Cannot Generate PDF

[AutoDesSys]

I have a project that I want to export to pdf format, however the "create pdf" icon is grayed out. Reading the posts on forum it sounds like Robohelp produces a .doc file first and then converts that to a pdf. I didnt have word on my system so i went and installed the trial, I restarted the machine and am still having the same issue. I dont understand why Adobe would rely on Microsoft in their process to create an "Adobe" pdf file and still havent resolved the issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Im running from a Robohelp trial?

Thanks Again.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What version of Word are you running? You need to be using Word 2003 - 2010 isn't supported yet.

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community

Indeed the first step toward a PDF is generating to Word. And here's the rub. If you just downloaded and installed the trial, you likely installed the trial for the latest version of Word. 2010. There is no compatible version of RoboHelp to date that supports this version of Word. So that's likely the issue.

As for RoboHelp and Adobe and all that, you have to understand RoboHelp's pedigree. Adobe only acquired it in recent years. So they haven't yet worked out all the kinks for making it output directly to PDF. Unfortunately we still first must side trip into Word before seeing a PDF.

Cheers... Rick

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[AutoDesSys]

Currently, the only copy of Word on the pc that I have is 2000... And since I cannot download a trial of word 2007, does this mean I cant test the pdf creation capablities of Robohelp without first buying the 3rd party software? My goal here is to test drive the application to see if this is the best solution possible for my company, without knowing if its going to work I cant authorize the purchase of the software. So Im kind of stuck between a Rock and a Hard place.

Thanks Again.

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

RoboHelp should work with Word 2000. Not sure why it isn't.

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

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What's your workflow? Creating PDFs from RH projects has never produced as good looking docs as those from FrameMaker (IMHO). That's why our operation went the TCS route to begin with.

[AutoDesSys]

Robohelp appears to accept Word 2000 as a source for the files it needs to create a pdf, however now Im fighting with getting Microsoft Word to even run on the machine. Once I make it through the extensive documentation of issues related to this, Ill post back on here to let you know if it works properly.

As far as the workflow goes, thats what Im trying to establish. Im new to this realm of things and am not sure what the best avenue of approach is. Basically I have a several 200+ page manuals as INDD files that we want to convert to an online manual. The original output was to PDF format and we need to keep that functionality and still have a single source after I have converted everything to html for the online documentation that we are trying to create. Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

The question with this sort of stuff is, where do I want to maintain the authoring of the content (that's the single sourcing part) & what sorts of help do I need to produce? You've got these manuals in In Design (correct?) - are you looking to continue authoring in In Design? Do you want (or need) to change your authoring tool? What sort of outputs are you looking for? You mention PDF and online documentation, but what format for the online docs? WebHelp, browser-based AIR help, a wiki format, etc.?

[AutoDesSys]

My 2 forms of output need to be pdf and WebHelp. All of my files are currently inDesign format (it would be great to keep it this way but I dont know if its possible), so Im ok with switching to a different source. My thought was a one time transition to HTML and then from there, use that as my "single" source for further editing, etc.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I don't know inDesign, but isn't one of its products HTML pages? Why not continue to author in ID, produce good looking PDF output from there and HTML pages for import into RH projects for WebHelp production?