Is it possible to maintain RH 8 features in linked word docs?

[RightOar]

Hi all,

I'm creating an online help manual that will eventually be maintained by staff unfamiliar with RH. So, I'm hoping the new Link to Word feature (with Word as the source document) will allow them to make easy manual updates. However, when I incorporate other RH features (image maps, related topics, twisties, expanded text, etc...), I can't figure out how to maintain both the source document changes and the RH features in the same topic. Can I only have it one way? The cake without the frosting?

Thanks in advance!

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Basically it's a one way shot. Things come in from Word and you create topics from what is inside the Word doc. If that doc changes, the topics are updated and any changes you have made to the HTML topics are typically lost.

There seems to be no easy way to have things as you are wanting in this manner.

Cheers... Rick

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[RightOar]

Thanks, Rick. That's too bad--it would've been the best of both worlds.

[Guest]

You might try a cake and brownies platter, if your content allows:

Think of two kinds of help topics. One kind has RH features, like image maps and twisties (cake - with frosting). The other kind has nicely formatted text (brownies). If you have information that changes frequently (like, for example, accounting or tax tables), that would be a good candidate for brownies.

The cake topics live in roboHelp only, but the brownie topics live in Word documents. This means that anybody can update a brownie topic, while it takes a RoboHelp user to update a cake topic.

The potential benefit is that you can shift some of the update load away from RH, which means you don't need to train as many RH users. This won't work for all help systems, but if your content fits this model, it may lessen the pain a little.

[RightOar]

Yeah, I understand, but thanks anyway for the yummy analogy. In a perfect world, I'd be able to have the cake (with the frosting) and actually eat it, too.

I can live with brownies.

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

Lovin the food analogies!

Personally, I prefer Girl Scout leaders...

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