Inspiring

Question

Importing Word files into RH 2022 with Multilevel lists

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 26, 2024
4 replies
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I am neediing to import several hundred Word files into Robohelp 2022 and the majority of these files have Bulleted list, numbered lists and multilevel lists (75% of the source files I will be importing will containt one or all 3). I'm the only p erson to work in these source files and I'm the one who setup the list style in Word for the multilevel list and created the styles for the different levels of the bulleted and numbered lists.

For the multilevel list I created a list style in Word called KEES Multilevel List and inside this list style, I set up levels 1 -4 for the number formats and placement and linked each of thse levels to Word styles that I also created called ParaNum1, ParaNum2, ParaNum3 and ParaNum4. So, in effect, the list style controls the number alignment and format and the ParaNum1-4 controls the text settings for after the number and the 2nd line wrap settings for each level.

I've imported a few of these files into Robohelp 2022 and I want it to use the format of the styles I created in Word, so on the import, I chose to Import Style from Word into Robohelp. From there, I copied the styles from the topic CSS into my project CSS using Source preview in Robohelp.

I'm noticing that in Robohelp it looks a little different when I preview it from what it does in Word Web Layout view. My question is: is this the correct way to imort these Word documents? Is there a better way? I've read tons of articles and other people's questions and answers to Mujltilevel list issues, but I'm not convinced I am doing this the easiest way or the best way. Maybe I am. I'm just finding that the numbers in the multilevellists get weird once we hit 2 digit number such 10, 11, 12, etc. Before I spend 6 hours tyring to figure out how to make that not happen RH (I kmow how to control that in Word), I thought I would ask first. I

'll attach a screenshot of my source code and one of what it looks like when I press the Preview button in RH, which I assume will look the same as the output will look. Last question which is so frustrating, all of the formatting options in RH are in px and my indents are in inches in Word. So, for example, if I want a .5" space between my number and the text how do I put that into RH? Everytime I put it into the indent field in myh RH Style, it changes to 0 and it's bc it wants pixels or pts, I guess???? I'm not sure how to convert that so RH knows what I want (hopefully that makes sense).

Thank you in advance!!

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Jennifer shared a sample document and her CSS. The CSS list style was not fully defined so I created one to have four levels roughly in line with what is required. A trick a lot of people miss is if you want a paragraph with no numbers or bullets within a list, you can create a level without bullets or numbers. That gives what appears to be a normal paragraph <p> without interrupting the list numbering.

When you import, list styles do not get mapped but the document came through close to what is wanted.

If inline styles are imported, the code looks messy and I am concerned it might cause issues further down the line.
If they are not, the code is much cleaner but all bold and italic formatting is lost.

That's a decision for Jennifer.

I have given Jennifer some basic instructions for formatting the multilevel list. I will add them to my site at some point.

@Amebr The list editor is the same for both single and multiple level lists. You are right that multilevel lists can be an accessibility issue, at least that was what was always said for Classic. I wonder if the code in the new UI changes anything? I simply don't know. @JenniR_12 has to call that one.

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

If you can share one Word document and your CSS, see the Contact page on my site and send them using the email address there. No need to use WeTransfer.

I'll have a quick look but I don't expect to come up with any miracle fix.

________________________________________________________

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JenniR_12Author

Inspiring

Peter, thank you for all of your input. It's all very helpful. I will find your ocntact information and send you the css and a document just in case you look at it and can offer any other nformation for my situation. Everything you all have provided to me so far, has been exrtremely helpful. I'm learning every day I open this program and that's a good thing. I should have those files coming your way in just a few minutes.

Jen

Jennifer Rogers

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I have broken your orginal post down into bite size chunks to make it easier to follow. Help us help you.

I would say your chances of importing in one hit so that the RoboHelp topics look the same as Word's web view are zero. I suspect it will be easier to find something that is close and then clean that up. You may even stay sane!

Importing Word styles may work but I would be looking at the definitions in RoboHelp of those styles. I suspect it could be pretty messy.

Lists and multilevel lists have never imported perfectly and one thing found back in the Classic versions of RoboHelp was that things got worse if you had customised the standard indents in Word. 0.25 inches I think.

I doubt it will work but there is one method I was told about that sometimes may work. Select the whole of the Word document or a section and paste it into a blank RoboHelp topic. The code will be messy but what does it look like? Big warning though. It might look right but does it generate OK or is the code causing issues in a browser. Even if it looks OK initially, as you then continue to work on the project, I would be expecting problems. In short, it was suggested to me but I don't think I would go there given the nature of your documents.

