Hiding Topics from a Basic Search

Question

My predecessor handled screen captures in an unusual way (at
least to me). Rather than displaying them in the body of a topic,
she'd insert a graphic of a button called "screen" button. If
someone reading a topic wanted to see the screen capture the text
was referencing, they could click on the screen button and be taken
to the image. What is interesting, is that the actual screen
capture they are taken to via the hyperlink is displayed on a
separate topic page rather than having the hyperlink take the
reader to the actual image file.

Since this seemed to be the convention for how screen
captures are managed, I started doing the same thing. I recently
conferenced with someone in our QA department and she told me that
the screen capture topics are being returned in basic search
results (which makes sense). She would like these specific pages 
not to be returned in search results. Is there any way to
hide specific topics from a basic search? I've looked in the
RoboHelp help files and couldn't find any information. If I have to
completely retool how graphics are handled in these projects, it
will represent hundreds of hours of labor.

I'm using RoboHelp 5 and working in HTMLHelp (CHM). Thanks.

-Trip

Captiv8r · Accepted Answer

Hi TripI could see a couple of possible approaches.1. Remove all the topics that are linked, and directly insertthe images within the topic. Just tuck them away in DHTMLDrop-downs. This way they will be hidden until the user clicks thedrop down link.2. You could go behind RoboHelp's back and rename all thetopics with the images from .HTM extension to .XHTM. At this point,RoboHelp won't see them and will consider them to be broken links.You would then return to RoboHelp and carefully add each new .XHTMtopic to your list of Baggage Files. Then you would amend all thelinks to point at the new topics. After that, recompile/regenerateand you should be set.Cheers... Rick

Chet Zeshonski · Answer

There's another way to do this:1. Move all the screen capture topics to a new (secondary)project.2. Create a new CHM file from the secondary project.3. In your primary project, open each link to a screencapture image. In each case, the Hyperlink dialog will appear.4. Open the Link to drop-down menu, and then select Remote Topic.5. Navigate to the secondary CHM file.6. Select the desired topic from the secondary CHM file.7. When you are finished, generate a new CHM file from yourprimary project. The secondary topics will not appear in your search results.I found this in the RH Help files or the Knowledge Base; Idon't remember which. Also, if you don't want to repeat these stepsfor each link, you can edit one link, copy the code from theTrueCode pane, and use a find-and-replace feature to replace theold code with the new target. That should cut down the timetremendously.(FWIW, I use drop-down hotspots when I show such captures atall.)

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