• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

RH 2019 does not synch from source Word file to the Project file

Explorer ,
Dec 25, 2018 Dec 25, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

When (in a RH2019 project) I edit a LINKED Word file in the source and then go back to RoboHelp 2019 and try to "update" the file by synching from Source to Project, it does not update. It updates neither the TITLE nor the CONTENT of the Word file. Is this a reported bug? What should I do for proper synching ? Thanks, Ugur

Views

998

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Dec 17, 2020 Dec 17, 2020

AMENDED RESPONSE 18 Dec 2020

 

  • Link to File is the first step in linking Word documents. At this point the document will show a green arrow.
  • Having created the link to the document, you then use Create/Update to create the topics.
  • Later when the linked document is amended the arrow will be red and you need to decide whether you want to update the project or leave it as it is.
  • If you want to update the topics with the changes that have been made in Word, click Sync>Source to Project so that the
...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert ,
Dec 26, 2018 Dec 26, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Initially I was going to post that I found the same but I tried a few things and got it to work.

Put focus on the document in the Contents panel. The menu has Sync (Source to Project) and Update HTML. Use those in that order.

Then go to the folder with the same name as your document and open the HTM file that is there. Again click Sync (Source to Project). For me that then updated.

I would agree it seems three clicks are needed where one should do but try it and post back.


See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 29, 2018 Dec 29, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Peter thanks a lot but Adobe support team has confirmed that, as of this writing, RH 2019 does not support Word (Office) 365 updating and that's why it will not synch between Word 365 source files and RH topics. I think the Word synching will be supported in the next patch.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 29, 2018 Dec 29, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

So you can link but not update. Hmm!


See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Adobe Employee ,
Dec 29, 2018 Dec 29, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi uakinci​,

If you bring in the Word content in RH, either by importing or converting to HTML when linked, and edit the HTML topic in RH there is no way to sync it back to Word document. Sync feature in RH is based on timestamp and sync from project to source or source to project is essentially file copy, content doesn't get converted from one format to the other. It will work well for those file formats which you can edit in RH also directly, e.g. HTML, CSS and JavaScript files.

For update 5, early Feb, we are working on Word as an output format which may work for you. However it will be available in the Output Presets along with other formats and not from the Sync feature.

Hope the clarification helps.

Thanks,

Vivek

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 30, 2018 Dec 30, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

@Vivek I read the original post as Uakinci having edited the Word file in Word (the source) rather than Source in RoboHelp.

I just made a change in Word to a linked document and then went back to RoboHelp. The document showed as dirty (red arrow next to it). I then clicked the Update HTML option in the context menu. I then opened the topic in RoboHelp and it was updated.

In my previous reply, I had erroneously looked that the Sync options rather then Update HTML.

So as far as I can see, linked documents do update and Adobe Support gave the wrong information. Uakinci stated, "Adobe support team has confirmed that, as of this writing, RH 2019 does not support Word (Office) 365 updating and that's why it will not synch between Word 365 source files and RH topics." I am using Office 365 and syncing does work. The issue is why it is not for the poster.

I think that may be because he has fallen into the same trap as me and seen the Sync options rather than the Update HTML.


See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 30, 2018 Dec 30, 2018

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Perhaps Sync should read Sync Folder to make it clearer? It's still open to misinterpretation but less so.


See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 14, 2020 Dec 14, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Just a note - this works in RH2020 (although it is a VERY poorly documented feature). However, its implementation seems backwards. If you make an update in the "source" DOCX document, you need to sync FROM PROJECT TO SOURCE (as opposed to the seemingly far more logical "FROM SOURCE TO PROJECT") to get the update in your robohelp contents. Doing it the other way overwrites the changes to your word file with whatever was last in Robohelp. Just an FYI.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 14, 2020 Dec 14, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

@Regiolanthe1 Ignore the information above as the workflow was changed. After linking the document use Create/Update Topics in the same menu.

 

Using the Sync options will not update the topics in RoboHelp and neither will it update your Word file. You will see a dialog saying it has updated but it does not. I used a simple document with the word "red" in it. Using the sync options did not update anything in either direction.

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

For me, making edits in the Word document and then selecting Create/Update Topics IMMEDIATELY reverted the Word document back to the previously saved version.

