Inspiring

Question

Converting RoboHelp for Word to RoboHelp HTML (v8)

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
November 10, 2009
4 replies
5682 views

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

HTML

This topic has been closed for replies.

D

David Hurlston

Inspiring

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???

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

This rings a bell. A couple of years back I think there was a bug where CHMs from RoboHelp for Word had this problem. Can't recall the cause or fix but poke around and you might find something, might even be on my site.

Post back and I'll see what you have reported in the morning, late here now.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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D

David Hurlston

Inspiring

I couldn't find it on the various forums or on your site.

I had a suggestion from the forum to use FAR. That looks to be a handy tool that might be able to prune out the funny stuff. I'll try it

I find the need to do a lot of project-wide find and replace operations in RHWord prior to importing into RHHTML, and that is always scary using the tool in RHWord

David Hurlston

ViaData LP

tel: 281 242-6394

fax: 281 242-6498

A

Anonymous

I have repeatedly downloaded your .zip file but have been unable to open it. Can you repost it?

J

jonestechAuthor

Inspiring

Hi Prhmusic,

The problem was solved by reinstallation - so I am moving on now. Thanks.

Jeff

J

jonestechAuthor

Inspiring

After deinstalling all 3 versions of RH on my system (6,7,8) and then reinstalling RH8 - FTP publishing now works again.

RH should really have better troubleshooting, tracing, logging features.

Thanks to all for your support on here.

Jeff

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Did you mention that you had three versions installed?

Unless you have full licences for all three versions, you are not allowed to have all three installed and it does cause problems. I can't say this is one but keep the foregoing in mind in future if you encounter problems.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

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J

jonestechAuthor

Inspiring

Hi Peter,

Yes, I did say I had versions 6, 7 and 8 for RH installed on the same system. I do have full licenses for each. I removed all three and reinstalled v8 and the FTP publish now works again.

fyi,

Jeff

J

jonestechAuthor

Inspiring

I reran the import, this time choosing to keep the XPJ. It stated that it was from an earlier version, not sure how that happened as I definitely opened the project in RHWord V8, but perhaps did not save the project after building both WebHelp and MSHTML help.

But, did not get the image errors I did above with the HHP choice. And the project imported withot error.

Also, I chose to use one CSS based on one of the Word Docs from the previous project instead of separate CSS for each file.

However, upon import completion, the CSS (long list of font names) still appear at the top of some topics and many links are broken.

And, I still have non-displayable characters in all of my topics. Many of them are where possesive apostrophes used to be. But some are something else.

What might I be doing wrong? Or is this the best I can hope for, which makes converting from RHWord to RHHTML unpractical for me?

Jeff

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Take a look at my Importing from Word article. I know that you are not importing as such but it will explain how Word topics end up with embedded styles as well as CSS and inline stuff.

My guess on the character stuff is that you have been using Word's smart quotes and suchlike. HTML does not like them. You can change them by using a find and replace tool but whilst they are powerful at fixing things quickly, they are also powerful at wrecking a project. You would need to proceed with caution and keep taking backups.

How practical it all is depends on how quickly you adapt to new ways of working and what support you have around you, tame developers who are familiar with HTML and so on.

Another way to create your new project might be this. Generate a CHM making sure you generate it with no build expression so that it contains all your topics. Then see my Reverse Engineering article and create a RH HTML project from that. It will not take overly long and you will be able to judge how close it is to what you want.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

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J

jonestechAuthor

Inspiring

Peter,

Thanks for all the help!

What a mess. It appears that in short, RHHTML is not compatible with RHWord.

In all of this messing around, now I have a new problem. I cannot Publish my WebHelp (RHWord) format to the web. This has worked over many years and across v6, v7 and v8; until today sometime. And now it won't work. A small window flashes up too quickly to make anything out. It then goes away, and nothing happens.

I installed V8 on another system, copied my project directory over there and same issue.

I have removed the publish site in the settings and re-added it. No go. It won't publish; no error; nothing! This is unbelievably frustrating. What will break next?

Any ideas on how to fix this one please?

Jeff

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