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Welcome topic (index.htm) is displayed as a TOC within a TOC

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After upgrading a help system from RoboHelp 2015 to the latest version (2022.5.8), the Welcome topic (index.htm) is not loading correctly.

As you can see in the preceding image, the TOC is displayed within another TOC and the Welcome topic fails to load. All other help topics are displayed as expected.

Here’s what the Welcome topic looks like in the previous RoboHelp 2015 version:

New UI

Peter GraingeCorrect answer

Community Expert

Reread my explanation. 🙂 The start page and the default topic are different things so it follows they cannot have the same name. That was true in Classic as well.

The start page can be called whatever you want but index.htm is the most common. Welcome is another. See https://www.ionos.co.uk/help/hosting/html-and-css/permitted-file-names-for-home-pages/

It's OK in RoboHelp to have either but what you cannot do is have the same name for both. What happens then is the start page calls itself so you see the output within the output. You must have a topic as the default topic and it must have a different name. If the topic that you show in your second image is called welcome.htm then rename it. welcome2.htm would be OK.

________________________________________________________

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

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

You don't need that file. RoboHelp creates the start page with whatever you enter. If you use one of the standard names, you don't need to include it in the path. www.grainge.org opens the start page on my site and the you will see that change to the URL for the default topic.

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ToilingInObscurityAuthor

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Thank you Peter!

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Peter Grainge

Correct answer

Community Expert

Reread my explanation. 🙂 The start page and the default topic are different things so it follows they cannot have the same name. That was true in Classic as well.

The start page can be called whatever you want but index.htm is the most common. Welcome is another. See https://www.ionos.co.uk/help/hosting/html-and-css/permitted-file-names-for-home-pages/

It's OK in RoboHelp to have either but what you cannot do is have the same name for both. What happens then is the start page calls itself so you see the output within the output. You must have a topic as the default topic and it must have a different name. If the topic that you show in your second image is called welcome.htm then rename it. welcome2.htm would be OK.

________________________________________________________

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

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ToilingInObscurityAuthor

Known Participant

Many thanks Peter! My problem is solved. I created an empty text file named index.htm and put it in the Help Source_rh2022\contents directory. I set index.htm as my start page and left Welcome.htm as the default topic. It worked! I'm not sure whether that is a proper fix or just some duct tape slapped onto a leak. 😊

Thanks! ToilingInObscurity

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

@Achal__ has pointed you to the right fields that need fixing. To explain, in the General settings you define the page that opens the help and is filled with a topic, the TOC and so on. In the Content settings you define the topic that is to appear. What is likely is that you have set that to index.htm. Change it to a real topic and you should be fine.

________________________________________________________

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

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ToilingInObscurityAuthor

Known Participant

Peter and Achal, thanks for your help! I believe that you have set me in the right direction, but I haven’t solved the problem yet. Please see the following screen captures from the Output Preset setting.

The previous screen captures show what I believe are the correct settings for my help system and yet the problem persists. I think you are right about these fields in that I can move the problem to a different topic by setting another topic as the Start Page/Default Topic. Moving the problem, however, does not solve it. Do you have more advice on editing these field?

Thanks! ToilingInObscurity

FYI: I made an error in my previous post; the correct start page is welcome.htm and not index.htm.

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Achal__

Inspiring

Hi @ToilingInObscurity , You might need to play with the options in the Content and General Panel in the Output Preset setting.