Converting Word Docs to RoboHelp 7

[Guest]

We recently tested RH 7 and found one issue that we cannot resolve. We use styles in Word. When we import a Word document into RH, the "Normal/Paragraph" style in Word converts to "Normal" in RH. This is a problem because the "Normal" style in RH has a different font, we would have to manually change each topic. RH does have a "Normal/Paragraph" style with the same font as Word, but for some reason when the doc converts it doesn't convert to the "Normal/Paragraph" style. Do you know how I can delete the "Normal" style from RH entirely (not from each topic, but from the project itself)? Is there a way to globally change all text from the "Normal" style to "Normal/Paragraph"? My teammate's test noticed that her fonts were fine until she ran the Glossary Wizard. After that, the fonts for the "Normal" style changed.

[Captiv8r]

Hi Karen

After you get all the Word content imported you are able to easily control the base font by configuring the desired font in an associated style sheet (.CSS file). You then apply the style sheet to all the topics to achieve consistency.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Hi Rick, when I import Word docs I then have a .css (style sheet) for each Word doc. Would I have to change each style sheet? For example, if I import 25 Word docs I then have 25 style sheets (.css) associated with each topic.

[Captiv8r]

Hi Karen

Indeed importing Word docs will likely produce a swarm of different CSS files. What you do is to either select one (or create a new one from scratch) and just associate that single style sheet with all topics. It's super simple to do. Just select all the topics in the Topic List. Then display properties and click the Appearance tab. Choose the style sheet to be used from the dialog.

Cheers... Rick

[Peter Grainge]

One thing to watch for is that the CSS you are going to select has all the styles that are in the RH created CSS. The definitions can be different but if the RH.CSS has a style called Brightred, then your CSS must have that.

If you click in a paragraph after changing the CSS used, then the style name will appear in the dropdown. If it is in CAPS, it means the new stylesheet does not have such a style defined.

[Guest]

Yes, I checked and it is in all caps. We use only 10 styles in our Word docs. So, if I create/update the one RH style sheet I will be using to contain the exact same 10 styles, then we're good to go, correct?

Peter and Rick, you do not know how much time you will be saving us. This rids our folders of two files per topic (.css and ns.css). We have to copy our files to a server and most times only highlighting the files that were changed to copy (very time-consuming). There will be less highlighting and copying of files as we will be using one style sheet instead of, in some cases, hundreds.

Thanks so much!

[Captiv8r]

Hi Karen

Peter and I specialize in helping damsels in distress.

Just thought I'd also toss out that you might also save a significant amount of time by exploring RoboHelp's ability to publish content to the server for you.

Not sure if that sounds interesting, but it's an efficient way to work.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Sounds interesting, Rick. I don't know if we'll have any security issues here, but it's worth reading up on. Any suggestions where to get more info?

[Captiv8r · Accepted solution]

Hi again

The help file?

Seriously, if you are generating WebHelp as follows: File > Generate Primary Layout (assuming WebHelp is the primary layout) you should see the first of a series of dialogs. Click Next > until you get to the last dialog in the series. That's the publish dialog. It's pretty simple to configure. But if you get to that point and summon the help for RoboHelp, the call should display information related to how to set this up.

The nice thing about it is that once you configure it, Publishing to the server is as simple as clicking the Publish button once your project has generated.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

The publishing process will hopefully be set up this afternoon. Thanks so much!

[Peter Grainge]

That's the theory. Post back if any issues.