Contents of the ToC pane not displayed in IE 11

[barbara_seddon]

Hi, I experienced this problem before but did not ever find a solution.

My laptop recently upgraded from IE 10 to IE 11 and ever since, the contents of the ToC pane in my webhelp projects will not display although they are shown in Firefox.

This happened a couple of years ago (with IE 8 I think) and a solution was not found. It was only resolved when my department upgraded to RoboHelp 10. It is not feasible to upgrade our RoboHelp with every IE upgrade however.

Does anybody have a solution for this please?

Regards,

Barbara

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Well, right now RH10 is as high as you can go currently (Jan. 2014). IE10 & 11 have presented some issues for RH WebHelp output. See this thread - http://forums.adobe.com/message/5892194#5892194

[Peter Grainge]

Also see http://forums.adobe.com/message/5919262

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@petergrainge

[barbara_seddon]

Hi, thanks for the advice.

I've forwarded your replies to the developers I work with as I'm not totally sure what all of the solutions entail. If the solutions don't work, I may be back to you ....

[Flaven]

I can validate that RoboHelp 11 provides for some bug fixes. It works  with IE11 (e.g., you don't lose the TOC/Index/Search panel), but still does not address the DHTML issue after more than a year (i.e., DHTML effects do not work in IE10 or IE11). Well after a year since its release, you can now use Word 2013.

[Montage9]

According to a colleague who has downloaded RH11 (with some difficulty as the Adobe download site doesn't appear to work well with IE11), RH11 still loses the TOC/Index/Search functionality when webhelp is generated.

If it doesn't work "out of the box" this cannot be regarded as a fix.

[Peter Grainge]

What happens if you view one of the sample projects in IE11?

Click Open on the RoboHelp Starter page and then click Samples in the ribbon on the left.

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@petergrainge

[barbara_seddon]

Hi, the developers have not yet got back to me with any ideas.

In the meantime, I was just looking at my help project which is embedded in the product and running from a server. The contents are actually displayed!

So this must mean that there is "something" amiss when you open the help locally but whatever it is does not occur when it is run from a server? I'm not that technical so can't guess how to resolve this locally but would welcome any ideas.

[Peter Grainge]

When run locally in IE, webhelp requires that either the Mark of the Web is applied or you go into advanced options (IE) and allow active content to run.

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@petergrainge

[Montage9]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the suggestions.

Have finally managed to download the trial version of RH11 (Adobe download manager reports IE11 is an incompatible browser despite advising that it works with "current versions of Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer") and installed it, made a copy of my project and upgraded it to RH11.

With no other changes, I opened the SSL properties, selected 'Mark of the Web' checkbox in the navigation tab, and generated webhelp. Using View with Internet Explorer (V11) the TOC (not displayed), Index and search did not work as expected. No "Allow active content" prompt was observed.

Went back, removed Mark of the Web and regenerated. When Viewed with IE11 got the "Allow Active content" prompt. Changed Internet Options to "Allow active content to run in files on my computer", closed IE and opened webhelp again. Project now displayes as expected.

It would appear that adding the Mark of the Web makes no difference when trying to view generated content on a local machine!

Have yet to test in a "live" environment.

Regards

[Peter Grainge]

Interesting. So the problem was IE blocking the content in the way it always has but Mark of the Web not working other than stopping the Active X prompt. I'll watch for similar reports.

If you have the time to test that with one of the sample projects, it would be helpful. Click Open on the RoboHelp Starter page and then click Samples in the ribbon on the left.

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@petergrainge

[Tim D Morris]

I am getting the same results Montage9 listed.  If I generate the WebHelp with the "Mark of the Web" box checked, the Contents, Index, and Glossary panes do not work in IE11 (doesn't matter if I'm viewing the WebHelp locally or on a server).  If I regenerate the WebHelp with the "Mark of the Web" box not checked, I get the prompt, "Internet Explorer restricted this webpage from running scripts or ActiveX controls," with the option to "Allow blocked content."  If I allow blocked content, the WebHelp works as expected in IE11.  If I check the "Allow active content to run in files on my computer" box, the previous prompt does not display when the page loads and the WebHelp works fine in IE11.  Is this an issue Adobe can/will resolve so that projects can be generated with the "Mark of the Web" box checked and have the Contents, Index, and Glossary panes work properly in IE11?

