RH 2020 How to delete index and add multiple topics

[srmsrm]

Using RoboHelp 2020.7.46, W10, 64bit

1. Is there a way to delete an entire index? I can delete one topic at time, but I cannot locate a way to delete multiple topics or the entire index.
2. I can add multiple topics using the context menu option, but I cannot locate a way to add multiple topics at the root level of the index. The topics keep being added under another topic. When I click on the "+" in the top right, and click on the options button, the field disappears.

Thank you.

Shawn

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Did this thread help? - https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp-discussions/rh-2019-how-to-delete-index/td-p/10247126

[srmsrm]

Jeff:

Thank you.

For deleting, I took a t look at what Peter noted - I have found a quicker way.Go to Reports and click the check alongside the column headings.Now right click and scroll down to Index.You will have to delete each term but it looks as if that will be a quicker way.

I went to reports but do not see a check alongside the column heading. Maybe I'm miss-understanding the guidance.

I did not see anything in that thread about adding multiple topics to the root of the index.

Shawn

[Amebr]

I don't understand what you mean by "add topics to the root of an index". You add topics to a keyword, so topics will always appear under a keyword.

[srmsrm]

Amber:

Below is what I am trying to complete. I could be miss-understanding how to use the software, so any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I create my TOC by opening the CONTENTS and TOC and dragging the topics files into the TOC.

For the Index, I want to do the same thing - drag the topic files to the index so the Index is basically the same thing as the TOC. I then start modifying the index as required.

In my test project, I cannot determine how to add a topic at the index root level. Here is a new index. If I click on the three dots for options, the field disappears.

If I first manually add in an index and then click on the three dots, I can now add all my topics to the index but they are under the manually entered index (Top Index Item). I am unable to move the index items to different levels which I thought I could do in the older version.

I want to be able to add all my topics as index items. The only way I can determine how to do this is manually enter each item one at a time. As a quicker way to do it, I opened the properties for each file, copied the name, and then pasted it as an index in the Properties dialog. That will work; however, I have four Help files each with hundreds of topics. I was hoping for an easier way. In my reply to Peter, I though the older version of RH allowed this capability.

Shawn

[Peter Grainge]

It looks like the check box got removed. In File Explorer you can find the Index folder and open the IDX file in a text editor. It would be quicker to delete that way but back up the project first to be safe.

________________________________________________________

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

[srmsrm]

Peter:

Thank you.

In the previous version, I was able to delete multiple index by just pressing the delete key, correct? Similar, I was able to drag the name of the files to create an index using the file names. Am I remebering correctly?

Shawn

[Peter Grainge]

Yes and you are.

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

[srmsrm]

Peter:

Thank you.

I found the Default.IDX file in same folder of my help file. Since I cannot find an option to rename the index in RH, I'm assuming this is the correct file. Below is an image of my index and data in the Default.IDX file. Should I be seeing data in the Default.IDX file?

If I manually type in a new entry, I do see the entry in the Default.IDX file.

Please note my help file was originally an upgrade from an old RoboHelp classic file. I was having trouble with the spell check not working (another topic), so I created a new RH2020 project. I then imported the assets, master pages, etc. from the old RH project that was converted into RH2020, into the new RH2020 project. I then moved some folders around since RH was not finding the images, snippets, CSS, etc. By moving the folders around, the locations to the items got updated and I was able to see the images, snippets, CSS, etc. I was using. That all seems to be OK.

I mentioned the above since the Index came in complete when I imported the data; however, I do not see any of the data in the Default.IDX file but it is being displayed in RH.

Should I redo my index and if yes can I just redo it in the IDX file?

Shawn

[Peter Grainge]

I have just looked into this a bit more and how RoboHelp is storing the index entries seems to have changed more than I realised. In a new project only the name of the last keyword created seems to get stored in the IDX file with no reference to the topic.

Ignore what I have said previously. I will try to find out more.

________________________________________________________

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

[Amebr]

Ah I see, in Classic you could drag a topic and it would create a new "keyword" using the topic title. That no longer appears possible in classic (and it's not a technique I ever used or would recommend).

If you have a friendly developer they might be able to create an index wizard using scripting. There's a reference in the help (the scripting feaure also uses node.js, electron and who knows what other javascript libraries; last time I looked they didn't document it).

[srmsrm]

Amber:

Thanks for your feedback and guidance. I apprciate it.

shawn

[Amebr]

And that should read "That no longer appears possible in New UI". 🙂

[Peter Grainge]

Adobe have provided me with a regular expression to remove all the entries in one go.

First backup your project in case things go wrong.

Enter this expression in Find

<meta name="rh-index-keywords" content="(.*)".*\/>

Enter a space in Replace

In Find and Replace Settings select only Regular Expressions and Find in Source View

Click the Replace icon.

If the index entries all show or just one shows, close and reopen the project.

It should be clear now but there may be just one index entry showing. If there is, close the project again and in Explorer go to the Index folder and open the IDX file in a text editor.

Delete the single keyword that is showing so that the file reads as below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>       

<keywords>

<keyword> </keyword>

</keywords>

Reopen the project and the index should be empty.

Let us know if that works for you.

________________________________________________________

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

[srmsrm]

Peter:

Thank you. I'll create a test project and let you know the results.

If this works, I may need to do this with other RH files. Is therestill no option to add multiple items at once to the root index (per my response from above dated Apr il 19, 2022).

Shawn

[Peter Grainge]

That will require new coding from Adobe. 

________________________________________________________

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

[srmsrm]

Peter:

Thanks. I thought that was the answer, but wanted to ask just to verify.

Shawn