Create Editions in Main Help

[rabi narayan]

There are different versions of the main software for which I want to take portions of the main help and then trim topics which do not exisit in them.

I want to keep a functionality that If I do any changes in the Main help, the common topics between editions get that update automatically. Else I would be required to copy and paste the content between editions and it would be tiresome as there are  4 editions of my software.

Please suggest what can be done to achieve this?

[Peter Grainge]

It sounds like you have a bunch of topics and want different combinations in different outputs. Easy to do using build tags and expressions. You haven't said which version of RoboHelp you are using. See my site for how. The RoboHelp Tour covers the New UI versions. Classic versions covered elsewhere on the site. 

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

[rabi narayan]

Thank you Peter. I am using the Robohelp ver. 2022.2.22. I tried to locate the topic on your website, but wasn't able to go to the right one.

Can you please guide me to the same?

[Peter Grainge]

I don't know how long you have been using RoboHelp but things changed when the 2019 version introduced the New UI. This page describes how both work. Essentially the older Classic versions included all topics in the build unless you used build tags and expressions to exclude them. The new UI only includes topics in the TOC and topics that have links from them.

See https://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/build_expressions/expressions.htm

Now that I know which version you are using, see these pages.

• https://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh_tour/rh2022/toc_index_glossary/toc.htm.
• https://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh_tour/rh2022/single_sourcing/single_sourcing.htm describes how to apply tags and use expressions to further control what is in the output. 

In your case the easiest solution would be to create multiple versions of the TOC for the different combinations of topics. Then you can either select the required TOC each time you generate or create multiple presets, each with a different TOC.

You could have one TOC and use build tags and expressions instead but it's a lot more messy. By using multiple TOCs you can see quickly what you will get. It's easier to get your mind around it.

I think the above shows why it is important to include your version when you start a new thread so that you can be given the correct help. For Classic it would have been a different answer.

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

[rabi narayan]

Thanks Peter for a detailed Answer. I will go through these pages and will update you on the route chosen and did it actually met my requirement.

I will make sure to add my Software version in for all start queries. Thanks again for the note.