[Montage9]

Peter

This morning I have taken the time to test as you requested. I opened the SalesBUilder2 sample project and using the 'Webhelp for Adobe RoboHelp Authors (primary layout) SSL, generated output.

Note: At this stage I have set my IE11 Internet Options so that "Allow active content to run in files on my computer" is NOT selected.

Generating output with MOTW NOT selected and then viewing result in IE11 causes the active content blocked messages to be displayed. When this is allowed, appears to display correctly.

Generating output with MOTW SELECTED and then viewing result in IE11 causes the TOC to dissappear completely.

This appears to mirror the testing results that I achieved with my "live" project.

I would have to conclude that RH11 release DOES NOT fully support IE11 as the publication process is not seamless as experienced when viewing output in Chrome or Firefox.

Adobe are obviously having some problems with IE11 as their Akamai download manager still does not support IE11, despite their FAQ stating that the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer are compatible.

If there is anyone from Adobe watching this thread, perhaps they would escalate this issue as their current claims that RH11 is compatible with IE11 appear to be false and misleading.

[Tim D Morris]

Adobe acknowledged that this is a problem and logged a bug report (3697271).

[Peter Grainge]

The problem is that IE11 is not recognizing MoW, a security change!!

It is causing the same problem with Flare output. Adobe and MadCap are both aware of the problem.

I will update this thread with developments. Meantime users will have to use a browser other than IE11.

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@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

@Montage9

I wonder if you could reopen one of the samples and generate the Responsive HTML5 layout.

Does that work locally for you?

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@petergrainge

[Montage9]

Hi Peter

I took the time this morning to try out your request. Opened the SalesBuilder2 sample project. Selected the Responsive Layout SSL and generated without any changes to the saved properties.

Appears to view OK in Chrome and Firefox (something about content not compatible with browser when viewing topic with the video embedded) but would expect this as Firefox is not generally used on mobile devices.

When using IE11 with "Allow active content to run in files on my computer" selected, the output appears fine. As soon as I turn off the "Allow active content......" then the Active X prompts are displayed when viewing with IE11.

Appears to be the same result as with the webhelp SSL.

Hope this answers your queries.

Regards

[Peter Grainge]

Thank you for doing that. It is very helpful to me in trying to put together workarounds. Unfortunately it does mean that HTML5 does not run locally quite as cleanly as I had been lead to believe.

First I have been told by Adobe that ActiveX is not the issue. The prompt also refers to scripts and it is that which is causing the problem, to all webhelp, not just RoboHelp.

For now IE11 cannot be used unless you are in a position to get users to allow active content to run. If you must run webhelp locally and cannot do that, then your developers could perhaps set up a server on the user's machines. That's not quite as drastic as it may sound but it is not just a simple file download.

See http://www.grainge.org/pages/snippets/snippets.htm#browsers Item 3 - Solution 2.

I will keep this thread update as I learn more.

___________________________________

Peter Grainge

http://www.grainge.org

[Peter Grainge]

Please see http://helpx.adobe.com/robohelp/kb/robohelp-output-issues-ie-11.html

Let me know if that does resolve your problems.

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@petergrainge

[Tim D Morris]

Peter,

Just checking. I have a folder named \RoboHTML\WebHelpExt\template_stock?

Thanks.

Tim Morris

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Probably looks like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 10\RoboHTML\WebHelp5Ext\template_stock\

[Peter Grainge]

@Jeff It probably is that but I am checking with Adobe.

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@petergrainge

[Tim D Morris]

Peter,

I put the .js files in my C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 10\RoboHTML\WebHelp5Ext\template_stock folder. I regenerated my project (which does have the Mark of the Web box checked), and it did not fix the problem.

Tim

[Peter Grainge]

To include an image in a reply you have to post via the web interface, not email. When you open the reply, there is a camera icon.

I am checking the path with Adobe as above.

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@petergrainge

[Tim D Morris]

OK, thanks.  The image just showed that the TOC is still not displayed in IE 11.

Also, I replied to the previous messages via e-mail, not realizing the messages were posting here.  In a previous e-mail I sent, I see now that the whole message I sent did not come through.  I originally sent:

Just checking.  I have a folder named <RHnstallFolder>\RoboHTML\WebHelpExt5\template_stock.  Do you want me to copy the files to this location or to a new folder named <RHnstallFolder>\RoboHTML\WebHelpExt\template_stock?

As noted, I have since tried copying the files to the WebHelpExt5 folder, and it did not work.  Will reply to additional messages below.