 

For me, the procedure definitely required a "Sync from Project to Source" PRIOR to doing the Create/Update Topics. I only needed a single sync on the folder (Sync Folder from Project to Source), followed by a Create/Update to suck in the changes to the file. I assume a "Sync All" does all linked files in the project, but was only working with a single file.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

---- Just as a note --- it is the account previously known as "Regiolanthe" posting the above response (not a new party). For some reason, Adobe saw fit to trounce all over my old account and update it with new information and a new name.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

You have said you made changes in Word but when you click Create/Update it reverses the changes in Word. Prior to clicking Create/Update the docx file must be showing as out of sync in RoboHelp (red arrow). Was that the case and in 2020?

 

For the purposes of nailing this please create a DOCX file with just the word Green in it. Then in a new RoboHelp project link that document and Create/Update so that you have a topic showing the word Green.

 

Next change Green to Red and save. The DOCX in RoboHelp should show a red arrow. Click Create/Update please report what happens in 2020.

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi Peter - 

I'm only doing this in 2020 on a 4-5 topic test project (assisting someone else in the company that is new to RH, in what is ultimately will be their project). So - thankfully working from a clean slate and trying to help them set their project up, and I'm not worrying about an existing project with multiple linked files. Phew. I have never used this feature prior to yesterday.

 

Okay - starting in the following state: W file (testimport.docx) is Green arrow (synched).

1) Right-click file, select Show in Explorer, open file, and edit by removing text. 

2) Save file. File is shown as having date and time at save.

3) Back in RH - W file is Yellow arrow.

4) Right-click on W file, select Create/Update Topics. W file returns to Green arrow.

5) Back in explorer, W file has REVERTED to previous Save Time and Date (one hour previous).
6) Open W file and edit again and save.

7) Back in RH, file is YELLOW arrow.

8) Do the "Sync Folder > Project to source"). File is still Yellow arrow.

9) Right-click on file and do Create/Update topics. File turns Green arrow. Edit shows up.

 

Those steps are what get the file updates to work for me.

If I do SYNC folder from Source to Project, the file is reverted to previously saved version and any edits are discarded.

If I do a Create/Update topic without doing a Sync, the file is reverted to previously saved version and any edits are discarded.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

The first thing I note is you are seeing yellow or green arrows. I am seeing red or green so please check the Help menu to check it shows 2020.3

 

Please run the test without using Sync. That is not meant to be used with linked Word documents. 

 

  1. At the beginning of your document add a new word and save.
  2. Assuming the document is already linked, click Create/Update.
  3. Do not use Sync in either direction anywhere in this process.

 

Does that new word appear?

 

If it does then the process is working. It may be that you have found the using Sync is doing something it shouldn't but let's worry about that later.

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Okay - Updated to latest version, and followed your instructions. Results are as you indicate, but no "status" arrows appear anywhere in the content tree for the document.

1. File > Import > Word Document.
2. Create/Update Topics (right-click on W doc). No arrows/status.
3. Update original document by changing single word. No arrows.
4. Create/Update Topics (right-click on W doc). No arrows/status changes, but topic updates to show new word.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Importing is a totally different process. After importing a document a document topics are created but there is no link with the source document.

 

To start linking right click in the Contents panel and select Link > File. When you see the DOCX in the contents panel, then right click on it to see Create/Update.

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I noticed you did "Show in Explorer", which will show the "copy" word doc that's inside the project. But doing a Create/Update will use the original source document, which is typically located on a network server.

 

If you right-click and select Edit Settings, you can see where the original is. If you then modify that file, you should see your changes come through.

 

(Interestingly, using 2019 Update 12, I tried linking a word doc located inside the project, but doing a Create/Update resulted in an error that the Word doc was open and the update couldn't proceed. So I presume your original source is on a network drive, or a different C drive location, outside your project folder.)

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 15, 2020 Dec 15, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Another thought.

 

I assume the yellow arrow indicates that the "copy" Word doc has changed from the source.

 

In which case the Sync  > From Project to Source right-click menu would make sense to push the "copy" changes back to the source Word doc.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 16, 2020 Dec 16, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

@Amebr I agree "In which case the Sync  > From Project to Source right-click menu would make sense to push the "copy" changes back to the source Word doc" appears to make sense but the steps I have set out earlier were verified by Adobe. Specifically that Sync is not to be used when linking Word documents. The routine is to Link > Create/Update Topics and not use Sync.

