My client asks ... can we generate a PDF not via Word...?

[avi10000]

Using: RH HTML 7.0.3.

Hi all,

A client has invested time into developing a good CSS style sheet and RoboHelp template for creating a nice looking CHM HTML Help. My client wants to find a way of creating a nice looking PDF document without investing more time in developing a good Word template for export to PDF.

The client asked me what seems to me to be a dumb question about PDF generation. Is there such a thing as generating a PDF not via Word? - (Whatever that means.) My client seems to think there is a way. But since my client asked, I have to ask you all...

I tried out the quick way of simply clicking on the PDF icon, and seeing what happens. So RH generated for me a PDF, without asking me for any more info. The Output logger showed clearly that RH was first creating a *Word file*. And sure enough when I looked in its target folder I saw there was also a *Word doc* there, completed a minute earlier. A definite sign, I think, that RH first created the Word doc and then from it created the PDF. (Btw, I don't know where RH got the TOC from for this PDF generation - it seems like a ghost of the TOC I used months ago.) 

Then I tried using the Generate wizard from the Single Source Layouts pod. One of the stages of this wizard prompts you to select a template, including any *Word templates* you have fed RH in the past. Again a good sign, IMO, that the initial process for making a PDF is the same as for making a Word doc.

Over to you all.

TIA

avraham

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

RH has to create a Word document but if you deselect the Word check box, it is not saved. What you saw was probably an old document. Delete it and publish just a PDF and you should not be able to see the temporary Word document that is created.

In the wizard you don't have to select a Word template, that is just one of the options.

The content of the print layout is not related to your TOC. It takes the content of a TOC when you first create the print layout but then the two are standalone. You might not want the print layout to be the same as the TOC. If you do, use the arrows to clear the content and then replace it with the current TOC.

This is covered in Printed Documents on my site.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[avi10000]

>> RH has to create a Word document

Ok, that is the answer I have to report.

Great thanks,

- avraham

[Peter Grainge]

Yes but note that it does not save it if you only select the PDF check box. From my own findings and what others report, in most cases the PDF is not quite what you want and needs some tweaking, page breaks and suchlike.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[avi10000]

>> Yes but note that it does not save it if you only select the PDF check box. From my own findings and what others report, in most cases the PDF is not quite what you want and needs some tweaking, page breaks and suchlike.

You found a nice way of saying that without significant manual post-processing the generated PDF is almost never professional enough to release to clients.

(If you can design and implement an algorithm that does this automatically you will have made your million - and probably a few millions.)

Thanks!

- avraham

[Peter Grainge]

It's not necessarily a significant amount, it might just be page breaks and take a few minutes. It might also be a case where a one off macro is needed to do the work whenever you generate.

Typically my processing takes 15/20 minutes on documents up to a few hundred pages.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge