RoboHelp for Word cannot open Word with Word 2007

[Help_Debutante]

Thanks for your leignancy, I'm having trouble even starting to work with RoboHelp. I think I need detailed explanations. I did spend hours sifting through Robohelp's Help and this Forum, I'm stuck.

I am trying to use RoboHelp for Word 7.0 , build 001, with Word 2007 on Vista.

I need to work on help projects created with a previous version of RoboHelp.

For some reason, when I open RoboHelp, the .doc file opens in Word next to it, but then RoboHelp freezes for several minutes, then I get a dialog box that says "RoboHelp" could not open Word .

Then anytime I try to modify a topic in my help file, I get the same stall and error message, and my Word document stays stuck at the beginning on my first topic.

Also, in Word, all Robohelp options don't work. I can't search for a topic for instance to locate it and modify it. When I click on search for a topic from the menu on top, nothing happens at all. If I click on search a topic from the right-click menu, then I get a message that because of security or confidentiality settings, the Macros don't work.

I tried re-activating all Macros in Word 2007 Options, I closed everything, even re-booted the computer, but to no avail.

Also, I tried saving my .doc into a .docx (Word 2007 format) to see if the Macros would be compatible then, but I got the exact same results.

Right now, RoboHelp and Word don't seem to be "talking" to each other right, and the Macros don't work.

Plus: I tried to test a modification I made in the .doc file by generating the WebHelp, but that didn't work either, I got an error message saying that the file couldn't be opened, but the path to the file was all wrong, with folder names I don't even have on my computer.

If someone could figure this one out for me, I'd be very thankful, I'm the kind of person who likes something to work in a simple, linear way, 1-2-3... This is totally confusing for me right now.

[Peter Grainge]

You need to set the macro options in Word to the lowest level.

[Help_Debutante]

Ok, isn't that what I did when I re-activated the Macros in Word 2007?

Word Options / security - confidentiality center / Parameters / Activate all Macros (the lowest one on the list)

Did that already. Also, I made backups of my projects, and tried with a new "brew" just in case I had messed it up along the way somewhere.

First thing I did when I opened it again was change the output to WebHelp instead of WinHelp 4, since I can't open that in Vista anymore.

I can generate the help in that format, but either way I try to make any modification it's not taken into account when I generate it.

Example:
In the french help project which I'm working on, I had a tittle that was miss-spelled.
I tried modifying in in the Word .doc document, then generate the help, but the title was still wrong.

So I tried changing in directly in Robohelp with the topic's properties.
When I clicked OK, it stalled forever again, and then it said it couldn't take the modifications into account.

And any text I cut and paste or changed in the .doc on Word remains unchanged in the WebHelp....

Right now, the more I try, the more I'm stuck and the more questions I get. I'm seriously thinking I'd need some live coaching, on a chat or something, to get me started on the right track. Is there anyone who can do that? I'm so awfully stuck right now. And I feel like I'd unfurl a tsunami of ridiculous questions if I posted them all on the Forum now...



*EXTRA*
I did all the updates (7.0.3) and right now I'm re-installing everything.
Arghhh.
I missed one of the last days of ski this season, spent my whole week-end with this.
I'm trying to sound rational and calm, but I'm actually so tired and exasperated, I'd have jumped through the window already if we weren't on the first floor... Still stuck at Step 1...


What am I missing??

[RoboWizard]

Hi there

You said you can't open WinHelp 4 in Vista? Well, technically you can. You just have to download the Vista WinHelp viewer. If you try to open a 32 bit help file in Vista you should be prompted for a download of the viewer. This is only the first time you (or your customer) tries to open it. From there forward, the viewer should be installed and any 32 bit help systems should simply open and display.

I might suggest that if you plan on moving to WebHelp, you give some consideration for moving away from using RoboHelp for Word and toward using RoboHelp HTML. The interface is very similar to Word, so the switch shouldn't be too difficult.

