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November 23, 2020
Question

HTML Output (chm) has a different folder hierarchy than the TOC

  • November 23, 2020
  • 14 replies
  • 783 views

Hello everybody,

 

i am using RoboHelp 2020 and i have a problem. Maybe someone can help me.

 

After upgrading an old project i tried to generate an output. That worked. But when i opened the chm data the folder structure is totally different from the structure/hierarchy of the Table of Content. It is kind of messed up. There are some points missing. Some folders are even empty.

 

I am pretty confused, because i was reading about the new version and it was said, that the TOC controls what topics go into your outputs ( https://www.grainge.org )

 

After upgrading the old project the TOC is shown correct in the new project. Folders are in the correct hierarchy and folders are filled with the correct htm datas.

 

Maybe someone has an idea what i am doing wrong.

Thanks! Best Regards.

 

 

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    14 replies

    Participating Frequently
    August 20, 2021

    I had exactly the same issue with a project upgraded from 2019 to an earlier version of 2020, and applying Update 5 fixed the problem (YAY!): 

     

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp/generated-html-output-not-maintaining-toc-hierarchy/m-p/12329940#M140017

     

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    December 3, 2020
    1. Work with 2019 if you prefer but I'm thinking that for other work you would be better to stick with 2020 and use the suggested workaround for CHMs.
    2. Please let Support know that this issue has been referred to the developers who have a project showing this problem.

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    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    December 1, 2020

    Stefan shared a project with me and have referred the problem to Adobe but for now there does seem to be a workaround.

     

    Your 2020 subscription allows you to have 2019 installed as well. Note rhpj files will default  to opening in the last installed version if opened from File Explorer.

     

    Work in 2020 but when you need a CHM create a copy of the project as you did for me and then open that from 2019 New UI. You will get a warning that it might cause problems but ignore that.

     

    The CHM I generated from that project seems to be OK but obviously I am not familiar with the finer points so further checking is needed.

     

    You only need to have 2019 on one machine and it doesn't have to be your normal machine.

     

    I will update this thread when I learn more.

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    Known Participant
    December 3, 2020

    Thanks for the Information.

     

    I installed RH 2019 and upgraded the classic projects. Then i generated the chm data. Everything worked. Guess i will work with RH 2019 and not with RH 2020.

     

    I am in contact with the Adobe RH Support. I will share, if i get more informations.

     

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 30, 2020

    One other thought. When did you upgrade? The process has been changed so either the change has messed something up or you upgraded before the changes.

     

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    Known Participant
    November 30, 2020

    I upgraded the project before updating RH 2020. But i upgraded the project with the updated RH just 5 min ago to try it out. The same problem occures.

     

    If there are some news from the support i will inform you, thanks!

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 30, 2020

    You did realise I meant send it direct to me rather than uploading it generally to the forum? Without being able to work on a project there's not much I can do. If it helps, Adobe would throw me out of the ACP scheme if I breached any confidences.

     

    The only other suggestion is to close the project and create a copy. Delete the contents of the .rh folder in the copy and open the project. Some settings will be lost, hence using a copy. Generate from the copy.

     

    Please let us know if that helps or if Support are able to help and how.

     

     

     

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    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 30, 2020

    I have not been able to replicate this.

     

    1. Please open the About RoboHelp sample project and try with that. It generates correctly for me.
    2. Do you have the updates applied?
    3. Are you using the Windows version of 2020?
    4. Can you create this is a new project that you can share? I am happy to look into it but as above, I cannot recreate the problem?
    5. Is your project local and are you generating to the local drive?

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    Known Participant
    November 30, 2020

    I thinks StefanAnd has the same problem.

     

    1. Yes About RoboHelp sample project generates the correct chm data.

    2. Update 2020.0.2

    3. Latest Windows Update installed

    4. If i generate a new project it generates the output correctly.

    5. Ecerything is local

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 27, 2020

    Both please autogenerate a new TOC and compile. I realise it won't be what you want but see if that has differences.

     

    default5z9lpwaunczb Can you share the project? If you can, then see the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

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    New Participant
    November 30, 2020

    Hi,

    I auto generated a new TOC, see picture below (there are pages in all sections, but I’m only expanding the section with a few pages):

     

    The generated chm file still has incorrectly nested sections. At least all sections seem to be included here, that is not the case in the TOC that was generated in a previous version of Robohelp and converted to this version.

     

     

    I also created a really small TOC in our larger project to see if that worked:

     

    This is the generated chm file, so there is a problem even with this one:

     

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 26, 2020

    Sorry but why do you refer to it as a threat? Whilst there is an issue I can't see that there is any security threat here.

     

    Rather than report it as a bug see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your support contact options. They might be able to find the issue. It is likely they will want to share your screen. If you report it as a bug, it will likely be some months before it gets fixed if indeed it is a bug. I'm more inclined to it being a setup issue which is why I wanted to take a look.

     

    The other thing I would suggest is create a simple project and see if a similar structure causes the same problem. You could use the supplied About RoboHelp sample project and create a similar structure there.

     

    Let us know how you get on.

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    New Participant
    November 27, 2020

    Hi,
    I have the exact same problem. I had a project working fine in Robohelp 2012, then I upgraded it in Robohelp 2020.2.29. The TOC file looks the same in 2020 as in 2012, but after generating the output in 2020, the generated chm file has a totally messed up folder structure and lots of topics/sections missing.

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 26, 2020

    Can you share the project? If you can, then see the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

    ________________________________________________________
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    Known Participant
    November 26, 2020

    Unfortunately this is not allowed, because of the security advices of the company i work for.  Is it still possible to send this threat as an bug/problem?

    Peter Grainge
    Community Expert
    November 26, 2020

    Did you make the change I suggested at https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp/html-output-chm-has-a-different-folder-hierarchy-than-the-toc/m-p/11628057#M134658

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    Known Participant
    November 26, 2020

    Yes i added Topics as"Fillers" so every section has at least one topic plus the original folders. Still same problem