Where Should a Linked Document Reside?

Question

I have a multi-chapter document that I can't link to its home
web site because it is in multiple zipped files. I don't want my
end users to have to unzip, etc. I also don't want to store the
files, zipped or unzipped, in my project (a policies and procedures
manual).
A little information:
I plan to save them in .pdf format.
They open as Word docs.
Project is Webhelp.
Accessed by the corporate Intranet
My options are to store them on a network drive, e.g., my
personal drive , or in a folder on the Robohelp server. It is a
dedicated server used only for Robohelp projects.
Is there a reason why saving them in a folder on the Robohelp
server and hyperlinking from the appropriate topics to the
individual chapters would be inefficient or problematic in some
other way?
Thank you for your assistance.
Holly

Answer 1

Holly,
Multiple issues lurk here.
My preference is to import the targets as baggage files in
RH. This makes it much easier to manage links.
You may run into some security roadblocks when your help
topic links to a document (rather than an URL) on a different
server. It is best to keep WebHelp and any of its resources on the
same drive.
In a network setting (not built as an Intranet) you can link
to an external file. The "Link to ... File" dialog requires you to
have the target file in place and stores the path when you select
the file. This can get tricky. RH may store a relative path if the
target is on the same drive as the RH project. When you publish the
WebHelp on another drive, the target has to be in the same relative
path, or you will have to manually adjust the link.
RH won't let you type a "fake" file directory path into the
hyperlink dialog.
(By the way, the "Link to ... File" dialog asks whether you
want to import it into your project. My advice would be to say
Yes.)
For a true Intranet, you can use the "Link to ... Web
Address" dialog and complete the http tag manually. You do not have
to import the target file as baggage.
How does a .pdf document open as a Word doc? A Web browser
usually looks for a pdf reader first.
You say the RoboHelp server "is a dedicated server used only
for Robohelp projects." It should be a server dedicated (but I'm
not sure why it's necessary) to WebHelp output packages, not RH
projects. The RH source project must be on the hard drive where the
RH application is running, which must be your local disk. The
output can be on a network drive.
I hope this is useful.
Harvey