do I go to management and tell them that
I made the wrong decision in my tool selection? I choose your TCS
over the updated Quadralay ePublisher that works with FM8…
Maybe they went up on their price because the knew their former
users would come back and be willing to pay the increased price for
their software that generates online help with just a click of a
button.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your help
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Importing MS Word into RoboHelp HTML / TOC Creation/ CHM output?

Hello,
I am a newbie to RoboHelp 8 and am trying out the Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2.5, and have a Windows 7 (64 Bit) OS.
At the moment, I have a single 40 page word document (MS Word 2010) that I would like to bring into RoboHelp 8.
With that said, I create a blank project, and then import the document. But, when I try to generate and view a help file, I am not seeing the table of contents. I have even done the AUTO TOC and verify that the links correspond to sections and sub-sections etc. - but still no TOC.
In addition, for some reason it brought in each of my figures twice, so that I have two figure 1s, two figure twos and so on.
Finally, it gave me an error message and was complaining about WidgetMax:
"Compilation failed while compiling http:\www.widgetmax.com."
I am not sure what that is about either.
Okay, one more question. Is there an easy way to break up all the sections/sub-sections into unique topics before or during inport into RoboHTML? It seems that RH 8 really needs to have multiple topics versus one long topic, containing what was formerly a MS Word document. What is the best approach to making that happen?
Overall, I am looking for a nice automated system, whereby I can take developer created documents (from protected MS Word templates) and bring them into RoboHelp HTML (version 8). Hopefully, I will not have to break apart the entire MS Word document first, before bringing it into RH 8.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions from a newbie.
-J

Hi there
My own guess is that you created a project using one of the supplied templates. Specifically, the Application Help template. This template already has a CHM window defined that contains a link to the WidgetMax.com site. When a link to a web site is defined in a CHM window, the compiler will squawk about it because it cannot resolve the link to a local HTML page. So you may safely ignore the message.
As for importing the Word content, you have some decisions to make. How do you want to edit the content after you get it into RoboHelp?
After you import you will abandon Word and make any changes to the documentation only using RoboHelp HTML.
You will continue to maintain the Word document using Microsoft Word and you will want to update RoboHelp HTML to reflect the changes
Depending on the avenue you wish to take, you will have different options for splitting the Word content into individual topics. Once we know which option you wish to use we can offer more guidance.
Cheers... Rick
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Hyperlink issues when importing Frame files into RoboHelp 10.

When I import a Frame file into RoboHelp 10, the text preceding a hyperlink is also mangled with the hyperlink in the output.
For example,
The following online file supplements the information in this guide. Release notes are available on the Support site at
https://support.example.com.
How do you prevent the text that precedes the link from being munged together with the link?
Shuba

Have you placed the hypertext marker within a character tag?
If there's no character tag, then the para, and not the phrase, is your active hypertext area in FM and all electronic output.
For more info, see p511 of my book.
-Matt
Matt R. Sullivan
co-author Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 11

Missing spaces between words after importing Word document into RoboHelp HTML version 8

I created a 400+ page document in Word 2007 and imported it into RoboHelp 8 (HTML, not RoboHelp for Word). In many places, the space between a bold word and a non-bold word is no longer there. I would like to avoid having to go through the entire RH document to replace the spaces manually. Did I import incorrectly?

Looks perfect, works terribly...
Things to consider:
Chances are, the different treatments of the space are due to whether the space was included in the bolding of the word in MS Word.
Additionally, since Word files contain much underlying binary code (macros and such), your security settings might or might not be playing well with the Word stuff.
Are you importing the Word file from a network location, or from your local machine? Network traffic might be partially impacting the import, too.
Bottom line? You'll probably need to clear all formatting in the Word file and redo the formatting properly. To test this, cut a couple of pages into a new Word file, clear and redo the formatting in Word, import the Word file into another RH project, and see what results you get.
To clear the formatting:
Select text.
On the Home tab, in the Font group, click Clear Formatting.
Redo the formatting, being careful to not format the spaces.
Good luck,
Leon

Importing .htm files into RoboHelp project

In my project in RoboHelp, when I go to File > Import > HTML File… to add a .htm file to my project, it locks up on me instead of providing a directory listing allowing me to select files to add to my project. The only way to get out of it is to go to the Task Manager and killing the process.

Hi there
Your use of "The Vault" would seem to most certainly describe some form of a Source Control system. Source Control systems offer a combination between a Librarian and a Traffic Cop. Typically you log into these systems with a user ID and a password. That way the system knows who you are.
Typically with these systems the data resides on a coroporate network. And also typically you will have a "working folder" on your hard drive where the files exist. When everything is checked into the Source Control system, the files on your hard drive are flagged as "Read Only".
When you need to work with a file, you perform a process of checking out. The Source Control system then changes the Read Only status of the file on your hard drive to Read/Write. But it also makes a note of the date/time stamp. If the file stored in Source Control is newer than the counterpart on your hard drive, it copies the newer file to your hard drive before allowing you to make changes.
I'd begin with a simple sanity check. Create a totally separate and new project. Add a topic or three. Add an image. Generate. Do things work okay? If not, you have some form of issue with RoboHelp that needs to be resolved before you attempt to troubleshoot what is happening with your project in Source Control.
Perhaps try copying the content from Source control to a different folder and see if you are then able to make edits.
Hopefully something here either helped directly or sparked a thought that does.
Cheers... Rick
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Problems importing a Word doc into Robohelp HTML

I have a 116-page Word document with 13 chapters. When I
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only two topics are created, rather than 13. On the Conversion
Options window, I select to have new topics created by Word style
"Heading 1" which are my chapter titles. Why doesn't Robohelp
create the topics, and what should I change to faciliate that?
Also, why don't my numbered lists from Word stay numbered in
Robohelp? Is there a way to automate numbered lists?