I would time myself on importing and cleaning using the UI against pasting in unformatted text and applying styles. Without the issue of so many lists I had to do something similar a while back. Converting Dreamweaver code into RoboHelp. I ended up pasting in unformatted text.

Essentially as one former forum support said, you are trying to convert diesel into petrol (gas).

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A

Amebr

Community Expert

Unfortunately the images were converted by the forums so they are really too small to see what you are trying to illustrate. Perhaps try taking the screenshot and saving to png or gif format, then use the Insert Photo icon to insert the image. In the Insert dialog box, make sure you select "Large" for the image size to minimise the chance of the forum software messing it up. Once you post back with new images, hopefully someone familiary with multilevel lists can help with that issue.

One numbering difference between Word and HTML is that numbering in Word typically justifies the left side of the number, whereas HTML right justifies the number. So for Word, the number 1 in both 1. and 10., will align. Whereas in HTML, the dot will align. I'll try to illustrate in plain text here, but I'm not sure if this will show up correctly on the forums.

Word justified left

1.

10.

HTML justified right

1.

10.

On a side note, what I can see of the list you posted looks like a simple list, so I would suggest you consider using regular list formatting rather than the RH multi-level lists functionality. My understanding is it's really more designed for legal numbering rather than normal procedures. It may also have accessibility issues, if that is a consideration for you.

Regarding the units of measure, pixels is generally better if you are producing web based content as that is how screens are measured (by the number of pixels they have). There are lots of sites that can convert inches or centimetres to pixels if you want to start making that transition. After a while you get comfortable with what a certain number of pixels will look like (although it does vary depending on the screen - web is never as precise as print).

However, if you do want to continue using print measures, you can type the length and the measurement unit in the field.. e.g. 2 in to set it to 2 inches.

JenniR_12Author

Inspiring

Thanks for the response. I saved these and sent these as png files the first time and I double checked that the setting was set to Large on the Insert dialog box. I'm going to try again, though. I literally just took screenshots of each of the screens and pasted into a Word document and then saved in png format. Hopefully these are better. I increased the size of them. Let me know if they are still too small.

Thank you for all of the info. I found a conversion chart for inches to pixels - thank you. Hopefully that conversion will become more intuitive as I go and start to make actual sense in my head. These could be formatted as straight lists and bulleted lists rather than multilevel. I have the levels linked to styles and have a keyboard shortcut that I use to apply the formatting in my Word documents and so it's just been faster do it that way. Does it matter whether I use a straight numbered list or a multilevel list? I'm guessing due to your suggestion, it does matter and make a difference? I know there In the way of Indent and Prefix Width, do I need to set both of those or just one or the other? Which one controls where the number sits in the list? If I want my number to set in . 25 inches from my left margin and I want my number followed by .25 " space and my text to start at .5" from my left margin and I want subsequent lines to also wrap to the same place (.5" from left margin), which fields do I need to set for the style to do what I want it to do? See screenshot :

I've been at this for hours today and yeterday and Sunday. I get one thing figured out and then BAM, I'm spenidng hours, if not days, trying to simply do the next thing. I want so badly for the RH Style screens to make sense, but the language is so different. I've taught Word for 20 years and so I'm trying to train my old brain to think differently. Ive read and reread and reread Peter's documentation on CSS files and lists and importing. At some point, it's become a big blur. If there is any way you can get me back on track by kind of explaining what the (I'm going to refer to them as "fields") different fields in the edit Styles dialog box actually DO, I think that would be helpful. I am really iunterested in the fields that I need for my list number placement, what follows the number (Tab, Space or Nothing) and where the text for my list starts and what controls where 2nd and subsequent lines will wrap, I think that could be a good start. In word, the fields I needed are shown below:

Enter number for formatting - controls whether number format will be 1. or a. or i. or (i), etc

Aligned at - CONTROLS WHERE THE LIST NUMBER IS TO START RELATIVE TO THE LEFT MARGIN)

Follow Number With: (CONTROLS WHAT KIND OF SPACE IS BETWEEN THE NUMBER AND THE 1ST WORD OF THE LIST)

Text Indent At: -CONTROLS TEXT WRAP PLACEMENT FOR 2ND AND SUBSEQUENT LINES

Any help you can give me on where those fields are when I'm editing my styles that I've imported, that would be amazing. Sorry this is so long. It's complicated and I'm tired.

Thanks.

Jen