Download PDF in Offline Mode

[amrutha_3925]

Dear Team,

Do we have any option to save offline PDF file from the generated output of a particular page?

Thanks,

Amrutha V Nair

[Peter Grainge]

I tried to merge your other thread with this one but it failed and is now lost. You should have included your post in this thread.

You haven't said which version of RoboHelp you are using. Please always start a thread with this information.

Please go to Help > About and include the full version number.

I will assume it is one of the new UI versions rather than Classic.

The Download PDF button is intended for downloading one PDF only, not a PDF for the selected page. Generally this would be a PDF of the whole help. What I believe you want is a PDF of just the page the user is viewing. For that you would have to create the PDF and put a link to it in the topic.

The only alternative I can think of right now is for the user to right click and then choose a PDF option in their list of printers. That would require training or a note in the topic guiding the user to do that. This way is not very elegant but it is an option. 

If you go the PDF of the whole help, I believe you add the button and specify the path here.

________________________________________________________

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

[amrutha_3925]

Dear Peter,

We are using Robo Help 2022.

We are asked to implement a download button in the output of the project.

Accordingly, we have brought a Download button, and tried to implement the functioanlity through the Java script.

Please have a look at the screenshot attached in the previous thread.

Though the Download button is available on the output, it is not working.

Could you please advise?

Thanks,

Amrutha V Nair

[Peter Grainge]

Your other thread is lost in the mists of time as I indicated.

Please see my earlier answer in this thread for your options. I think the process is to create a PDF output so that the PDF has the whole help. Then add that output to Assets and link to it where I have shown.

Post back if that doesn't work and I will check the process.

________________________________________________________

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

[amrutha_3925]

Hi Peter,

We tried the way you suggested and it did not work.

Do you have any alternative method to suggest?

Thanks,

Amrutha V Nair

[Peter Grainge]

I created a PDF, browsed to it and RoboHelp imported it into Assets. When I generated, the download icon was automatically added.

Exactly what steps did you take? 

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

If you add a single PDF where I have shown, the toolbar will automatically include another icon to download it.

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

There does seem to be an issue with this method. I am looking into it.

UPDATE

There was an issue with the skin I was using. Step by step this is how to make it work.

First create the PDF you want to download. As before, you can only link one PDF for the whole help.

In the Frameless preset go to the preset and click the search icon, then Local Files (unless you have already added the PDF to your project)

It will show the relative path but when you click Select, RoboHelp will change that to the Assets > Docs folder and import the file.

All I did then was generate to my template and click the download icon. That opens the PDF.

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

If that still isn't working for you, let me know at which stage it fails. Also which template you are using.

________________________________________________________

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

[amrutha_3925]

Dear Peter,

Thank you for the support.

We got the solution.

Regards,

Amrutha V Nair

[Peter Grainge]

Do you mean using PDF Download, linking to individual topics or something else?

________________________________________________________

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

[jenna_frenak]

Hey Peter,

I am trying to accomplish something similar in RH 2022 - my team uses the Responsive HTML 5 output and I want to add a button that allows users to download a PDF from within the help. I've added the PDF to the assets/images folder within the project and added a new button to the template under Custom Buttons. However, I can't seem to figure out what to enter in the OnClick text box. I saw using window.open("x"), but am not sure what goes in place of x - if that is the correct code at all. I tried window.open("assets/images/filename.pdf") and window.open("filename.pdf") but neither worked. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

See what I put in this post.https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp-discussions/download-pdf-in-offline-mode/m-p/15163569#M15676...

You simply add the PDF where I have shown. I'm not at a RoboHelp machine but I think that field is in the HTML5 preset. Assuming it it is, that's it, RoboHelp adds the button.

If the field is not there, post back and I will take a look tomorrow.

________________________________________________________

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

[jenna_frenak]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I did see that thread earlier, but unfortunately, I don't see anything like that under the Responsive HTML5 option - life would be a lot easier if it was there! 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Nope, that's a Frameless feature, not a Responsive HTML5 one. 

[jenna_frenak]

Right... any ideas on how to do it then? I'm trying to do it with custom buttons, but dont know what to put in the OnClick field: 

[Peter Grainge]

As I said, I'll take a look tomorrow. Another solution would be a Topic Layout with a URL.

________________________________________________________

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

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Perhaps something like this - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34691525/how-to-download-pdf-automatically-using-js ?

[jenna_frenak]

So I found the following... If I'm adding a custom button and enter window.open("assets/images/x") in the OnClick text box, where x is the file name, clicking the custom button in the generated help opens the designated file IF the file ends up in the assets/images folder for the output. 

For example, I have a bunch of images in my assets/images folder for the project itself: 

But after generating the help, turns out only a handful of those are actually used in the project and end up in the assets/images folder of the output: 

If I set the OnClick text box to window.open("assets/images/note.gif"), clicking the button in the output does not open the note.gif image as it's not actually anywhere else in the project, and thus, not in the assets/images folder of the output. But if I swap note.gif with say calendar.gif, delete button.gif, etc. then it works!

Now.... the key is figuring out how to get the PDF file in that assets/images folder for the output. I copied and pasted it into the folder, but once I generated new help output, it was automatically deleted. 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

See https://www.grainge.org/RoboHelp_Tour/rh2022/toc_index_glossary/toc.htm - "Baggage Files" section

[Peter Grainge]

This is untested, just a theory.

Create a button. In the URL the URL will be a web link to wherever you upload the PDF.

________________________________________________________

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

[jenna_frenak]

The issue here is we don't currently have a designated spot where the PDF would be uploaded online. Something we may be able to do, but we're just in the beginning phases of including a PDF with our help as is. 

[Peter Grainge]

Where will the help be located?

________________________________________________________

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

[jenna_frenak]

Well the help itself has a web link, but the PDF that they could download from within the online help would be stored in the project - at least right now. For some of our help systems, we are using Azure blob storage 

[jenna_frenak]

I did get it to work using the method I mentioned above, but that would mean my team has to manually paste the PDF file into the output folder each time we generate the output. Definitely not idea, but it does work.