RH 2020 update 5 - Book TOC does not follow the hierarchy

[Divya V]

Hi,

I would like to have a book that is structured as follows:

 I have gone through various RH help documents and know that actual behaviour of the Book TOC. 

But, I would like to know if there is any work around to align the headings in the same way as shown in the image. 

[Peter Grainge]

You create a section and then drag topics to it. For example, create Section One using the toolbar above and drag the topics from the Contents panel to where you want them. If they don't align as you expect then use the arrow icons on the toolbar. You can also align sections in the same way.

Note however that may not be however how that will appear in the output may not be quite the same. That is described in the page on my site that I think you have looked at.

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

[Divya V]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your response. 

As you have said, I have gone through the page on your site and know that the output is not as expected. 

The project that I am working on has multiple subsections under a section. And I would require the output as how my TOC is aligned. 

I would like to know if there is a workaround that will displays the same hierarchy as added in Book TOC in the output too.

[Peter Grainge]

What is possible is described in The Word Output (grainge.org) and The PDF Output (grainge.org)

Isn't the image at Add Chapter Name Not Selected what you want?

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

[Divya V]

Hi Peter, 

This is how I have arranged the topics in the TOC:

 This is the heading level in the PDF document:

In the PDF document, RH has taken the topic 2 as chapter name but not topic 4. 

Since I don't want the chapter name in the output (the chapter name and topic name is the same), I tried excluding it from the output by using conditional tags. But that also did not work. 

This is heading level in the WORD document:

 I have selected the Chapter Name and Topic Titles option button for PDF output and Add chapter name as heading at the start of each chapter for the Word output. 

[Peter Grainge]

Which is the required output or do you need both?

PDF

The options are as below and you have selected the first one as shown here but you say you don't want chapter names. 

Have you tried the other setting? You will lose all section names but the hierarchy will be nearer what you want. 

You say In the PDF document, RH has taken the topic 2 as chapter name but not topic 4. 

I think that is because Topic 2 is a section name and Topic 2 has been linked to the section and also Topic 4 is a sub-heading and they don't get included as explained on my site.

WORD

Here my folder names come through but again it will only be top level sections.

Does that clarify things for you?

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

[Divya V]

Hi Peter,

I would like to have both PDF and Word versions of the output. In both versions, I did check the output after selecting the Use topic heading styles option. As you said, the TOC hierarchy is only close to what I require. 

As I have started the topics with H1 style, I lose the subsections (topic 2 and topic 4) that is added. 

 What must be done to display the topics 2 and topic 4 as subsections in PDF and Word outputs?

[Peter Grainge]

You seem to be asking the same question when I have explained what you want is not possible. Am I misunderstanding you?

Let's focus on PDF and deal with Word after we have resolved PDF.

Topic 2 is the name of a top level section and that appears in the PDF. See red outlining. It might help discussion to rename the section as Section 1.

• In RoboHelp you would see Section 1 with Topic 3 nested within.
• In the PDF you would see Section 1 followed by Topic 2. As I have said, that is because you have linked Topic 2 to the Section in the section properties. It is not showing as an entry in the TOC.

The Topic 4 section (rename that as Section 2) will not appear in the PDF output as it is not a top level section. It is nested within the previous section.

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

[Divya V]

Hi Peter,

Thank you so much for explaining the concepts in detail. I have understood the behaviour of RH for the PDF and Word output. 

I guess, I will have to tweak the output to obtain the desired TOC hierarchy. 🙂