PDFs launch fine from help toc and index, but content can't be searched

[Guest]

Hi,

I've started to include .PDFs with my help output. I'm launching them either from the TOC or the Index as additional information. They are included as baggage files and are referenced within the help. This works fine.

However, can anyone confirm whether the content of these PDFs, once referenced from the main help, will be included in the search?

So, if I searched for a specific word which exists within one of these PDFs (i.e. not in the title) would it be returned along with the main help search results?

Is there any way to do this?

I've read certain info that seems to hint that this is possible, but it certainly doesn't work for me.

Confirmation either way would be great!

Thanks for any help.

Regards,

Feebeegeebee.

[Captiv8r]

And your version of RoboHelp would be?

I think this ability was only offered via RoboHelp Server in versions prior to 8. Beginning with version 8, standard WebHelp allows it as well as RoboHelp Server.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 moments from now - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcererStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Guest]

Sorry, sorry, sorry!

I usually remember to specify that...

RH8. I publish in standard webhelp.

Feebeegeebee

[Guest]

Just for additional info, I wondered whether the hierarchy of my help system might be to blame i.e.

- mainhelpdir

- secondaryhelpdir

- tertiaryhelpdir

- additionaldocsdir

If I was launching the help from within the mainhelpdir directory, I wondered if trying to search the content of PDFs in the additionaldocsdir would be the problem, as it was at te same level in the help hierarchy.

However, I moved additionaldocsdir to sit beneath mainhelpdir in the hierarchy, updated the links and references and the search still doesn't pick up on words used within the pdfs.

Anyone able to shed any light?

Thanks,

Feebeegeebee

[Guest]

Thanks for your question--I didn't even know this was possible OUTSIDE of RoboHelp, but it has been available for several years:

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-search-for-text-inside-multiple-pdf-files-at-on...

If anyone has an OCR program that they can chain to the PDF search process, see Comment #9

[Peter Grainge]

See my RoboHelp Tour. The PDF has to have a link to it from a topic. If you only have TOC and Index links, I'm not sure that is enough.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Thanks both for your replies.

Peter,

I also have a hyperlink to the PDF from within a "References" section, to make sure that it's included in a topic.

I thought I might need this as well, but the content of the PDF still isn't picked up in the search.

That's why I queried where the pdf files might need to be in the hierarchy, but changing that doesn't seem to have made any difference.

Any ideas what might be going wrong?

Thanks.

Feebeegeebee

[Peter Grainge]

Create a new project and test there. It shouldn't matter where the topic is, it is just a case of whether or not search works so let's see what happens in a new project. It just worked OK here.

What do you use to create the PDFs?

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Thanks Peter. I will try with a new project.

I'm using RoboPDF to produce the pdf files.

Thanks!

Fiona

[Peter Grainge]

If it fails in the new project, set RoboPDF to Acrobat 5 compatibility. I'm not sure you can do that as I have the full Acrobat installed. If you cannot, then use a non Adobe product for testing.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Thanks (again) Peter.

I hadn't thought about it being the actual PDF file.

I will try generating it differently (and not using RoboPDF) and see what happens.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post back findings later.

Feebeegeebee

[Guest]

I couldn't find anywhere to set to Acrobat5 compatibility.

However, I did try using standard Adobe PDF and also a non-Adobe product, neither of which made any difference.

I also tried a new project, with links to all of these versions of the PDF and none of them found anything in the search results.

Now scratching my head again...

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Along the lines of Peter's thoughts, I am aware that PDFs may be created in different ways depending on the application. For example, Microsoft Publisher creates "web pages" that are nothing more than images. In that case you cannot search any text inside the PDF.

Are you able to perform a search with these PDFs (using just the PDF reader without RoboHelp involved)?

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 moments from now - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcererStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Peter Grainge]

As well as following Rick's suggestion, create a new Word document with one word in it "redrabbit". Create a PDF from that using the full Adobe PDF product set to be compatible with Version 5.

Add that file to baggage and then create a link from a topic in the new project.

Generate webhelp and search on redrabbit.

That is what I did and it worked without any trouble.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Hi Peter,

Just tried that. I used the same pdf filename and overwrote the PDF file that I was using previously.

It was saved in version 5 format and just had the one word in it.

Still no results.

Bizarre!

Thanks for all your suggestions.

[Peter Grainge]

Send me the new project. See the contact page on my site for instructions.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Hi Peter,

Sorry for the delayed reply. Had a deadline to meet and got sidetracked.

I'll upload a copy of the dummy project shortly.

Thanks,

Feebeegeebee

[Guest]

Hi Peter,

I just discovered your response to me (from a couple of weeks ago) in the spam folder of my email.

You stated that the PDF file was not shown as a baggage file in my example and that it needed to be.

I had added a redirect file that was included as a baggage file. However, I have now added the pdf in as a baggage file as well.

I have finally got it to work, but only by including the PDF within the mainhelpdir area as a baggage file. However, this seems to mean that the PDF file has to live within the hierarchy of the main help.

For example, the following represents my output structure:

- mainhelpdir

- secondaryhelpdir

- tertiaryhelpdir

- additionaldocsdir

I would like the PDF to reside in "additionaldocsdir" so that I can also launch it from within the "secondaryhelpdir" and "tertiaryhelpdir" as it is relevant to those help systems too. However, this doesn't seem possible, as you need to physically add the baggage file rather than just provide a link location.

This looks like I would need to add the PDF separately as a local baggage file to each of my help systems, unless I've missed something, which isn't ideal.

Thanks,

Feebeegeebee

[Peter Grainge]

A PDF needs to be in the project if the search is to include it. Putting in a redirect to the PDF doesn't qualify. I need to look at the project you sent and my reply but without the name used there, I cannot trace it. I don't recall that it was merged help and in this thread I thought the dirs you referred to were folders, not different projects.

If you are talking about a merge, are you delivering some outputs and not others?. If you are delivering all, then only one project needs the PDF. If some, as I think is the case, why not include it in the parent?

If you can clarify the above, I'm sure we can sort it out.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Hi Peter,

No it's not merged help. I have several separate projects that get release in a help area for the product.

Perhaps I should consider merging them in order to get this to work, but I understand that will break many links between the different help systems.

Thanks!

Feebeegeebee

[Peter Grainge]

Then you do need to have the PDF as a baggage file if you want search to work. A redirect to a PDF outside the project will not get it searched.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Hello!

Just to clarify how this now works for me...

The PDFs need to be included as baggage files within your project.

The PDFs also need to be linked in at least one of the help topics. I included a "References" topic with links to them.

My confusion arose from the way I publish multiple helps, which are released in a central area, with directories for each help system.
I thought I could place the PDFs in a directory within that central area and then incorporate them in the main and subsidiary help searches. In order to link from all help systems, I would need to merge all my help projects and do the above (which I don't really want to do at this stage).

For now, being able to search from the main product help is fine. One day I might merge all the subsidiary help projects in...

Thanks to Peter and all who responded with advice. It will be great to ensure all the relevant info will be searchable, regardless of output format.

Regards,

Feebeegeebee.

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the response.

Yes. Searching via the PDF search works and it works when launched via the online help window.

However, the Help search finds nothing.

I'm baffled and am running out of ideas.

Feebeegeebee