Can I retrieve a RoboHelp project from the published output?

[Kaye242539505661]

We are updating several RoboHelp projects.  We realized that the baseline copies we are working from are not the versions that are currently running in our production enviornment.  Do we have to manually reverse engineer the projects, or can the project be built to the current version using the published files?  Thank you in advance for any input.

[Peter Grainge]

Are you are saying that you took some baseline projects to which new files were added or files were changed to produce the current output but that you don't have the projects that generated the current output.

Is that the case? If not, please clarify.

Generally, you can't use published files as source files in any version of RoboHelp. Whether you can reverse engineer a published output depends depends on your version of RoboHelp.

In Classic you could reverse engineer certain outputs. See Reverse Engineering (grainge.org)

If you are using the New UI, there is no reverse engineering. Clarify where the above and then we can see what is the best solution.

Are there no backups?

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

[Kaye242539505661]

Correct, we only have prior versions not the version currently deployed in our production enviornment. We are using RoboHelp 2019, the original files were in a prior version of RoboHelp.  The developer who worked with the files prior has left the project so all we have is what was stored in the corresponding CM baseline.

[Peter Grainge]

I assume you have checked with IT that they don't have backups of the developers computer.

If not then you can't use file comparison tools between source and output files. Maybe you could try generating a new output from your base version and comparing that with the later output to identify which topics are new or changed. Worth a shot.

When you say 2019, do you mean Classic or New UI?

If not, all I can see is a manual comparison and then copying the changes into your baseline project. I would paste in the text without formatting and apply that afterwards. Images you can copy and paste to the assets > images folder in the new UI. In Classic you will need to import them.

Do keep creating backups as you go in case some change makes a mess of things.

________________________________________________________

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

[Kaye242539505661]

We use the new user interface. Thanks for the backup reminder and the suggestions.  Appreciate you taking the time to respond.