Is there a way to import someone else's webhelp project so that I can take over and work on it?

[Peggy Wood]

Someone has worked on a webhelp project using robohelp, but now I am taking it over.  Is there a way to transfer or import her work so that I can work on it, so I don't have to start from scratch and copy her work? 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Just zip up the entire project folder and take it away – if you only have the output there are a couple of methods (one free/one paid) to reverse-engineer the RH project.

[Peggy Wood]

Sounds easy... some clarification since I'm the newest of beginners at RoboHelp for WebHelp.

When you say 'zip up the project and take it away'... can you expand on that?  I'm thinking that I would be able to import it like a PDF or Word file. 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, assuming that you have access to the other person's machine, the RH project files should be in a folder on their c:\ drive (in like c:\projects\[project_name]\ or My Documents\My RoboHelp Projects) - once you've located it, just zip it up into a single .zip file and take it over to your machine. Unzip it - the best practices place is c:\projects\{project_name]\ and start RH up. Then just browse to the location of the project and open the [project_name].xpj file. Now it's your project ;>)

If you don't have access to the RH source files, but only have the WebHelp output files that it produced, you can get a working RH project back out of it by using a process known as "reverse-engineering" - see grainge.org for a free way of doing this or wvanweelden.eu for a paid method.

If either of these ways don't suit, maybe you need to explain your situation a bit more & then we can try helping you.

[Peggy Wood]

Your comments are most helpful.

I don't have access to the RH source files, but only the WebHel;p output files.  I guess I would have to reverse-engineer it. 

Can you give me a sense of the difference between the Free way versus the Paid method?  I'm all for paying if that give me the best result in an efficient manner.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Peter describes the free method on his site; shoot Willam an e-mail or PM him to have a chat with him about the paid way. My understanding of it is that it’s relatively inexpensive & much faster.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Peter's site contains an article on opening corrupt RH projects only: http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/opening/opening_projects.htm

If you only have a WebHelp output, the steps for recreating a project from an output are listed on Rick's site: http://www.robowizard.com/RoboWizard/MonthlyScry/062004.htm

The paid method is outlined on http://wvanweelden.eu/product/reverse-engineer-robohelp-project-robohelp-89-webhelp-incl-pro-output. (Note that this is the one for help created with Robo 8/9. Different versions require a different version of the script.)

Greet,

Willam

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I was thinking of this page - http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/reverse_engineering/reverse_engineering.htm - but now I realize that it just points to Rick’s site for the Webhelp part of it (LOL)

[Peggy Wood]

Great point about the different versions of RH.  Is there a paied method for version 10 users?  Also, the RH verions used to create the output might have been version 9.  Does that add to the complexity of the process?  Again, happy to pay to do this right!

[Willam_van_Weelden]

@Jeff: I didn't see that one. You're absolutely right.

@Peggy:

The version that created the WebHelp is relevant for recovery as each version uses different methods to store the information. Use this chart to find out which RoboHelp version created your output: http://www.wvanweelden.eu/determine-output-type-and-robohelp-version

A complete overview of all recovery methods is on: http://www.wvanweelden.eu/product-category/recovery-script It includes automated recovery from CHM, BB AIR, FlasHelp (Pro) and WebHelp (Pro).

If you have any questions regarding the scripts, feel free to contact me directly at contact [at] wvanweelden [dot] eu.

Greet,

Willam