 

I will get that confirmed by Adobe.

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 16, 2020 Dec 16, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thank you both for pursuing this. As I said, I just tried out the feature yesterday, and results were not as expected on several occasions (was also working with the user who is going to be using the feature, and we became equally baffled). I'll investigate more using your suggestions - because, as you surmised, I was working with a document that was within the test project folder (assuming all files should be bundled together). So - in all likelihood a case of user error. Once again, I find it very ironic that a target aimed at the technical writing audience has such atrocious supporting documentation (this feature is entirely glossed over and minimally explained in the help system). Thank you both again; I'll be sure to chirp up if I have further questions...

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 16, 2020 Dec 16, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

"product targeted at" not "a target aimed at". Damned misfiring synapses. I cannot seem to edit the post....

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 16, 2020 Dec 16, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Okay - I have now created two test files outside of the project directory (in a desktop "Test" folder), and used the Contents pane right-click Link > Folder to copy them into the project contents, then used right click on copy file Create/Update topics. Noticed that a duplicate folder was created in the Project folder, and in that folder were the two "copy" word documents, along with the HTML for the created topics. After editing the docs in the original location, the "sync" indicator turned red next to each "copy" word document, and a Create/Update did the appropriate content updates and reverted the indicator to Green. All good... 

 

At this point - after making changes to both documents in the Source folder, is there a way to update ALL topics simultaneously? I see multiple options that look like potential solutions.

  • Right-click on "Copy" folder in Contents pane, and Link > Folder (implies that an update is possible to all folder contents?)
  • Right-click on "Copy" folder in Contents pane, and Word Documents > Update All (implies all "copy" documents in folder will be synched?)
  • Sync Folder > From Source to Project (implies that sync will be made from original directory to project copy folder?)
  • Sync Folder > From Project to Source (implies that sync will be made from copy directory to original directory)?

Then there are similar options for inddividual files (right click on "copy" DOCX and then either Create/Update Topics, or Sync > Project to Source or Sync > Source to Project).

 

The goal is to have a "development" directory where test engineers can freely edit development documents, and the single Robohelp user will be able to suck in the changes into the overall project. Ideally, this SHOULD be performed in a "multi" file operation (i.e., on the Folder). If files must be updated singly, that is also fine - although slightly less convenient - but would like to know the BEST method for performing the above.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 16, 2020 Dec 16, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Pending Adobe confirming what I have said before, I can only reiterate that the Sync options are not applicable to Word linking. Assuming Adobe do confirm what they told me before, I have suggested that the Sync options are disabled for Word documents to avoid this confusion.

 

To access Create/Update you have to click on a Word document and it is only that document that will create or update the topics, "all" refers to all topics from that single document. You will have to repeat that for all the documents at the moment.

 

To change the workflow to update all Word documents in the project you will need to submit a feature request but please hold off until I hear back from Adobe.

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

 

 

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Dec 16, 2020 Dec 16, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I have confirmed that the Word Documents > Update All option (when clicking on folder in content tree) indeed performs the appropriate HTML updates and syncs (red to green) all copied word documents. Thank you!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Dec 17, 2020 Dec 17, 2020

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

AMENDED RESPONSE 18 Dec 2020

 

  • Link to File is the first step in linking Word documents. At this point the document will show a green arrow.
  • Having created the link to the document, you then use Create/Update to create the topics.
  • Later when the linked document is amended the arrow will be red and you need to decide whether you want to update the project or leave it as it is.
  • If you want to update the topics with the changes that have been made in Word, click Sync>Source to Project so that the arrow changes to green, then click Create>Update.
  • The Sync options are otherwise for linked files that can be modified in RoboHelp and that would include images as you can set up a third party app to modify what is in RoboHelp. Any changed image(s) that are linked can then be copied back to source.
    As you cannot edit Word documents in RoboHelp, Sync>Project to Source should not be used. You change the topic(s) but next time you Create/Update those changes will be lost. It is not intended that you edit such topics.

 

By all means go ahead with requesting an option to Create/Update all documents in one operation. I see the sense in that. 

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Resources
RoboHelp Documentation
Download Adobe RoboHelp