Reference source files outside project folder

Question

My company wants to create one large help project. However we don't want all the HTML source files to be stored in that project. We want to store these files in another folder outside of the project. I'll try to simplify the situation.
I created a "RH Test Project 1" with a topic called "Welcome." When you look in Windows Explorer in the RH Test Project 1 folder, you'll see all of the files RH creates (.xpj, cpd, hhk, hhc, etc.). The "Welcome.htm" file is also in the RH Test Project 1 folder.
I actually want this "Welcome.htm" file to reside in a folder I created called "RH Test Project src." If I copy the Welcome.htm file to my new src folder, my project contains a broken link, as expected. I don't want to import the welcome.htm file because that creates a copy that goes right back into the RH Test Project 1 folder (essentially I would have a "Welcome.htm" file in RH Test Project 1 and RH Test Project src folders).  All I want to do is to be able to reference the Welcome.htm file. I want to be able to edit and work with this file in RoboHelp but I don't want it to reside in my project folder. I want it to reside outside the folder.
Desired structure:
RH1 Project
-- RH1.xpj
RH2 Project
-- RH2.xpj
Source Folder
-- Subfolder 1
    -- Welcome1.htm  ( I don't want either welcome.htm topics to be in the RH1 Project or RH2 Project file structures)
--Subfolder 2
   -- Welcome2.htm

Answer 1

Rick,
The scenario at hand is to have a single set of source documents that can be bundled either as one large project or many smaller projects. The issue with putting everything in one location (sub folder) is that there are over 25,000 topics to deal with and scrolling through them and managing them, as well as the performance when opening RH, is problematic.  What we as developers are trying to do is model the RH solution after the Microsoft Visual Studio paradigm where the source files are all included in a project, yet come from different locations.  If I get a tax break for having a house with an address in Arizona yet built in Florida, why not build it there? It seems to work quite well with boats registered in Delaware but not anywhere close to that state!!
Suppose I have the simple case of three projects I need to deploy separately for one client, yet as a single output for another? The file structure we’d want would be:
C:\RH\Project1
C:\RH\Project2
C:\RH\Project3
C:\RH\Project_ALL
C:\RH\SOURCE
Based on current understanding, you are telling me that I need to have
C:\RH\Project1
C:\RH\Project1\Source
C:\RH\Project2
C:\RH\Project2\Source
C:\RH\Project3
C:\RH\Project3\Source
C:\RH\Project_ALL
C:\RH\Project_ALL\Project1\Source
C:\RH\Project_ALL\Project2\Source
C:\RH\Project_ALL\Project3\Source
This means I need to manipulate changes to a file in multiple locations rather than sharing the source.  If this is indeed what needs to be done we can manage that using symbolic links and images of the files, but in this case our file structure goes from 25,000 files to well over 150,000 as we have 7 projects we support.
It just seems to be a ridiculous limitation that source must reside under a project rather than in a set location as every other development tool we use (InstallShield, Microsoft Visual Studio, HP Mercury, et al) can handle this.
That being said, your time and input is appreciated.
- Niki, on behalf of Mgmt (who are not having difficulties in comprehending your responses, but are incredulous that software behaves this way based on past experience with other tools)