Linking to PDFs but not generating them

Question

I'm using RoboHelp HTML on RH8, formerly using RH6. In RH6, I think there was somewhere to indicate that links to PDF files that exist in the same folder as a topic could be excluded from the compile. That allowed me to maintain one copy of the PDF that was not overwritten. I can't find how to set this in RH8. As a consequence, all of the PDF files that I link to (hundreds of them) are being copied to the Output folder, resulting in horrendous build times. Does anyone know where this setting is located in RH8? ~Carol

Answer 1

I have deselected the "Republish all" setting in the WebHelp (Primary Layout) Generate options to upload only changed files, but that doesn't affect the time to generate.
It will not. That setting is only relevant to publishing. RoboHelp always clears the generate folder and recreates it, as explained earlier.
Is there any way to disable that, do you know?
See Using RoboHelp 8 on my site.
In the RH Help Viewer... ...Note: You must have iFilter for Microsoft and PDF installed on to enable baggage file search.
That's the first time I have seen any reference to the need for iFilter. I will try to find out more but meantime work on the basis that the search is automatic and, in RoboHelp 8, cannot be stopped via the interface. However, as above you can stop the PDF search.
Since I don't have a support account any longer on RH, do you know of any way I can pose these questions to a RH developer?
You get what you pay for.
Even with paid support, you do not get direct access to a developer.
Regarding your idea of applying a build tag to the PDF
It wasn't meant as a suggestion. What I was trying to get at was that a build tag was the only way I could see to stop the PDFs ending up in the output and I explained that had a downside.
See what happens when you exclude PDFs from the search.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge