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.

Similar Messages

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

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

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. :-)

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

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.

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???

RoboHelp for Word cannot open Word with Word 2007

Thanks for your leignancy, I'm having trouble even starting
to work with RoboHelp. I think I need detailed explanations. I did
spend hours sifting through Robohelp's Help and this Forum, I'm
stuck.
I am trying to use
RoboHelp for Word 7.0 , build 001, with Word 2007 on Vista.
I need to work on help projects created with a previous
version of RoboHelp.
For some reason, when I open RoboHelp, the .doc file opens in
Word next to it, but then RoboHelp freezes for several minutes,
then I get a dialog box that says
"RoboHelp" could not open Word .
Then anytime I try to modify a topic in my help file, I get
the same stall and error message, and my Word document stays stuck
at the beginning on my first topic.
Also, in Word,
all Robohelp options don't work. I can't search for a topic
for instance to locate it and modify it. When I click on search for
a topic from the menu on top, nothing happens at all. If I click on
search a topic from the right-click menu, then I get a message that
because of security or confidentiality settings, the
Macros don't work.
I tried re-activating all Macros in Word 2007 Options, I
closed everything, even re-booted the computer, but to no avail.
Also, I tried saving my .doc into a .docx (Word 2007 format)
to see if the Macros would be compatible then, but I got the exact
same results.
Right now, RoboHelp and Word don't seem to be "talking" to
each other right, and the Macros don't work.
Plus: I tried to test a modification I made in the .doc file
by generating the WebHelp, but that didn't work either, I got an
error message saying that the file couldn't be opened, but the path
to the file was all wrong, with folder names I don't even have on
my computer.
If someone could figure this one out for me, I'd be very
thankful, I'm the kind of person who likes something to work in a
simple, linear way, 1-2-3... This is totally confusing for me right
now.

Ok, isn't that what I did when I re-activated the Macros in
Word 2007?
Word Options / security - confidentiality center / Parameters
Activate all Macros (the lowest one on the list)
Did that already. Also, I made backups of my projects, and
tried with a new "brew" just in case I had messed it up along the
way somewhere.
First thing I did when I opened it again was change the
output to WebHelp instead of WinHelp 4, since I can't open that in
Vista anymore.
I can generate the help in that format, but either way I try
to make any modification it's not taken into account when I
generate it.
Example:
In the french help project which I'm working on, I had a
tittle that was miss-spelled.
I tried modifying in in the Word .doc document, then generate
the help, but the title was still wrong.
So I tried changing in directly in Robohelp with the topic's
properties.
When I clicked OK, it stalled forever again, and then it said
it couldn't take the modifications into account.
And any text I cut and paste or changed in the .doc on Word
remains unchanged in the WebHelp....
Right now, the more I try, the more I'm stuck and the more
questions I get. I'm seriously thinking I'd need some live
coaching, on a chat or something, to get me started on the right
track. Is there anyone who can do that? I'm so awfully stuck right
now. And I feel like I'd unfurl a tsunami of ridiculous questions
if I posted them all on the Forum now...
*EXTRA*
I did all the updates (7.0.3) and right now I'm re-installing
everything.
Arghhh.
I missed one of the last days of ski this season, spent my
whole week-end with this.
I'm trying to sound rational and calm, but I'm actually so
tired and exasperated, I'd have jumped through the window already
if we weren't on the first floor... Still stuck at Step 1...
What am I missing??

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" vs "RoboHelp HTML"

Hi all,
I note there are two flavors for RoboHelp (wrt also working
with Word + importing + exporting):
- RoboHelp for Word
- RoboHelp HTML
Questions:
1. Am I right that it seems you can do everything with
RoboHelp HTML that you can do with RoboHelp for Word?
2. If not (1, above), what are the relative advantages and
disadvantages of each for starting a new RoboHelp project?
3. Is there a reason for ever trying to change application
for an existing RoboHelp project, and would there be expected any
particular conversion problems?
Tia,
- avi

Welcome to our community, Avi
I see you posted the question here as well as the TechShoret
list. I further see you have at least one reply over on TechShoret.
Here are my thoughts. Yes, you can do most of what RoboHelp
for Word can do using RoboHelp HTML. I say "Most" here because
there are a couple of things you can't do. You can't easily create
a .HLP file using RoboHelp HTML. RoboHelp HTML doesn't offer tabs
like you can use with RoboHelp for Word.
Now I realize that may sound a bit as if I'm saying that
RoboHelp for Word is superior to RoboHelp HTML. I'm not. As with
anything in life, there are trade offs and things to consider. In
this case, I would say you should consider the output type.
Most everything is moving away from WinHelp (.HLP files) and
toward an HTML based format. I noted the TechShoret reply mentioned
that with RoboHelp for Word, everything is stored in a single Word
file, vs having multiple HTML files with RoboHelp HTML. While this
is true, I would say that if your output is going to be HTML based,
you should seriously consider using an editor that was designed
from the ground up to support HTML. Let's face it. Anything HTML
coming from Word is a kludge, as Word was designed for print. There
are also some things that will constantly frustrate you if you
elect to use RoboHelp for Word and are creating HTML output.
So while it may seem an attractive option to use, I'd suggest
avoiding RoboHelp for Word and going with RoboHelp HTML.
Sincerely... Rick

RoboHelp for Word in RoboHelp 9

I just upgraded from Robohelp X5 to Robohelp 9. After installing version 9, I am unable to find where the new version of Robohelp for Word is. All I can find is RoboHelp HTML. How do you work on existing Winhelp projects with version 9? We switched to this new version because X5 wasn't compatible with my current version of Word (2007) and we need to continue to be able to generate Winhelp.

Hi,
If you cannot see Robohelp for Word, then you need to run the installer of Robohelp once again and when you see the Windows which says Select the location where you need to install robohelp Click on Robohelp 9 and then in the right side you will see 2 options Check the Robohelp Word and then click on Install.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Priyank

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

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

RoboHelp for Word 8.0 - can't open a pdf file from help topic

running RoboHelp for Word 8.0 on a Windows 7 machine. I produce WinHelp for one of our clients.
I just converted an old online help system from RoboHelp 7 to RoboHelp 8.
one of my topics has a button to launch a pdf file
{button Transport Feature Chart, EF(`GFC.pdf', `', 1, `')}
I can generate the hlp file, launch the help and open the topic but cannot open the pdf file when I click on the button.
any ideas?

I've just tried this in RH8 and have discovered that the EF macro only seems to work with certain file types. For example, .TXT and .LOG files do work whilst .PDF and .DOC don't. I'm beginning to wonder if there has been something that has changed between RH7 and RH8 along security lines? Just added my 2p as I haven't used WinHelp for over 10 years!
The RoboColum(n)
@robocolumn
Colum McAndrew

Folders disappear during reinstallation of RoboHelp for Word 7

I am using RoboHelp for Word (7).
I recently got a new laptop. Afrer reinstalling RoboHelp for Word 7, I tried opening an existing project file but couldn't find the .hpj file. Upon closer inspection of the project folder I found that all project subfolders disappeared. All that is left is the root directory and .doc and .rtf files. What am I doing wrong?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I don't use RoboHelp for Word any more but if you don't have the HPJ file, I would not be surprised by what you see.
I can't see how the reinstall would affect the project though.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

WinHelp Project in RoboHelp for Word v7.0

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