The thing is, if you stick with RoboHelp for Word you are dealing with a shrinking user base. Many folks are moving away from it and toward using RoboHelp HTML. So the knowledge base for the RoboHelp for Word product is constantly shrinking too. Never mind the fact that you will find yourself painted into more corners than you can count when trying to accomplish something using the Word editor that is dead simple in RoboHelp HTML. But whether to switch or not is up to you. All I can do is make a suggestion.

Cheers... Rick

[Help_Debutante]

Thanks for thye suggestion, will consider it in the future probably, but right now we had determined using RoboHelp for Word was the best solution since we could send just the .doc to be translated and then copy it back into our projects. At least that's what I was told.

So right now, I'd really like to be able to make RoboHelp work as it should. I'm not even yet trying to do anything complicated, just simply opening a project. I cant, edit anything at all, it's not compiled.

That's really rendering the whole thing pretty useless right now. And I may not be real good at programming or anything, but I have a natural-born talent for finding lots of bugs, that's why I always do the bêta-testing here. But it's really a pain in the *** when I need to do something efficiently and fast and nothing seems to work as it should...

[RoboWizard]

Hi again

Are you having issues with your source document? The one you send to the translators? Or is it only after the document has been translated and you try to bring that back in to influence changes?

My thought here is that if the issues seem to only occur with translated documents, perhaps the translators are negatively influencing the embedded coding RoboHelp is expecting.

Cheers... Rick

[Help_Debutante]

I'm having trouble opening our previous version that we had created with RoboHelp 3 for Word.

It wasn't created on my machine, so RoboHelp 7 is the first version I installed.

I need to modify some existing topics and create new ones.

As of now, whenever I open RoboHelp and try to open my help project, I get a long long stall, then it says it can't open Word, although it did open it.

Every time I try to modify something in RoboHelp, I get the same stall and error message.

In Word, the Robohelp options don't work, and any change I make there isn't applied to my WebHelp.

I tried on another computer that uses XP, and there I got an interesting variant...
I got a Major error in the application first, then when I tried a second time to compile the WebHelp, what I got was a window with some of the text I'd modified, but for some reason, it had deleted apostrophes and the words following them.

For some reason it doesn't support that punctuation?

[RoboWizard]

Hi again

Ouchies... Sorry to see the issues. I'll try and help with what little I can. I abandoned RoboHelp for Word and moved from WinHelp authoring to HTML based authoring about nine years ago in favor of RoboHelp HTML. So I'm pulling from some distant memory here.

You are saying the system was created using version 3. I'm guessing a more recent version. Possibly "X3", as version 3 would have been circa 1993 or so.

I believe older RoboHelp for Word projects used something known as a BMROOT option where you could specify several different locations for images. So possibly this is coming into play. I'm not sure.

You may wish to simply create a totally new project. Then one by one, add in the assorted Word documents and see how things go.

Cheers... Rick

[Help_Debutante]

I'm just about to quit for tonight...

I tried opening my project in RoboHelp HTML just for fun (hey what's the worst that can happen that didn't happen already?)...

I was able to change a couple of things that didn't work before, BUT the title of that topic I was trying to change still appears wrong in the table of contents.

What else am I supposed to do to apply the changes made in Properties that isn't done when compiling?

PLUS:
I created a new topic, and I neew Map ID #s for our developpers.

So far, I couldn't find the way to add a Map ID, either the name or number version.

AND, has anyone ever had this punctuation problem with apostrophes? the whole word following an apostrophe plus teh apostrophe just doesn't appear. In Robohelp, before compiling, it just looks like several extra spaces instead of the apostrophe. I'd like to do a search and replace in the .doc ideally rather then have to open and go through every topic seperately in RoboHelp HTML, but I don't know which caracter to replace the apostrophe with that will be supported in HTML.

This causes a problem with our translator, because the words aren't picked up and translated.

YUP, many problems in one!!
A real Banana split of problems just for you, with extra cherries!!!

