Is it possible to use TCS 2017 and RoboHelp 2020 at the same time?

[23074959wo5m]

My company would like to buy RoboHelp 2020 for me and I was wondering if it is possible to have it installed and use it while TCS 2017 is already installed on the computer. Would I still be able to use the other parts of TCS 2017? (I work a lot with FrameMaker and Adobe Acrobat.)

[Peter Grainge]

You can't buy 2020, it is subscription only.

You will be able to install 2020 and it will work and you will be able to use TCS2017. However there are some downsides. You can't expect the two to play nicely with each other. RoboHelp 2017 will still work but not on the same projects. Your version of FrameMaker will not work with RoboHelp 2020, not sure about Acrobat.

Given 2020 is subscription only, you might want to involve the bean counters. First of all there's the question of how much is the difference between upgrading TCS and just subscribing to 2020. Depending on where you are, it's not just the face value of the difference. Tax allowances can reduce both and it's the net cost that matters.

You can install 2020 in trial mode but it's not a route to be taken lightly.

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

[23074959wo5m]

Hi Peter, thank you for the reply!

Just to confirm, both RoboHelp 2020 and TCS 2020 are subscription only. If I chose only to subscribe to RoboHelp 2020, my existing FrameMaker from TCS 2017 would not work at all, or it would not work together with RoboHelp 2020 (for example, linking or import)?

[Peter Grainge]

Both RoboHelp and TCS are now subscription only.

If you go the RoboHelp only route

• The TCS apps should work with each other but they will not work with 2020. 2020 will not allow linking and importing Fm content from your old TCS version. I don't know if TCS 2017 Acrobat will give PDFs from 2020.
• If you open a 2017 RoboHelp project in 2020, it will create a new 2020 project and leave your 2017 project untouched. You would still be able to work on the saved 2017 version in 2017 but you wouldn't want to as it will not know about your work in 2020. Effectively it is a backup of where you were in Classic.

If you link to or import from Fm, then standalone RoboHelp would not be a good solution.

________________________________________________________

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

[23074959wo5m]

Great, thank you so much for all the help!