RoboHELP problem with MS WORD

[Guest]

I have recently returned to RoboHELP X5 (build 606) to update an older HELP project and have encountered a problem along the way.
It seems to have to do with templates being used for the project. As I was saving or generating the help file (can't remember which), I received a mysterious screen message saying something like "Do you want to update the .... ". Of course I clicked YES automatically and my computer spun its wheels for maybe 10 seconds. When it was done, the fonts on my Word document had changed from their usual Arial to Times New Roman.
Even worse, when I rebooted and opened up the file through RoboHELP for editing, all the RoboHELP toolbar helps were missing from the Word document, and a message appeared in a popup window saying that RoboHELP couldn't open the Word document (even though it WAS opened!!).
My version of Word is 2002 (10.6775.6735) SP3.
Can anybody tell me why RoboHELP and WORD are having problems communicating?!!?!?!?! I need to finish this project pronto, and I can't use WORD as a tool if the RoboHELP options and menus do not appear in my document!!!
Sincerely,
Barry K.

[Living_Proof]

Hello Barry K.,

If I am understanding you correctly, you have outlined 3 problems:

1) An error message occurs where your fonts are changed.

Please detail the full error message so that we can attempt to figure out what is going on here.

2) Your RoboHelp toolbars are missing.

This is generally due to a conflict in the MS Word templates. Take a look at http://www.macromedia.com/go/rb_100001 .

3) You are getting an error message about the Word document not being able to be opened.

Try walking through this tech doc http://www.macromedia.com/go/rb_52863 .

[Guest]

Curioser and curiouser....
I read the documents you referred to, and followed the stepped procedures.
This is what was observed:
For http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=rb_100001, there was not a PDFMAKER.dot document. However, there WAS a PDFMAKERA.dot file, which I removed per the procedure. The fix had no effect, except that I verified that the PDFMAKERA.dot file was indeed no longer in the list of global templates and add-ins.
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=rb_52863 was a bit more helpful. When I completed steps 1-6, the correct formatting was immediately restored to the Word document, and the RoboHELP icons and menu option were restored to the WORD window. HOWEVER, as soon as I SAVED the file, the original formatting reappeared and all the RoboHELP icons/menu item disappeared again. In the meantime, on the RoboHELP side, the "RoboHelp Explorer is unable to start Microsoft Word" message appeared again.
By the way, I confirmed that the RoboHelp.dot document had indeed been updated on today's date, which leads me to believe that some behind-the-scenes MS Word process sabotaged my Robohelp.dot template. I have a copy of the original Robohelp.dot document, but it is dated back to 2003. Should I try to restore it and see if the problem goes away?
Thanks for any additional feedback.
Sincerely,
Barry K.

[Peter Grainge]

Could it be that Word has been updated since RH was installed? I notice you have SP3 applied and if that was done after RH was installed, it could be the cause. Uninstalling and reinstalling is worth a try.

You need admin rights to install.

[Guest]

What would need to be reinstalled? RoboHELP or MSWord (or both?).

I hate to get our IT guy involved unless I have to... I suspect an updated WORD was indeed installed AFTER the last RoboHELP upgrade, but I don't know how to determine that...

Barry K

[Peter Grainge]

Just RH. I don't think there is anything you can look up to see if Word was updated after RH was installed. RH must be installed with your login and YOU must have admin rights, at least during the install. You may need to involve IT for that. Do not let them install RH using one of their logins. It won't work. Click here.

[Guest]

I reinstalled both RoboHELP X5 and the update.
Then I opened the RoboHELP program and tried to open the problem HELP file. Same result:
1) Microsoft Word opens, displaying the HELP file with the wrong formatting template.
2) RoboHelp tries to open and then displays the message: RoboHelp Explorer is unable to start Microsoft Word
3) If you click OK to clear the message box, RoboHelp finishes opening and will even display the correct contents file for the document. However, none of the RoboHelp functionality will be available from Word, and the text styles are all wrong (have been "wiped out"?)
4) If I "restore" the RoboHELP functions by attaching the RoboHelp.dot style sheet per the previous instructions, the RoboHelp icons/menu appear in Word, but if I try to use them, I receive an error message: RoboHelp is not properly loaded and functionality is not available. Re-install RoboHelp if you continue to get this message.

So I am in a loop that cannot be broken. HELP!

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

If the simple expedient of reinstalling Word has not worked, then you are back to resolving the problem by other means.

My site is more geared to RH HTML than RH for Word but if you look in Snippets and Print Issues, you will see the same links that Living Proof gave. I can only suggest you work through them again making sure you do install the templates in the right place.

Have you tried creating a new project to see if that too has these problems?

I am assuming you are working entirely off your hard disk, you do not have the project or anything else RH related on the network. Also make sure your Word normal template is on your hard disk.

[Guest]

This may be an old issue but I am having this problem now - the weird thing is I am also having the wrong font issue. I have uninstalled the MS security patch, and have uninstalled/reinstalled RH. I continue to have the problem of RoboHelp Explorer hanging when trying to open a RH for Word project. Has this issue ever been resolved? I have migrated my project to HTML help but would like to still work with RH for Word and cannot. Any ideas? AjR

[Guest]

AJR,
You said:

quote:

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This may be an old issue but I am having this problem now - the weird thing is I am also having the wrong font issue. I have uninstalled the MS security patch, and have uninstalled/reinstalled RH. I continue to have the problem of RoboHelp Explorer hanging when trying to open a RH for Word project. Has this issue ever been resolved? I have migrated my project to HTML help but would like to still work with RH for Word and cannot. Any ideas? AjR

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I think the only way I was able to solve the problem was to create a brand new HELP project and CUT AND PASTE the entire "old" help file into it.
It's been quite a while since the problem, but I am working OK in MSWord these days so it must have worked somehow. I think the problem had to do with upgrading through multiple versions of MSWORD and ROBOHELP. Somewhere there was an incompatibility that might have corrupted the file or made it impossible for RoboHELP to work with the WORD file.
Good luck!
Barry K.