Automating conversion of multiple word documents

[Nikki Chapman UK]

We have over the last year converted a huge number of word documents into Robohelp and have had to find solutions to a number of issues, but have finally got there.  This process was manual document by document as we wanted to do improvements on them all as we did it.  

We now have a couple of other products that we need to potentially move a large number of documents - one that's about 80 documents, another that is about 500.

If this could be automated that would be great, instead of having to manually import them.  Just wondering if anyone has automated the conversion of multiple word documents into Robohelp.  Also Word contains so much rubbish HTML in it, does this cause an issue when it's imported.  So any advice would be useful.

[Peter Grainge]

You haven't said which version of RoboHelp you are using but I have covered both below. If you need to post specific questions, please included the version.

You haven't said which version of RoboHelp you are using. 

• If you are using a Classic version please go to File Help > About and confirm the version shown. If it is 2019 Classic, please add "Classic" when advising the version number.
• If you are using the New UI, the version number will  be found in Help > About. Please add "New UI" if the version number starts 14.

1. Sorry but it's one document in at a time. 
2. If you are using 2019 New UI or 2020, see Importing/Linking Word/Fm Docs (grainge.org)
3. If you are using Classic, see Importing Word documents using RoboHelp Classic (grainge.org)

Both cover the best way but there is a lot of HTML that doesn't play nicely and you just have to clean it up import by import. How is covered in the links. I wish you luck with that task! 🙂

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

[Nikki Chapman UK]

Thanks Peter.   We're using 2020.  We know how to do a conversion, we've already done probably 100 documents, so we know what to do on an individual import of a document.  We're looking for a way of automating the process to import 100s of documents automatically.

[Peter Grainge]

Yes I understood that and only pointed to those topics in case there were any points there that might help, particularly in terms of getting clean HTML in your topics created from an import.

By "one document at a time" I meant there is no way I know of to do that. Nothing I have come across here or seen anywhere else.

I guess you could submit a feature request but that will not help in time to solve your requirement right now.

Please follow this link to request features. https://tracker.adobe.com Post the link to your feature request in this thread and others can vote for it. The more people who do so, the higher it gets prioritised.

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

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

@Peter Grainge - Is scripting still supported in RH2020? I don't remember if it changed or not (not being a scripting sort of guy)

[Peter Grainge]

It is as described at Scripts (grainge.org) but I very much doubt a script could be written for that process. The script would have to go through the process for one document and then move on to the next. Each document is going to need different decisions so even with the numbers here, I can't seeing it working.

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

[Nikki Chapman UK]

I had a feeling it wouldn't be achievable, was hoping for a quicker solution, but didn't think there would be one. 

Thank you for your responses though.

[Amebr]

It's a shame. You could import multiple Word docs in Classic, if all the docs lived in one folder and you did mind all the topics being created in a single folder. For me this was never a problem because I had a bunch of cleanup I needed to do anyway, and I always do it in a temp project (after borking a live project that one time 😕  ) Then I'd import the topics into the right place in the live project.

It doesn't seem possible in New UI though. 😞

The new scripting is javascript-based, so if you have a friendly web developer, they may be able to figure out how to script it for you. There's a link to the scripting reference in the Appendix of the help.

[Vivek Kumar]

Let me tell you slightly easier process.

1. Right click on any folder and select Link > Link File (you can use Link Folder also if all your Word files are in a single folder)
2. Select multiple Word files
3. All Word files should all appear in the folder
4. Right click on the folder and select Word Documents > Update All
5. HTML topics will get generated from all Word documents in one go in their respective folders.

Word settings used for this conversion is set in the Project Settings "Default Word Import Settings"

You can delete linked Word files after this if you want.

Thanks,

Vivek