Recreating or importing a RH 2019 Classic Project Template into RoboHelp 2020

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
April 12, 2022
3 replies
222 views

I'm an experienced technical writer and RoboHelp 2019 Classic user. Our group has been using RH for the past 20 years from the time it was Blue Sky. Because of the number of help files we maintain, a RoboHelp project template defining our master pages, styles, and output format and parameters is in use to ensure consistency in authoring and output look and feel. Our template folder containing all relevant template files is installed on each of our laptops at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 2019\RoboHTML\Template\en_US. Having it at that location makes it an option to select when starting a new RoboHelp 2019 Classic project. Our output is a slightly customized HTML5 output.

For our purposes, RoboHelp 2019 Classic has been a solid tool. Much to our dismay, Adobe has chosen to continue with their so-called minimalist version of the application phasing out RoboHelp 2019 Classic. I've sold our dept. on staying with Adobe and upgrading our project files to RoboHelp 2020, but I am starting to have second thoughts. Right off the bat, I have not been able to find a way to import or relocate our mainstay project template folder so that it is a project option for my writers. I've tried to find instructions on recreating it, but to no avail. In addition, I am already having problems creating simple and more complex (nested) ordered and unordered lists, something we did very easily in the Classic version. What gives? To make matters worse, when I upgraded our first project, none of the numbers or bullets came over, which means that I will have to re-apply/recreate all the ordered, unordered, and nested lists, manually one topic at a time (assuming I can figure out how).

I welcome advice, instructions, reference materials, or anything else on how I can replicate our current “templatized” environment so that it is a project option in RoboHelp 2020 like it is in Classic. Has anyone created a reusable project template in RoboHelp 2020? Can anyone recommend an in-depth resource for using this application? I am sorry, but RoboHelp's online help is marginal at best. Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Copy the Classic project to network location and upgrade it. Then authors can copy that project from there. It's not the same as you could do in Classic but it's close.

2020 is only minimalist in the sense of a simplified UI. You will soon find it more intuitive and hate going back to Classic.

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

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Amebr

Community Expert

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone storing their template in the Robohelp installation directory before. Or maybe I have vague memories of it from the Blue Sky days. But certainly nothing in the last decade. So I don't think there will be a way to update those files automatically.

Regarding the bullets and numbering, it may be related to the way that bullets and numbering were done using custom code (kadov tags) and paragraphs in the pre-Robohelp 7 (Adobe 7 not Blue Sky 7) versions. Have you tried upgrading via Robohelp 2019 New UI? I feel like that handled the older code better than RH2020.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

I think that's one of the reasons why your RH2020 subscription includes access to RH2019 (I believe).

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Are you all patched up with Patch 7 (as of Apr 2022)? Have you gone through the About RH sample project & Peter Grainge's site on the changes? - https://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh_tour/rh2020/introduction/about_robohelp.htm

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Adrienne KAuthor

Participant

Hello,

Thank you for the fast response and good suggestions. I believe I am patched to Patch 7 since I just recently installed RH2020, but I will double check.
Thank you for suggesting Peter Grainge's site. This will be my next stop.

With appreciation,
Adrienne K

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