Thanks for your reply.
When I insert .gif files JDeveloper ends with a message saying "Process exited with exit code 0". I then go and check in the database and I find the image added to the table.
With a word doc, JDeveloper does not give that message. No message at all regarding what the status of the process is. And the document is not added to the database. No error messages too. Could this be an issue with Oracle?

Importing Adobe Captivate into Robohelp 6

When I try to import Captivate files into RoboHelp it seems
like the import was successful, but when I try to view it the
screen is blank. I any new to working on Captivate as well, but I
beleive everything is ok on that end.
Any ideas?

Hey Colum,
Thanks for your help, but I still seem to be having
difficulty.
I am using RoboHelp HTML 6 for my project.
Here is what I have done:
Created my Captivate file & saved it.
Imported the Captivate file in my Baggage Folder.
Problems are:
When I double click on the file in Baggage it opens up
Captivate.
I then tried to import the same clip into a New Topic, but
again all I get is a text box saying Flash Movie File. I compiling
the porject, but when I try to click on the topic with the
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Thanks

Losy images after importing Word document into RoboHelp 7 HTML

We imported a simple Word document into RoboHelp 7 HTML, as a
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Everything worked out pretty well (afterall, this was just a
simple Word document), and we expect to have to tweak the styles,
etc. That is understood.
However, the images that were embedded in the Word document
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When we browse to the iamge folder, and view the actual image
files, these images do not look too bad. But in the Design View,
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1) Except for storing the images outside of the Word document
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2) Why doe the images look worse in Printed Documenation
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While I am typing, I realized that we should try to include
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Looks perfect, works terribly...
Things to consider:
Chances are, the different treatments of the space are due to whether the space was included in the bolding of the word in MS Word.
Additionally, since Word files contain much underlying binary code (macros and such), your security settings might or might not be playing well with the Word stuff.
Are you importing the Word file from a network location, or from your local machine? Network traffic might be partially impacting the import, too.
Bottom line? You'll probably need to clear all formatting in the Word file and redo the formatting properly. To test this, cut a couple of pages into a new Word file, clear and redo the formatting in Word, import the Word file into another RH project, and see what results you get.
To clear the formatting:
Select text.
On the Home tab, in the Font group, click Clear Formatting.
Redo the formatting, being careful to not format the spaces.
Good luck,
Leon

Importing pdf into RoboHelp HTML 8.

I get an "unsupported or corrupted file" error when trying to import a pdf as a topic into RoboHelp HTML 8. The file opens fine in Acrobat.

I've done that also. However, one of my help projects consists solely of pdfs from other sources. I've found that the print method works best for me.
Thanks for the tip, however. It's good to know that someone looks at the responses.
Holly
Holli Angell
Business Analyst II
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Madison Park Operations
336-201-4520
>>> NorBec <[email protected]> 11/6/2009 4:27 PM >>>
What about importing the pdf in your baggage files? The trick here is getting the project manager to display the Baggage Fle folder. Toggle the icons at the top of the Project Manager window until they display. See this thread below for the import instructions.
http://forums.adobe.com/message/2068543#2068543

Can no longer import Word files into InDesign

Hello,
For many months I have been importing Word files into InDesign CS3 (Mac OSX 10.4.11) with no trouble, but I started having a problem yesterday.
When importing a 17-page Word file with 16 footnotes, I got none of the text and only the footnote numbers. This is what I get in InDesign:
12345678910111213141516
(Endnotes)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
These are the things I've tried already: restarting, deleting preferences, changing the import options, using CS2, importing someone else's Word file, importing a Word file that I imported successfully a couple of months ago. None of this works.
It has been suggested that I save the Word file as rtf, but since I have 200 files to import and I'm using Word's character styles for italics, bold, small caps, etc., I'd rather try to fix this problem.
Can someone help?
Thanks,
Tina

I am using indesign CS2 and i'm trying to import a Word document into a new chapter for a book i'm laying out. it's about 30 pages, but there are at least 80 foot notes. i'm able to get about 1/2 of the document with the footnotes to flow correctly, then EVERYTHING disappears. the only way i've been able to get the remaining text to appear is by adding characters to the text. i'll hit "vvvvvvvvvvvv" a bunch of times and "magically" a little chunk of text and it's footnotes appears. then the ole disappearing act happens. so i do it again. i'm able to get all the text to appear finally, but when i delete the "vvvvvvvvvv" from the places i inserted them, the text disappears again. i have no idea why this is happening or how to fix it. any ideas?
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travis

How to import .docx files into InDesign

How to import .docx into InDesign page layout

File > Place.
For detailed explanation and techniques: An overview of placing (importing) Word files into InDesign from the Course Using Word and InDesign Together

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Donna
P.S.
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Hello again
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Import InDesign files into RoboHelp HTML

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