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned here or not. If so, I may have missed it. Have you ensured all updates have been applied to RoboHelp? Heck, I'm not even sure if the updates even apply to RoboHelp for Word. They may.

I do know that there are some updates for RoboHelp HTML. One of them deals with handling an oddity with importing from Microsoft Word. So it may seem to make sense that if an update is available for RoboHelp for Word that it may address the issue you are seeing with the apostrophes.

This next part will probably apply to both products. RoboHelp for Word as well as RoboHelp HTML. If you change a topic title in properties it is *NOT* automatically reflected in the Table of Contents. Changing the TOC has to be done using a separate action.

Hopefully this was helpful... Rick

[Help_Debutante]

Yup, did all the available updates...

I'd mentionned it earlier...

quote:

---

I did all the updates (7.0.3) and right now I'm re-installing everything.

---

I'd understand if you missed it, it was way back in my second message (3rd post).

If it seems like a lot of blabla, well, imagine how it feels for me, I've been struggling with this and I'm actually trying to be thorough, try everything I can on my own and detail it here so you know what I've tried so you'll know what's going on...

I'm not the type to cry Wolf for nothing, something is obviously not working as it should, I just don't know what yet and can't figure it out on my own... Anyway, if RoboHelp was super intuitive and functionned perfectly, my guess is there wouldn't be any RoboHelp Brainiacs, would there? And I fully respect the fact that I can't do all the things they do because I'm just starting to use RoboHelp and I'm so clueless. But I'm just trying to do very basic things and it's not working, so that's what's draining my patience so much. I feel like I'm not even progressing at all, not even an inch.

As for updating the TOC, well, maybe I'm just too tired at this point, but I've clicked and right-clicked everywhere, and I haven't seen anywhere how you do that. In almost every dialog box I find, the buttons to create or change anything are always grey. Can I squeeze a little "how-to" from you before you're totally exasperated with my questions?

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

You aren't exasperating me.

Honestly, I wish I could help more than I am. It's possible that your RoboHelp install didn't go as well as it could have and you are simply seeing some odd results. And as the project has been upgraded from an earlier version, I suppose there could be some weirdness resulting from that. (That's why I suggested earlier to maybe try and create a totally new project. Then import the content to the project.)

As for the How To bit, I'm going to assume you mean how to update the TOC. So I cracked open my RoboHelp 7 for Word and took a peek. If you look across the bottom of the RoboHelp Explorer part (the part that sits on the left side of Word) you should see some tabs across the bottom. One tab is labeled TOC. Click that tab. Note that when you do, you should see your Table of Contents structure. In this structure you may click and drag to rearrange things and you may also right-click to see menus that allow you to add and delete. There are also toolbar buttons running up and down the left side of the application that perform many of the same functions.

If you want to add a topic link to the TOC, try right-clicking in the TOC editor and choosing New > Page. When you do this you should see a dialog allowing you to browse to and choose the topic the page should link to.

If you have a page that works fine but you simply want to change its name, expand any books that may contain it so you can see the link. Then right-click the link and choose Rename. Then rename the link. Should be fairly straightforward.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

[Help_Debutante]

Thank you Rick for your detailed explanations. I will try everything you suggested, among which re-installing (even though we had to go through 5 days of Manilla-California and god knows where customer support to activate it because we have an update to an older version).

Thanks for going back into RoboHelp for Word just for me, but I can't modify anything in there, so I'm afraid that wouldn't work. I always get the error message that it couldn't take changes into account, or couldn't open Word.

So I was actually trying to update the TOC in RoboHelp HTML.

I'm not sure if I understand exactly what you mean by creating a new Project, basically, I create a new Project in RoboHelp, then I copy-paste the files from my previous Project? I'm not sure I would know what to copy and where, sounds a bit Frankenstien to me, but I'll try that too.

I won't be able to come back on this Forum until next week, since I must attend a conference for the rest of the week, but don't forget me! I'll be back, hopefully, to tell you all that everything works fine!

I know, wishfull thinking probably, but I want to believe it'll work at some point...

See you next week!