Search Anomalies

[SGuckemus]

Hi Folks, 

Forgive me if this is brief in detail, but as is often the case, I have inherited a project I know very little about.  
My organization is in the process of moving a help system for an enterprise level proprietary computer system from RoboHelp Classic to RoboHelp 2019.
The content and structure of the help topics is virtually identical in both systems. However searching is producing markedly different results. 
In the old system (RoboHelp Classic), I can search for a help entry by title and it is the first item returned. When I perform the exact same search in RoboHelp 2019, the results are wildly different, and not at all helpful, and almost never contain the entry that I searched for. 

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Is this an indexing issue? Or are there search settings in RH 2019 that I need to tweak? Any assistance would be appreciated as I am stumbling around in the dark at the moment.
Thanks, 
Steve

[Peter Grainge]

I assume you mean 2019 New UI.

I just tried the RoboHelp Reimagined sample project using the frameless Orange skin and the responsive Azure Blue skin. As soon as I typed "bit" the predictive search gave me Bits and Pieces and if I ignored that and just pressed Enter, I got the correct result.

When I first saw your post I was surprised as by now someone else would have reported this. Then it occurred to me I wonder if you are aware of the difference in how the output content is created.

• In Classic you had to specifically exclude topics from a build.
• In 2019 you have to specifically include topics.

Is it possible the topic you are searching for is not getting generated? Check in the output folder.

If it is not there, look in the RoboHelp Reimagined sample project where this is all explained. Basically you have to include everything in the TOC. For items you don't want the user to see in the TOC but do want in the build, you tick the Hide in Output check box.

Let us know if that is the answer. If not we'll dig deeper.

[SGuckemus]

Thanks for the reply Peter, I do not think this is the issue, I have been assured the topics are getting generated. 

Perhaps rather than trying to describe the problem with my limited understanding it would be easier to show it. Note the differing results in the links below when searching the string of text "Court-Ordered Obligations" (without the quotations)

This is the old system with the desired search functionality:

https://staging.pdp.albany.edu/RoboHelp/CCFS/CCFS_LR/newproject.htm

And this is the newer one where the searches are not returned as desired:

http://robohelp.pdp.albany.edu/CCFS-LR/index.htm#t=Overview_of_CCFS_CCFS2.htm  

Though in both cases the same help entry exists (You could navigate to it through the Table o Contents by following the path Home > Safety Assessments > Interviewer: Respond to a Safety Assessment > Enter Interview Results > Court-Ordered Obligations

Does this help clarify the problem?

[Peter Grainge]

I'll look in the morning but try this meantime. In one topic enter a term such as redzebra in the title of one topic and in the body of another. Generate and see what happens in the search.

[Peter Grainge]

I thought you were saying the topic was not returned. It is in the results I got albeit not the first topic, which, like you, I would expect.

Is the issue you not finding it or the priority? Do you have Update 12 applied?

[SGuckemus]

Right, apologies if I was unclear.  We ideally want results that are returned in the same priority as the older version, as that is the search behavior users are familiar with/expecting, and we are not certain what is causing the difference search priority in the new version of RoboHelp.

[Peter Grainge]

Let me know if you have Update 12 applied as requested, it's important for this issue.

• If not, try it with Update 12 applied.
• If you do have Update 12 applied, I will see what I can find out.

[Peter Grainge]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Please generate the supplied sample project RoboHelp Reimagined. I just tested this issue there and found that whatever I entered there came up first.

Let us know how that goes.

[SGuckemus]

Had IT push update 12 and republished and the behavior still seems to persist.

[Peter Grainge]

Yes but we need to check whether it is something within your project, hence suggesting that you try with the RoboHelp Reimagined sample project.

[Amebr]

Part of the problem seems to be the search has completely changed and now returns words that may or may not be similar to a word you entered in your search

In Learn a Latte I entered text to two topics that I knew wouldn't appear in the projects. In one topic I entered "registration cycle" without quotes and in another topic I entered "registrant" without quotes. In the preset I turned off "Auto correct search query" and  "Enable substring search", thinking those might have some effect on "fixing" "incorrect" searches.

