Can't Wrap Text in Tables in RoboHelp 8

[Guest]

Several years ago, at a different job, I used RoboHelp X3, and I could wrap text in tables.

At my current job, I use RoboHelp X5 and I have never been able to wrap text in tables in that version.

I recently downloaded and tested the RoboHelp 8 trial, and therein, I still cannot get the text in my tables to wrap. I have followed the instructions on http://help.adobe.com/en_US/RoboHelp/8.0/RoboHTML/WSA70FCA2B-1077-40b7-842B-3E747A8FA46F.html#WS11CF... and still, it does not wrap.

To test RoboHelp 8, I am using a help project that was previously used in RoboHelp X5. I have not tried to create a table and get the text to wrap in a totally new RoboHelp 8 project. Not sure if that would make a difference or not.

Any advice from the user community would be greatly appreciated, as this issue will make or break my decision to either upgrade to RoboHelp 8, or buy MadCap Flare. And I'd MUCH rather stick with RoboHelp if at all possible.

[Peter Grainge]

Are you talking about a single string that does not wrap or just a long sentence with spaces between words.

Also are you talking about the Design Editor or in one of the outputs?

[MergeThis]

ColdFusion glitch - see the next response.

[MergeThis]

You might want to open the topic, select one row with the no-wrap problem, go into HTML view and make sure that the entire row has been selected (<tr>everything-in-between</tr>), copy that code, and paste it into the "Attach Code" area in your next response.

Seeing that will help us resolve your issue more easily.


Good luck,
Leon

[Guest]

Thanks for answering! =)

I'm talking about a long sentence with spaces between words.

And I'm talking about the Design Editor, the preview (View Selected Items icon), and in the generated output (I used WebHelp). In all three, the long sentence just goes on and on and on, off to the right of my screen and I have to scroll all the way to the right to see the end of the sentence.

And to answer MergeThis, here is the row of code in question:

<td>Owner</td>
<td><span>Displays the name of the PRISM user who owns this document. If you create a document, PRISM automatically considers you to be the document owner. Therefore, you have the right to view and edit the document. Other PRISM users can be granted shared ownership via the Preferences module.</span></td>

Thanks to you both for your help!

[Peter Grainge]

Try removing the meaningless Span tag in HTML view and then apply the Normal style to the cell.

[Guest]

I tried removing the meaningless Span tag in HTML view and applying the Normal style to the cell, but that didn't work.

[Amebr-ke0mH4]

Just to go back to check the basics, does your table have a defined pixel width or a percentage width? What about the individual columns? Do you have any images in the the table? Or any nested tables?

I try to ensure all my tables use a % measurement rather than pixels. If I have any nested tables, I set the width of my nested table to 90%, not 100% as this doesn't seem to be handled very well.

Sorry if you've already checked this; I know I've overlooked really simple things before.

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply, Amebr. I always use percents for my table and column sizing, and there aren't any images or nested tables. It's just basic text.

[MergeThis]

Would you be able to post the code from a topic with at least one table with wrapping issues, as well as your style sheet, here in the forum?

You can strip all technical content, if you must, and replace text with any old stuff (marketing stuff, news articles from the web, etc.).


Good luck,
Leon

[Guest]

Hi Leon, thanks for your help.

In this reply I'm going to attach the code from a problematic help topic.

Will attach the cascading style sheet in another message.

[Guest]

Hi again Leon. I've attached to this reply the cascading style sheet from my help project.

[Amebr-ke0mH4]

Hi there,

It's the 'white-space: nowrap' proprerty in your TD definition. If you remove it, you'll find all your tables wrap.

A couple of links:
W3C white-space definition
DevGuru white-space definition

[MergeThis · Accepted solution]

Amebr beat me to it.

Just comment out that line (to test), as shown in my attached code, to achieve the desire result. (You might also consider removing that line from all other instances; they just seem unnecessary.)


Good luck,
Leon

[Guest]

WOOHOO! I tried commenting out the nowrap line, and that worked! Now my tables wrap! YAY! I inherited the CSS along with the help system, from previous writers at my company, so I didn't even know that was in there.

Thank you so much to everyone who answered my post!

[MergeThis]

Going back to your initial post reveals two things:

* "I use RoboHelp X5 and I have never been able to wrap text in tables in that version."

* The help link you were using when you "followed the instructions" is to "Format paragraphs."

There should be no problem with wrapping text in either RH X5 or 6 or 7 or 8, so you obviously have some really toxic stuff going on in these tables, or in your .css style sheet, or in topic-specific styles, or a little of each.

If your organization will allow it, would you send me the code for a problem topic and your style sheet? (Attach it through the "Send Private Message" link in this page's left pane.)


Good luck,
Leon