Printed Doc Topics Out of Order/Index Keywords Misapplied

[Guest]

When generating Printed documentation, some of my topics are presented out of order when compared to my project's TOC. The very first topic is repeated, and some (but not all) subsequent topics show up under the wrong books or not at all. Also, Index keywords are applied in the wrong places. I will have index keywords for Topic A appearing where the title for Topic B is. When I'm using the Printed Documentation wizard, I have removed all topics and added them all back in, so this is not the problem. My WinHelp and WebHelp outputs will flawlessly list the TOC in the correct order.

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

I need to point you to my website and as you will see below, that may be troublesome at the moment. Mail me direct if you cannot get through in the next couple of hours. (Click my username)

Topics appearing twice is usually easy to fix. It occurs when the book is linked to the topic, so the topic prints as a result of that, and the topic itself is listed, so it prints again.

Now to wrong order bit.

Two things to try. What template are you selecting in the last page of the wizard? If it is not the Style Mapping template, change to that to see if that fixes the problem. We'll worry about appearance later.

On the next one you have to trust me! Take a copy of your project in Windows Explorer. Open the copy in RH and go to the topics list. Right click and apply one of the supplied style sheets that you have not used. Now generate the printed documentation again. I know it will look rubbish but I am hoping that will fix the wrong order bit.

[Guest]

Peter, thank you for replying so quickly.

First, I'm using RoboHelp for Word X5.0.1. I have no books linked to topics at all.

As for the topics in the wrong order: I'm selecting a custom template of my own which I have used successfully for years.

Lastly, I cannot apply any style sheets to my topics, since I am using RoboHelp for Word.

I hope you can still help me.

Thank you,
Marjorie

[Peter Grainge]

OK you didn't change the rules so much as the game! I know less about RH for Word so perhaps one of the gurus there can help? Meantime...

First have any Word patches been applied? That could easily have made RoboHelp all huffy!

Second, try another template even though the one you are using has worked OK. I am less sure than I would be with RH HTML but it's worth a try.

[Guest]

I don't believe any Word patches have been applied.

The "first topic duplicating" issue started happening months ago, and I figured at the time that this was the only problem, and that I would just cut it from the doc when I would rework the doc to go to print. I did not notice the other topics being out of order until just recently, when I had a different issue with Printed documentation (a new topic was missing, and Index keywords were being misapplied). I stumbled across the fact that random other topics were appearing out of order.

I have written for free email tech support, but it will take at least a business day to receive their first reply.

Anyone else who can assist, please post!

[Peter Grainge]

So why not try another template while you wait? At least it will rule that out.

I know this is RH for Word but I have seen changing the template in RH HTML fix so many things when people were convinced it was nothing to do with their template, I've been using it for ages etc.

[Guest]

Peter,

I tried the only other template (the default, called "Style Mapping.dot"), and this did not change things. Then I tried not using a template (by choosing "(None) - Use the Project's Styles"), and for some reason, it now seems to be leaving out all the topics from one of my source docs - very strange!

I'm still awaiting help from the support folks at Adobe.

Marjorie

[Peter Grainge]

You said earlier that you did not think any Word updates had been applied. That suggests it is possible, perhaps via auto updates.

Sometimes an uninstall and reinstall can fix issues like this so again, while you are waiting, why not give that a try.

Also my site should be online now so take a look under RoboHelp and Print Issues. That covers most of what I have found behind this sort of problem.

Let us know how you get on.

[Guest]

Peter,

I did in the course of time try a reinstall of RoboHelp, without any success from it.

I was in contact with tech support from Adobe/Macromedia, and we dealt with that source doc that I had mentioned was being left out of my printed output. This was my source doc #4 of 6. (See my previous post dated 04/24/2006 01:56:08 PM.)

Below I am pasting an email I'm sending to these tech support folks to follow up on what I've discovered so far:
----------
Gren,

I wanted to follow up and let you know what I have discovered since we last discussed my printed output problems. I have been working on other assignments, so there were a couple of weeks that I did not work on my printed output problems.

You had said that you had deleted a particular topic named "Accuracy of Data" from my project, and then you had cut its source doc (my source doc #4) into two approximate halves, and then you had generated my printed output without using my template.

I deleted the topic named "Accuracy of Data" from my project, but I did not cut its source doc (my source doc #4) into two approximate halves. Instead, I tried something that I thought I had already tried, but I was not 100% sure of this. After deleting the topic named "Accuracy of Data" from my project, I reapplied browse sequences to my entire project, using the RoboHelp wizard. (This is the step I wasn't sure I had tried yet or not.) *see comments in red below* Then I generated my primary output (WinHelp 4). Next, I generated my printed output without using my template. Upon comparison, the TOC matched my project's CNT file, and on a random inspection of the topic titles in my printed output, it appears that the Index Keywords were being applied to the right topic titles.

