RH7 Topics in TOC don't display in Help

[Lobolance]

I'm using RH7; I create Web Help and printed documentation, both Word and pdf versions. All of my topics are in the TOC. However, two of the topics (which are in the TOC) don't appear in the generated Help or in either version of the printed documentation. If you jump to them from internal links, they show up, but they don't appear in the geneated Help's or printed documentation's TOC. ?!?

It's particularly a problem in the printed documentation, for when I want to create a user's manual from the file and only find out by accident that something is missing.

I've tried restarting the program and restarting the computer. 🙂 Windows xp professional.

Thanks for any tips!

Lance

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Do these topics simply not appear in the TOC to click on or is it more that you see them in the TOC, but clicking does not produce an action?

Do you have any Conditional Build Tags applied?

Cheers... Rick

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[Peter Grainge]

In addition to Rick's questions, just adding a topic to the TOC does not automatically add it to Printed Documentation. The topics in the print layout are intentionally kept separate as explained in Printed Documentation on my site.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Lobolance]

Thanks, I know that.

I've been using the program for about three years with no problem, adding and removing topics to Help and printed doc TOCs with no issue.

I've tried removing and re-adding the topics to the Help TOC a couple of times now - and then rebuilt docs as well; no effect.

Thanks for your time.

Lance

[Peter Grainge]

How deeply nested are the books in your online and print TOCs?

Is your project on your local drive?

How much ram does your machine have?

How many pages in the document?

Are there lots of images?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Lobolance]

1. There are eight 'books' in my TOC, but they aren't nested; just one after the other, with an index page sitting on top.

2. The project (all of my rh projects) lives on an external drive, so I can work on it from home as well as on my work machine; I discovered early on moving projects around was Bad. Mostly I work at work.

3. 2.66 Ghz, 3.25 GB ram

4. A bit fewer than 200.

5. Not what I think of as 'lots.' 🙂 A number of pages might have one of the two small 'tip' icons I use: there are probably fewer than 20 graphics of any size (eg applications, feature descriptions).

[Peter Grainge]

Nothing wrong with any of that, I often use an external hard disk. As long as you do mean a disk rather than a flash drive.

Do you get this problem on both machines, home and work?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Lobolance]

Well it's good to hear the external drive isn't the culprit (tho I have been working with it for a long time).

The problem just came to my awareness yesterday (along with the bizarre Chinese characters; http://forums.adobe.com/message/3892017#3892017). I didn't check it at home last night. I can try it tonight; good idea.

Thanks.

Lance

[Lobolance]

Update, while still at work. Got back to this project. The "missing" files appear in the toc. I build the help (and committed the files).

Went to make printed documentation (word)- interestingly, the missing files don't appear in the left hand TOC there (under Topics), so I can't choose them to add to Chapter Layout. I've tried removing all and adding all to the right column (Chapter Layout), but of course they don't magically appear.

There seems to be some disconnect between the TOC in the project, and however the program accesses that info to make the printed doc TOC.

I went into my hard drive, and able to open the files simply as web pages.

I still hope to try it at home tonight.

Thanks for listening.

[Peter Grainge]

That strongly suggests that there is build expression that is excluding these topics from the print layout. The tag could be applied to the topic in Project Manager or in the TOC you are using for the print layout. I know you said you don't have any tags applied but check again. Also check the HTML for signs of tags.

In the print layout above the left window where you see the TOC, click the dropdown and select All Folders. Can you then see the missing topics? If you tick Show All, do they appear then?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Lobolance]

The topics don't appear in the TOC of the help or printed docs (tho I have placed them in the TOC for both the help and the docs).

I don't have any conditional tags applied.

Thanks!

Lance