When I search for "registration cycle" both topics are returned even though neither 'registration' nor 'cycle' appear in one of the topics. "registrant" is bolded so I know that was what matched. I don't even know why it is listed first when it's less like the search I entered. (so that's problem #2.)

Then I used Travel the Whirls in Classic and did the same thing. I turned off "Enable substring search" as well. This time, only the topic containing "registration cycle" was returned.

So I feel there are 2 problems:

1. search is returning topics that contain sort-of-similar words.

2. sort-of-similar words are prioritised ahead of the exact matches.

[Peter Grainge]

@Amber - Can I just clarify that the first tests were with Learn a Latte upgraded to 2019 New UI. That is the implication but you haven't explicitly said that.

@Steve - Let me know when you have checked the RoboHelp Reimagined sample.

[Amebr]

Sorry, yes that was in New UI for Learn a Latte. I don't think it was a sample in Classic was it? I certainly don't remember it there, just Travel the Whirls and Employee Care.

[Peter Grainge]

Good point about Learn a Latte. I'm just drinking my first coffee so hopefully things will improve. 🙂

[SGuckemus]

I want to thank you both for your continued assistance with this issue.  I have tried loading the RoboHelp Imagined project and I get an error message that simply tells me to restart robohelp from the help menu. After doing that the problem persists. I am having a coworker test from their machine and see if they can replicate the issue to try and isolate if there is a problem from this current computer. However, as my machine was not used in creating or publishing our project, I doubt this has much to do with the original search issue.  I will update when I have more data.

[Peter Grainge]

1. Are you opening RoboHelp Reimagined from My Documents rather than the copy buried in Program Files?
2. Is the error on opening the project or on trying to generate an output? If the latter, create a new preset.

I have contacted Adobe but it would help to know that project works OK and the issue is just with your project. The first thing would then be to compare settings.

[Sguckemus81]

I accessed RH Reimagined from C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 2019\resources\data\template\projects\RoboHelp Reimagined

[Peter Grainge]

You can't run it from there. That is a backup copy. The working copy is in Document > My RoboHelp Projects.

[Sguckemus81]

strangely I see no copy of reimagined in Documents, only a folder for RoboHelp 2019 Classic (both versions are installed on this machine) containing Employee Care 3 and Travel the Whirls
Is this something IT could have opted not to include during installation?

[Peter Grainge]

There are no options.

RoboHelp installs to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 2019 and there is an exe in that folder that opens 2019 New UI. Within that folder there is a subfolder RoboHelp HTML. The exe there opens 2019 Classic.

If that is not what you are seeing, something is wrong and if so, it makes me wonder if that is behind the problem. 

In Documents > My RoboHelp Projects you should see these folders. Again, if not then something is not right.

Maybe you need to have a word with IT. Also check it was installed with admin rights. It can be used without but not installed without.

[Sguckemus81]

This is what I have. I should again point out that my machine is not the one used to create or publish the project.

[Peter Grainge]

That is wrong. You can copy from Program Files, then run RoboHelp Reimagined from there.

[Sguckemus81]

Ok I managed to generate RoboHelp Reimagined and tested the local output (I can publish it if you need me to).  The search seems to function as I would expect.  If I search for "The Glossary", the help topic titled "The Glossary" is the top result. Same for "Scripts", "Earlier Version Notes", etc. 

[Amebr]

Does your IT department remap you Documents folder to a network drive, by chance?

There seems to be a bug with RH not honouring a remapped Documents folder.  Instead of installing the documents to %UserProfile%/Documents it creates a new Documents folder in your C:\Users\username folder that is NOT the same as the folder that appears under This PC in File Explorer.

If you manually navigate to C:\Users\[username]\Documents you should find the sample folders.

Edit: I should note that this behaviour is a bit flaky as I have had it work correctly, but other times I've had to manually copy the files across.

[Peter Grainge]

So the problem looks to be project specific. Does the problem only occur when you publish the help or does it also occur if you test the local copy of your project?