Loss of formatting when pasting RH9 text into Word 10

[ben2525]

Hey folks. Pretty new to RoboHelp. I am using version 9 HTML. Here's the problem I'm encountering:

The SMEs at work like to have RH topics pasted into Word for easy editing. For another project that also uses RH9 HTML, I simply click View Selected Item (Eyeglasses icon) option in RH, then Ctrl+A the text in the View Selected Item dialog box.  When I paste it into Word, it pastes properly, with all formatting and screenshots. I guess you could call this "exporting" the text.

But with the project I'm currently working on, even though it's RH9 HTML and Word 2010, pasting the text from View Selected Item dialog box results in a loss of all formatting (font color, size, numbered lists, indentations, etc.) and blank boxes where the screenshots should be. I have tried all the different Paste options in Word.

I am guessing there's something different about the style/formatting settings between the RH topics in each of these projects, which explains why one pastes properly and one does not. I need to diagnose what the issue is and fix it. I sure could use some assistance!  Sadly, I cannot post any work due to confidentiality, otherwise I would.

Could folks offer feedback? Maybe there are common causes for this problem? Each project's help topics are built from a Master Page template, though the template name and settings differ between the two projects.

PS- I did a search for this topic but didn't find anything that is this same problem.

Many thanks.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

While I'm at a total loss to explain why this happens or what to do to fix it, I do have a workaround in mind.

Why not use RoboHelp's ability to create Printed Documentation? That would also create a Word document of the selected content.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[ben2525]

I tried that but Word seems to have hung in the background.

Here are the steps I followed:

Have the help topic I wish to print open. Click Printed Documentation in the Single Source Layouts Pod. In the Print Document General dialog, name the Printed Documentation "Sample"  The location was my D drive, in the main project folder. I left all settings at default. Output format is Generate Word DOC.Click Save and Generate.

Warning message appears: 

Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications. The macros in this project are disabled. Please refer to the online help or documentation of the host application to determine how to enable macros.

I click "Printed Documentation" again in the Single Source Layouts pod.

Got this error message:

"Printed Documentation. The Word VBA macro version registered is incorrect. Please reinstall Printed Documentation."

Can anyone help shed some light on this, and suggest a solution? Thanks.

[Captiv8r]

Yeah, those messags are RoboHelp's nervous breakdown way of saying you need to open Microsoft Word and relax the Macro security setting a bit.

Try relaxing the security settings a notch or two and try it again. You will be surprised.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[ben2525]

Hey,

Thanks for those suggestions. I did relax the security settings.

There's one file that RoboHelp cannot seem to generate properly into a Word file. I was able to generate the remaining Help files by removing this one, then when I attempted to generate this one on its own, I encountered the same error message as when I attempted to generate the entire Help doc (which included this topic). Basically, this is the error message:

"Warning: The Word Document became corrupt when attempting to append a malformed topic: (topic name here).htm.

Failed to build '(topic name here)'

Failed to build one or more chapters.

I'd thought it might be because there were many missing images, but I updated all those, adding them back in. So I'm not sure what the cause is. I cannot upload the actual document, but I am attaching a screenshot of the error message.

[Peter Grainge]

Maybe this page will help.

http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/printing/print_issues.htm

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge