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gracem83956500
Participating Frequently
June 12, 2023
Answered

I can't find my newly imported pages in our online help

  • June 12, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 525 views

I'm very new to RoboHelp. The process I inherited wasn't well documented, so I've had to figure almost everything out as I go, which has been both fun and challenging.

 

Our process is to download html files into RoboHelp for edits. I'm currently able to edit files just fine. I make the edits and then re-upload the html file to Visual Studio. However, when I create a NEW page from scratch in RoboHelp and go through the process of uploading it to Visual Studio and then our IT deploys it, the new page doesn't appear when I search within our 'Help.' If I type the URL containing the page into the web bar, the page loads, but the page is not searchable. What step have I missed to get these pages to populate?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Peter Grainge

    So your project just contains the new topics and then you are uploading those topics only to VS en route to the server. Thus what is on the server is a mishmash from 2019 and 2020. Also you are downloading output topics and editing them. All correct?

     

    That is not how things work. You have to upgrade the previous author's 2019 project and update that, then create new topics or edit the topics they created after you have upgraded their project. You must not use output topics as their code is very different to source code.

     

    Also what you are doing does not update the search and a whole bunch of other RoboHelp files.

     

    Finally what you should be doing is generating an output and uploading all of that. Generate to a local folder and then use Publish to get all the output of the VS server for IT to grab.

    ________________________________________________________

    My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

     

    5 replies

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    Peter GraingeCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 15, 2023

    So your project just contains the new topics and then you are uploading those topics only to VS en route to the server. Thus what is on the server is a mishmash from 2019 and 2020. Also you are downloading output topics and editing them. All correct?

     

    That is not how things work. You have to upgrade the previous author's 2019 project and update that, then create new topics or edit the topics they created after you have upgraded their project. You must not use output topics as their code is very different to source code.

     

    Also what you are doing does not update the search and a whole bunch of other RoboHelp files.

     

    Finally what you should be doing is generating an output and uploading all of that. Generate to a local folder and then use Publish to get all the output of the VS server for IT to grab.

    ________________________________________________________

    My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

     

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      G
      gracem83956500Author
      Participating Frequently
      June 15, 2023

      Appreciate the info. This has been a huge learning curve with no knowledge transfer what-so-ever, so I appreciate the help (pun semi-intended). Thanks for all of your insight!

      Peter Grainge
      Community Expert
      Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 13, 2023

      RoboHelp is not designed to work within Visual Studio, it is designed to be generated and published to a web server. There may be some way your predecessor found so we need to find out more.

       

      Find out what IT do with the output when they deploy it. I am hoping it is something like they simply move the files to the webserver. If that's the case we then need to figure out what was being generated.

       

      We might be able to do that if you go to Output > Outputs and seeing what preset are there. Add a screenshot of the options. Please use the photo icon to insert images within the post. Seeing an image inline with the text makes it easier for anyone answering or viewing the post.

       

      In each one look to see if there is an output path. Which ones have a path defined.

      ________________________________________________________

      My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

       

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        G
        gracem83956500Author
        Participating Frequently
        June 15, 2023

        Our IT does just move the files to the webserver. My predecessor did the updates in RH 2019, and now we are using RH 2020. I had to create a project from scratch, so in the "author" section, I currently only have the new pages I want added, as well as pages I've downloaded to edit. Another question I had (getting ahead of myself most likely) is that once I figure out how to generate the correct output, will this project overwrite what we currently have deployed? For instance, since I only have like 10-12 pages in my project, when this is deployed, will it just show these 10-12 pages in our new 'Help'? Or will it retain what's already there with the addition of these?

         

        There are currently some pre-populated presets (attached).

        G
        gracem83956500Author
        Participating Frequently
        June 15, 2023

        And to specify, none of the pre-populated outputs have defined paths. They're all blank (probably because I haven't used them and this is a 'new' project I started).

        Jeff_Coatsworth
        Community Expert
        Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        June 12, 2023

        Ok, so definitely the New UI version of RH. In that version, all topics need to be included in your table of contents (TOC) to get included in the output that is generated. You can "hide" a topic in the TOC if you don't want it directly discoverable from the TOC.
        When you add a new topic, add it to the TOC and then generate the output, you need to upload all of the output files to your staging area for IT to upload to the web server. 

          G
          gracem83956500Author
          Participating Frequently
          June 13, 2023

          Thank you for the info. And you may not be able to answer this, but what type of output should it be for Visual Studio? For editing pages, I've been downloading the html topic to RoboHelp and then re-uploading the same html file back into Visual Studio afterwards. I'm not familiar with the outputs listed (frameless, ebook, knowlegde base, etc.).or the output process since I haven't had to do it before with edits of current pages.

          G
          gracem83956500Author
          Participating Frequently
          June 12, 2023

          We're using version 2020.8.34.

          Peter Grainge
          Community Expert
          Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          June 12, 2023

          You haven't said which version of RoboHelp you are using. Please always start a thread with this information.

          • Please go to Help > About and include the full version number.
          • If you are using 2019 also state whether it is 2019 Classic or 2019 New UI.

           

          I'm guessing you may not be uploading the whole new output to Visual Studio which I hope is only being used as a repository to get it to IT. That would explain why the topic is making it but the new search is not.

          ________________________________________________________

          My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

           

           

           

           

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