Error Message after install

[flytowngal]

I am posting this on behalf of one of my co-workers who does not have internet service here at work.  (I know, who doesn't have internet access in the workplace?)

One of our techs installed RH version 8 on a system instead of version 7.  When he realized his error, he uninstalled version 8 and re-installed version 7. Now when this person attempts to work in RoboHelp, they get the following error: "This project is from a newer version of the program. This project is no longer compatible with this program. Please make sure you have the newest version installed."

Any ideas on how to correct this?

Many thanks!

[Guest]

Sounds like they need to restore a project backup from when the project was used in RH7. If the project in place was worked on in RH8, you can't bring it back to RH7. A restored backup is the solution.

[flytowngal]

They have touched the project in RH8.  They tried to open the previous

project created in RH 7 and got this error.  Any other ideas?

Maggie Prince

Senior Technical Writer

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

[Guest]

It's really cut and dried. Any RH7 project opened in RH8 can not be reopened in RH7.

All you can do is restore a backup that was created in RH7.

Not sure what you mean by "previous project."

[flytowngal]

How do you restore a backup and then open it in the lower version?

Maggie Prince

Senior Technical Writer

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

[Guest]

Well, it depends on how you make your backups. Most folks, I assume, and myself included, just create complete file copy sets of the project folder and stash them somewhere safe, on a regular basis. If that's what you do, then just delete all files in the current project folder and copy back in the files from your latest project file copy set.

If you use a proprietary (3rd party) backup system, or backup to a network drive that you don't have normal access to, your IT staff will probably have to help you.

Make sure that the project files you copy back into your in-place project folder really were stashed out while the RH7 program was in place. Restoring a fileset from when RH8 was installed won't get you anywhere but back to the same error.

Then to open the project in RH7, you can either double-click on the <project>.xpj file, or navigate to it on the RH Starter Window.

[Guest]

I should probably add that if you are not confident about the condition or content of your available backups, don't just delete the current files in the projecct folder - copy them and stash them somwhere safe. At the very least, worst case scenario, you will have the content to be able to cut and paste into replacement topics to rebuild the project.

[flytowngal]

Thanks!  Since this isn't exactly my problem, I'll have to find out how they back their projects up.  (I always back up either in our Version Control system or on my own.)  My guess is they can access their RH 7 files somewhere and then they can do what you explained below.

This group uses RH for entirely different purposes than I do, so many of their problems I never encounter myself.  But since they don't have internet service, I end up being the go-between here.

I really appreciate all your help with this!  Don't know what I'd do without this forum.

Maggie Prince

Senior Technical Writer

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

[Captiv8r]

Hi Maggie

For what it's worth, I just performed a very brief and limited test. If you don't find a backup, you may be able to create a fresh project in RoboHelp 7, then try importing the HTML topic files into the project. That may help you recover more easily. RoboHelp 7 seemed to import the files with no issue and I saw no issues when opening them in the editor.

Aside from that, you could also try using RoboHelp 8 and compiling a CHM file using 8. Then you could extract the contents of the .CHM file and use them in a new project. This way you should also be able to recover the TOC and Index. Not sure if the Glossary would survive that, but it may.

Cheers... Rick

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[flytowngal]

Thanks Rick! You confirmed my belief that the project could be re-created using the HTML files.

Maggie Prince

Senior Technical Writer

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies

513-870-2000 ext 6112

maggie_prince@cinfin.com

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