Comments added in RH2017 help file not displayed when converted to RH2020

[amie68]

I have a help file that was converted from RH2017 to RH2020. The author used comments extensively in this file to document source information for changes made. I can see these comments in the source view in RH2020, however, I can find no way to make them visible in author view.

For example: a comment was inserted beside the Name 3 J1 Segment heading in RH2017. In RH2017 the author could see that the note existed because of a yellow note icon and then double click to read. There is no indication of this note in RH2020 author view. I do see the note text in source view.

<p class="Table_Heading">Name 3 J1 Segment</p>
<div style="display: none;">
<p>126050 FY21, Sprint 1 - Add Name 3 to J1 segment of credit bureau file - REV 060421 DB</p>
</div>

Based on this, I know the information is still there after the conversion to RH2020. However, I'm struggling to find a way to make this usable. The author needs to know these notes exist when they go to a topic without having to search through source view.

Has anyone else encountered this? Is there a way to  make comments of this sort visible in author view?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Isn't that bit with the "<div style="display: none;">" part responsible for hiding the text in the <p> tag?

[amie68]

Yes, looks to be. My issue - I don't want to just display this text. It is not intended to be in the final output for a user; content is for the author side. So, just updating the style to something that would display isn't a solution for me. Thought about making these conditional text, but some of these comments are pretty long and would be disruptive on the page; would interfere with seeing how the layout looks, flows, etc.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

According to w3schools, you can use JS to show/hide display:none elements - if you're all patched up with Patch 7 in RH2020, and it still doesn't have any indicator toggle, it might be a bug in the newer JS (or it might not be supported in HTML5).
Have a look at the same bit in RH2017 to see how it shows up.

[amie68]

Using JS to show/hide display:none elements - applicable to published output or something that can be done while working with the files in RH?

I am up to date with patches in RH2020.

This is how the html looks in RH2017:

<td style="vertical-align: top;"><p class="Table_Heading">Name
3 J1 Segment<?rh-comment id="rh-comment1411" dataid="c896977150411" ?></p>
<?rh-commentdata_start class="x-popup-text" id="c896977150411"
reviewer="Debbie Bryan" time="20210604104257-0600" ?><div style="display: none;">
<p>126050 FY21, Sprint 1 - Add Name 3 to J1 segment of credit
bureau file - REV 060421 DB</p>
</div><?rh-commentdata_end ?></td>

[Amebr]

I pasted that RH2017 sample into Classic and it's a Review comment. That functionality no longer exists in that form in RH2020.

Perhaps you could convert them all to dropdown links and apply a condition tag to the dropdown so it doesn't appear in the output. There are editor controls for showing and hiding individual dropdowns using right-click, and also Expand/Collapse all options to show and hide all at once.

[Peter Grainge]

An alternative would be to go through each topic copy the comment in Topic Properties > Description. Then on opening a topic you could check that field. When generating an output make sure that in the Search options you do not select Description.

I have recently contacted Adobe suggesting that in the Topic List report the Description field is added as an option. That would allow anyone to run the report and see all the comments in the project against all the topics. My thinking was that as I work I add notes in the Description field such as "Need to update the images before release". Then at intervals I could quickly see all the actions. If this is implemented I think that will be a better workflow.

Right now though, @Amebr's solution is more obvious.

________________________________________________________

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

[Amebr]

Be aware that if you use the topic description, that text is in the output and I don't think there is any way to exclude it. While it does not show up in a search as long as you don't select the output preset option Peter mentioned, you can view the website code to view that text. It may be available to search engines if the help is public and may appear in those search search results, although I can't test that (perhaps @Peter Grainge has some on his website he could check.)

Here's a frameless output, viewing the output code to show my text from the topic description field.

(In the dim, dark past there was a private comments field which at some point was made public. From memory they had to add a checkbox to the output settings because the change made a whole lot of private documentation notes public, causing a lot of consternation for the authors. This might have been before Adobe got the product, but I can't remember the exact timing. At least in New UI it's been renamed Topic Description so it's a bit more clear it's not private notes.)

[Peter Grainge]

Ooh! I'm guessing the logic is that if you select to use Topic Description in the search, then the search will look in that field. However, unless you make that choice, then it should not be in the output. I will be taking this up with Adobe.

Thanks for the alert.

________________________________________________________

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

[Amebr]

It's behaved that way since, like RH6 (second RH6 not first one 😛 ). Can't remember the exact timing, but basically forever in software terms. 🙂

[amie68]

Thanks @Amebr and @Peter Grainge for the info and two alternatives to the previously used method. I'll talk with the author about our best path forward.

[Peter Grainge]

I have added a feature request that should help.

RH-10778 | Tracker (adobe.com)

________________________________________________________

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

[amie68]

Thanks! That would a great addition.