Can I delete multiple topics in RH10 without deleting links to the deleted topic?

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
April 17, 2013
3 replies
2741 views

If I delete a topic in the Project Manager in RH10 then I get the option to not delete links to the deleted topic (useful as I then want to search on broken links). The downside is I can only delete one topic at a time. However, I can delete multiple topics using the Topic List but it deletes the link to the topic as well.

Does anyone know how I can delete multiple topics in RH10 and keep the broken links to the deleted topic?

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Correct answer Peter Grainge

By submitting a feature request! It has been that way for many versions.

Please follow this link.

http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Paula R. Stern

Participating Frequently

Okay - I have to ask...why would you want to keep the broken links?

And, if you want to keep them because in the future you'll want to resurrent the topics so why not use conditional tags to block out the topics in the current build without deleting them?

P

Paul_SHAuthor

Inspiring

I was splitting up a help project into smaller projects so I didn't want the links to disappear when I deleted topics as I'd still need them as external links.

F

fashionable_artist157F

Known Participant

okay - one question further...why do you need to split them into individual projects. As RoboHelp gets more robust, I find that I am joining projects together to minimize repeated text. Using conditional tags, I can generate numerous smaller documents and still save on content reuse.

If there is any chance in the future of needing to "share" some of the info, I'd go with heavy use of conditional tags over breaking them into smaller topics. With conditional tags, you only "ship" the files you need anyway, so the fact that they are contained within a larger problem is no longer a major issue.

To all above - In my case, the topic set to be deleted is reference material that has been historically maintained both in the webhelp project and in an FM book, but not with single sourcing into the webhelp project. Duplicated effort. The webhelp project is a huge, flat legacy structure that covers many products so I was hoping to avoid introducing single sourcing for just the reference piece. I'd hoped to just produce a tagged PDF and change the original links to point to that. A separate issue is making that a non-option though; I can't get the successive links to the PDF to open to the topic except in Firefox. Ideally this project would be rebuilt as a merged webhelp but our project lifecycles are so short that this may not be feasible. The ideas here have been helpful though.

Captiv8r

Legend

Hi there

Until Adobe changes behavior, this is likely the best way:

Right-click a topic in the Project Manager pod and choose Explore. This should open Windows Explorer at the project location.

Locate and delete the topics using Windows Explorer.

Return to RoboHelp and you have accomplished part of your goal.

The topics will still be listed in the Project, but will show a red x indication that they cannot be found. And I"m guessing that because you want to delete the topics but not remove the references, this will actually be fine as you are likely going to replace the topics at a later point, no?

Hope this helps... Rick