Next, I recreated the topic named "Accuracy of Data" entirely from scratch. Again, I reapplied browse sequences to my project, using the RoboHelp wizard. Then I Generated my primary output (WinHelp 4). Next, I found it necessary to reboot my PC before I generated my printed output without using my template. As long as I rebooted just before I generated my printed output, it still worked. When I first tried to generate my printed output, I had not rebooted first, and I encountered the following situation:

All the topics in my printed output appeared in the right order, with the exception of the topics named "Creating a Tax Rate" through "Maintaining Marrpays." These topics were missing from my printed output! The missing topics were all in a row, and they were all from my source doc #1, not #4! Upon inspection, I noted that no other doc #1 topics were called upon or referenced in the remainder of the TOC, from that point forward. This made me suspect that the omission of these topics was due to a lack of system resources while RoboHelp was processing my doc #1, and that generating printed documentation immediately after shutting down and rebooting would allow it to work. This solution has proven to work.

I have since attempted to generate and use my template, but when I do this, all the errors I first reported occur again (a repeating first topic, topics appear in the wrong order, index keywords are misapplied to the wrong topic titles, etc.).

So, it seems I have at least a workaround that succeeds for now.

I am still trying to find a way to get my template to work again. That is all that remains to solve my printed output problems. I would certainly appreciate your help.

I need to make some comments about the use of the RoboHelp wizard for applying browse sequences. I have learned over the years, through trial and error, that for the printed output to work properly after I reapply browse sequences, I must perform the following steps:

1. Reapply browse sequences using the RoboHelp wizard.

2. Make a text change to all of my source docs that are used for my printed output, and save this change. Usually, I move my cursor to the end of each doc, and then I type in one new word, and then I save the file.

3. To back out this change, I must move my cursor from the end of the new word to the beginning, and delete the new text from a different location. If I use the Backspace key to back out the change instead of the Delete key from a new location, this procedure will fail and printed output will also fail.

Thank you,
Marjorie

[Peter Grainge]

Marjorie

It does seem that you are continually having to go to extraordinary lengths to do anything with your project. I don't recall anyone having to reapply browse sequences after generating printed documentation. That plus the fact that it fixed things after recreating a topic makes wonder about the documents in your project. Are they very large? Also I cannot help but wonder if there is some sort of corruption in the files.

I think an old trick with RH for Word to deal with corruption was, after taking a copy of the whole project, to delete the rtf files while the project was closed and then re-open it so that new rtf files are created. It might be worth a try and can do no harm.

[Guest]

Peter,

Actually, I was reapplying the browse sequences BEFORE generating printed documentation. I did this both when I had deleted the problem topic ("Accuracy of Data"), and then again once I had recreated this topic.

My source documents that are used for printed output range in size from 450 KB to 2,383 KB. Document #4 (which has the topic "Accuracy of Data") is only 491 KB.

In my experience, corrupted source docs will make WinHelp and WebHelp generation fail, and these have always been succeeding for me.

As for deleting RTF files and then reopening the project so they are recreated, the tech support did suggest this, I did try it, but it did not solve my problems.

Now that I have recreated that problem topic ("Accuracy of Data"), the only variable that now brings out my problems is the use of my template for printed output. If I use no template, the problems I've been having are gone, but I am left with a document that is formatted even worse than one wherein my template would work.

Thanks for getting involved with my problems. I appreciate your input.

[Peter Grainge]

I really don't know what else to suggest. This looks like one of those problems where you have to see the actual project and be able to replicate the problems.

As well as considering the size of the documents, I believe Adobe also recommend not having too many topics in any one document. Have they covered that in their communications with you?

[Guest]

Yes, they have.

I always limit my source documents to 100 or fewer topics. This is a tip for RoboHelp for Word that I learned back in the late 1990's.

Document #4 (which has the topic "Accuracy of Data") has only 27 topics.

[jfullington]

Marjorie,

I have had this issue for over a year. I am also using Robohelp for Word and have also created my own Style template. I have some projects that are huge and have no problems and than others (I just created a new project with 10 pages and the first topic is listed twice in the TOC and the second topic is skipped all together. I have had no luck resolving these issues so I hope you do. I will be watching the postings for some good news.

Jean

[HKabaker]

Marjorie,

You say,

"First, I'm using RoboHelp for Word X5.0.1...."

I think I recall that version X5.0.2 fixed a lot of bugs, including problems with printed documentation. I haven't worked much in RH for Word, but I did see improvements doing print doc from html projects.

And it worked much better when we upgraded to Windows 98 and then to 2000.

Harvey