Known Participant

Question

Display Expand/Collapse All button when following a direct link to a topic

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
August 5, 2025
4 replies
358 views

Hello. I'm wondering if it is possible to display the Expand/Collapse All button when following an external link to a specific topic (or the topic is opened in a new window) without having to click on the

"Click here to see this page in full context" link. Currently, when you access a topic from a direct link, you get that message so it looks like this:

The "Click here to see this page in full context" link is (I thought) on top of where the Expand/Collapse All button is. You have to click the link and display the TOC in order to see the button. I updated the template to align that button to the left, thinking perhaps you'd be able to see the button where I added the yellow highlight:

But that didn't work - you still can't see it unless you click the link and also display that TOC. Is it possible in a responsive HTML5 output to display the expand/collapse button from a direct link without showing the TOC? To have the button appear in the yellow area above? If not, is it possible to have that button appear on the topics themselves instead of in the bar with the TOC, index, and search?

thanks!

Chris

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

I still can't really visualize what you're doing - the Expand action was only for dropdown text within a topic. Or are you referring expanding/collapsing something else?

C

Christine301653386cjzAuthor

Known Participant

No, that's exactly what we want to do - be able to expand/collapse the drop-downs in the topic. But if you open the topic in a new window, the button doesn't appear; you have to click on the "Click here to see this page in full context" link and display the TOC in order to see the button. I was trying to find out if there was a way to include the button on that header (header is probably the wrong word - it's the bar shown above the topic where the "click here" message is), without having to display the TOC first.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

I'd be more inclined to add the JavaScript programming for that button action in the Master page for inclusion in the topic itself instead of counting on it appearing in the toolbar header.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Can you consider changing to a frameless output? They can only open with the header and TOC. The call is different but the difference might not be so difficult to make.

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C

Christine301653386cjzAuthor

Known Participant

No, we would really prefer them not to open with the TOC opened anyway, and we also have a reverse scenario where we open topics from another project in the same frame, and want it to only display in that frame with the original project's TOC; in frameless it replaces the whole window.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

You can open a specific topic with the TOC and header. Wouldn't that solve the issue? How is described in Calling Help.

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Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

C

Christine301653386cjzAuthor

Known Participant

I think in order to do that, I'd have to replace all of the topic links with a specific url to the website where the project resides. If I just select the topic that I want to link to and choose New window, it opens without the TOC. Which we actually prefer - if you're opening a new topic in a new tab, and closing it when you're done, you don't need the TOC; the TOC is already opened with the original topic and will still be there when you close the new one. However, it would be nice to be able to open all of the drop-downs in that new topic without having to open the TOC. It might just not be possible and in that case we'll leave it as is, but it would be nice to be able to access that Expand/Collapse all button w/out having to view the TOC.

thanks!

Chris

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I'm not at a RoboHelp machine to test but I'm pretty sure the answer is that it's not possible.

The button is part of the header and you have chosen to open the help without the TOC and header. That begs the question Why?

________________________________________________________

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

C

Christine301653386cjzAuthor

Known Participant

For external links, just because we want to link directly to that topic without the user having to find it. For internal links, we open links in a new window instead of in the same frame so users don't lose their place. They might be linked to another topic to perform a certain task, but then have to come back to the initial topic and keep going; they can just close the new tab when they're done, and the original topic will be there where they left off.

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