External relative link issue in RH2017 print output

[SGRoeh]

Hey all, I'm having trouble getting a hyperlink in a Word output (that I then generate a PDF from) to retain its relative link functionality. I've searched the community but nothing seems to definitivly relate to my issue so I thought I'd create a new post.

I'm running RH2017. The link is in our Laser help project from which I create a Word print output document. I want the link in the document to always point to a PDF document in the same folder as the Laser manual, let's call it Copyright.pdf. I want the link in the Laser document to open the Copyright.pdf from the current folder it's in but RH assigns the address of the link to the root of the project no matter what I do.

What I want is if I move the two files to the same folder on the C:\ drive, the link will open the Copyright.pdf from that location. Likewise, if I move the two files to the same folder on the D:\ drive, the link will open the Copyright.pdf from that location, and so on.

The link in RH2017 looks like this:

The Word doc will get created from the RH2017 Laser project into the "D:\Localization\Laser\2021.1\Spanish\laser\!SSL!" folder.

When I create the Word doc, the link in the Word doc looks like this:

RH defines the link’s address as an absolute link using the RH project’s root folder as the parent instead of the relative link I’m expecting.

Now, when I copy the Word doc to the root of my D drive, the link address stays the same, it doesn’t change based on the new location which is what a relative link should be doing - relative to the location of the calling document.

I updated the Word Options with what was recommended in a MS Word forum but that doesn’t resolve the problem:

I manually edited the hyperlink in Word from this:

d:\Localization\Laser\2021.1\Spanish\laser\Copyrights%2c Trademarks%2c and Legal Information.pdf

To this:

Copyrights, Trademarks, and Legal Information.pdf

I then created the PDF from the Word doc and tested it by copying the Laser and Copyright PDF files into various locations and it works as expected. The link in the PDF looks like this:

Is there any way to set this up in RH to prevent the need for manual editing of the hyperlink in Word?

Thanks.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Is the PDF added as a Baggage File to the RH project?

[SGRoeh]

Hi @Jeff_Coatsworth - Thanks for the quick response.

Since the Copyright pdf is not part of the Laser project, it's not added as a baggage file.

The Copyright.pdf file is a separate document installed with the software's installer. The software installer copies the Copyright.pdf into the same folder as our help installer installs the Laser.pdf.

The issue is that we define the path to the Copyright.pdf file in RH with just the file's name, it seems RH should respect that address and not change it when it creates the Laser Word doc.

There doesn't appear to be any way to force RH to use a relative path for links. In this case, if I just enter the file's name (Copyright.pdf), the link should just search the current folder where the Laser.pdf file is in for the Copyright pdf.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I think you should give it a try (adding it as a Baggage File) - then when you make the link inside RH, the project will know where to find the file in the output. Just making a reference to the file name won't work - the software has to know where the file is located.

[SGRoeh]

I added the Copyright pdf file as a baggage file, deleted the existing hyperlink and then re-created it just in case, saved the project, generated the Word doc and tested the link but it's still an absolute link to the root of the RH project:

"d:\Localization\Laser\2021.1\Spanish\laser\Copyrights, Trademarks, and Legal Information.pdf"

Just for kicks, I copied the Word doc into a totally different drive on my computer just to see if it would change and it didn't - it retains the absolute address back to the root of the RH project.

[Peter Grainge]

Let me get your workflow clear.

You use RoboHelp to create a Word document from the topics. Outside RoboHelp you then convert

it to PDF and create a link from your project to that PDF. So far so good?

If that is the case as the PDF is not within your project it will create an absolute link. Can you not go through the Word/PDF bit before you generate the PDF and then import your PDF into the project and then add it to baggage?

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[SGRoeh]

Hi @Peter Grainge - No, I actually create the link in the RH project using just the file name "Copyrights, Trademarks, and Legal Information.pdf". I'm making the assumption that by entering the file name alone, the link will only search the current folder to locate and open the pdf from. The issue is not related to the Copyright pdf document but the link to it from the RH-generated Laser pdf, so it doesn't matter if the Copyright pdf is added as a baggage file or not...at least not in the testing I've done so far.

I then create a Word doc and test the link with the Copyright pdf in the folder that the Word doc is created in. In this case, I'm creating the Laser Word doc here:

D:\Localization\Laser\2021.1\Spanish\laser\!SSL!

When I open the Word doc and review the hyperlink's address, instead of seeing just the file name for the hyperlink, I'm seeing this absolute address:

d:\Localization\Laser\2021.1\Spanish\laser\Copyrights, Trademarks, and Legal Information.pdf

Since the Copyright pdf is not in that location, when I click the link nothing occurs as I would expect.

When I edit the hyperlink in the Word doc so it just contains the file name and then test the link, the Copyright pdf opens as expected since I have the pdf in the !SSL! folder alongside the Laser Word doc.

With the link updated in Word, I then create the PDF version of the Laser document and test the link from the Laser.pdf which works. I can even move the two PDF's into a completely different folder or drive and the link works.

My question was and still is - is there a way to do this within RH without having to modify the link after generating the Word doc? We have multiple projects in multiple languages and we're trying to reduce the number of steps it takes to create these Word/PDF documents.

I hope this better explains the workflow.

[Peter Grainge]

Lets try this as a series of numbered steps.

1. Create a project in which there is a topic that links to copyrights.pdf (shortened for convenience). The link is not actually to such a topic in the project, it is a link you type in at code level.
2. You then generate a Word doc named laser.docx (again shortened) so that in theory the link in laser.docx should just be to copyrights.pdf and should work if the link remains just copyrights.pdf.
3. The reality is that link gets changed to the absolute path on your machine.

If that is correct then I have suggested a workaround to try but if that is not the case, then please set out the steps in the same format as above.

If I have got it right, create a simple PDF called copyrights.pdf and import that into your project, add it to baggage so that it gets included in the output. In the output delete this copy and replace with the real PDF.

To be honest I don't think that is going to work but it's simple enough to try. Assuming it fails...

1. Have tried just editing the link in Word? It's an extra step but it might just be the simplest solution.
2. Is copyrights.pdf available on any webserver. If it is could you not create a full URL to that?

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[SGRoeh]

@Peter Grainge/ @Jeff_Coatsworth ... Thank you both for your support.

@Peter Grainge- I tried your initial test and as you mentioned and expected, the absolute path was created when I created the Word doc from a new project with a single topic that had the link entered in at code level:

Both the new Word doc and the Copyrights.pdf were in the same folder:

I then tried by adding the pdf as a baggage file and republished the print but it too generates an absolute link to the same location as above.

To answer your questions:

1. This exercise was an attempt to remove a post-processing step after generating the Word docs. We have multiple projects (Laser is one of several RH projects with this link) in multiple languages that we generate print outputs for.

2. No, the software installs the Copyright.pdf and our help installer installs the help pdf files into the same folder.

[SGRoeh]

There used to be an Edit button that I could click to edit my response.

I wanted to just add that in your first question, this is what we currently do which we were hping to avoid.

[Peter Grainge]

OK. Sorry I don't have a better answer. I guess you could try a feature request that the link is left relative but I'm not sure whether that would have implications for other users.

Please follow this link to request features. https://tracker.adobe.com

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information