RoboHelp Server 6 - Exclude Docs in Search

[ACGall]

One of my clients recently upgraded to RoboHelp 6 (both client app and server). In the previous version, the search results were valid. Now with 6, when someone does a search it returns all the external files (pdf, doc, xls, etc.) first and then the html files and the validity of the search is very poor. The search result list is just not relevant to the search request.

Can someone let me know how I exclude PDF, .xls, .doc files that are in my project from appearing in the search? These files are all part of the project and are published as part of the project.

Also, how can I adjust the search result relevancy with Server 6? I really appreciate any information you can provide!

[johndaigle]

Hi. Normally, having the results include PDF, .xls, .doc in the search results is one of the main reasons folks use RoboHelp Server. I am not aware of a way to suppress those files in the results because it is normally viewed as a "feature" and desireable.

Yet, I sympathize with your desire to explicitly exclude them in v 6 or v7. I am using Adobe RoboHelp Server 7 and the HTML topics come up first, but I don't know if that is a coincidence or by design? There are several nice improvements in version 7 including a synonym editor.

Another cool feature I really like is that when the user clicks on a search term result, they are taken to the first instance of the term in the topic - not simply to the top of the topic! This avoids having to scroll down to where the search term first appears. Version 7 also provides search term highlighting.

I am not aware of a setting that affects relevancy in v6 or v7, though you can limit the results to an arbitrary number (15 is the default). The relevancy adjustments you mention are certainly valid points and I think should be put high on the wish list for the next release.

You probably have already seen it, but you can check my article in the Adobe Developer Center
Adobe RoboHelp Server 6 improves the feedback loop

Thanx,
john

[ACGall]

Thank you for your reply. My clients just upgraded to version 6 so getting them to turn around and buy the next upgrade will be tough. When the result is set to 15, it only shows the PDF files and no HTML files. I set it to 50 and it shows about 30 PDFs and then HTML files after that. And the results are very poor. Most of the PDF files shouldn't even be showing up based on the keywords that were entered in the search.

Would love to learn how I can tune the relevancy in version 6. I hope someone out there can give some advice!

[johndaigle]

Sorry I didn't have better news. I would mention however, that upgrading from v6 to v7 is only $79 for the client and the server upgrade is $160.
john

[ACGall]

Thanks again for your reply John. Do you think it is worthwhile trying to contact Adobe support? About a year ago, we had a tech issue and dealing with their support was extremely frustrating. They had no idea what they were doing and it took many hours on the phone to get to someone who could help us. There are some people at my client's company who are trying to replace RoboHelp with a different product and I am afraid that this issue might push them in that direction. This is the response I got from my client when I suggested the upgrade:

"The issue with upgrading is not the cost but the difficulty. It took many hours of pain and suffering to upgrade from 5 to 6 only to get an inferior product.

The diminished ability of the search function threatens to undo all of the work (hundreds of hours) we have done. The search is the primary way the users get information and if it returns confusing or irrelevant results they may simply stop using it.

Feel free to forward this on to the developers or let me know how to contact someone who cares what I (a customer) think.

Naturally if upgrading to 7 will improve this situation I am for it but, I am understandably suspicious of this software vendor. If we never upgraded in the first place we would be in better shape."