Seems like you can't get there from here...

[Newsgroup_User]

Okay, so here's the deal. I've authored a delightful software manual in
Word. Now I want to bring it into RH X5 with the option of outputting both
.CHM and .HLP (preferably WinHelp 2000).

* If I import my .DOC file into RH for Word, it loses the complex structure
and doesn't have any way for me to recreate it easily. I'd have to recreate
the TOC and index from scratch (and in the Word document, the TOC and index
each cover three full pages). Not only that but the import process seems to
have lost all of the graphics... almost every topic has a screen capture and
they're all gone after a six-hour import process... wahhhh!!! All of the
graphics in the document file are linked by reference. The import process
seems to have converted all of my .GIF references to .BMP references with
the .BMP references apparently non-functional.

* If I import my.DOC file into RH HTML, it retains the complex structure
but ignores the "non-traditional" heading styles in the original document. I
have a number of heading styles that were created from the default heading
styles but with variations on the formatting or just a slightly different
name so I can exclude them from the Word TOC. So yes, they actually are
heading styles. However when importing the .DOC file, RH presents a list of
style choices to make topics from and those aren't in the list and there's
no way to add them to the list. So I end up with a whole boatload of topics
that have text in them that should have been broken out into individual
topics.

* I think I can manage the problems in the previous paragraph by doing a
search and replace on a copy of the Word document before importing it into
RH HTML, replacing all instances of my "non-traditional" heading styles with
Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. However, if I've got the whole project in RH HTML
to my liking, there's no way to get .HLP output and as far as I can tell, no
way to import the RH HTML project into RH for Word.

I know the received wisdom is that I shouldn't even consider WinHelp because
it's officially been deprecated. Nonetheless, I want to retain that option
and make it available to the folks I'm working with as long as I have the
tools to create it. The marketplace for our products doesn't tend to include
early adopters so I don't expect the number of Vista users to be of any
consequence for quite some time. If we decide to stick with WinHelp, it
wouldn't be difficult to manage on our end.

So is there any way I can get the import tool in RH for Word to retain the
complex structure of the original document?? What do I have to do to get RH
for Word to bring in the graphics?

Thanks for the help.

[Newsgroup_User]

Bumping to see if anyone will respond
"Mike Starr" <mike@REMOVETOREPLYwritestarr.com> wrote in message
news:evonet$au7$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Okay, so here's the deal. I've authored a delightful software manual in
> Word. Now I want to bring it into RH X5 with the option of outputting both
> .CHM and .HLP (preferably WinHelp 2000).
>
> * If I import my .DOC file into RH for Word, it loses the complex
structure
> and doesn't have any way for me to recreate it easily. I'd have to
recreate
> the TOC and index from scratch (and in the Word document, the TOC and
index
> each cover three full pages). Not only that but the import process seems
to
> have lost all of the graphics... almost every topic has a screen capture
and
> they're all gone after a six-hour import process... wahhhh!!! All of the
> graphics in the document file are linked by reference. The import process
> seems to have converted all of my .GIF references to .BMP references with
> the .BMP references apparently non-functional.
>
> * If I import my.DOC file into RH HTML, it retains the complex structure
> but ignores the "non-traditional" heading styles in the original document.
I
> have a number of heading styles that were created from the default heading
> styles but with variations on the formatting or just a slightly different
> name so I can exclude them from the Word TOC. So yes, they actually are
> heading styles. However when importing the .DOC file, RH presents a list
of
> style choices to make topics from and those aren't in the list and there's
> no way to add them to the list. So I end up with a whole boatload of
topics
> that have text in them that should have been broken out into individual
> topics.
>
> * I think I can manage the problems in the previous paragraph by doing a
> search and replace on a copy of the Word document before importing it into
> RH HTML, replacing all instances of my "non-traditional" heading styles
with
> Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. However, if I've got the whole project in RH
HTML
> to my liking, there's no way to get .HLP output and as far as I can tell,
no
> way to import the RH HTML project into RH for Word.
>
> I know the received wisdom is that I shouldn't even consider WinHelp
because
> it's officially been deprecated. Nonetheless, I want to retain that option
> and make it available to the folks I'm working with as long as I have the
> tools to create it. The marketplace for our products doesn't tend to
include
> early adopters so I don't expect the number of Vista users to be of any
> consequence for quite some time. If we decide to stick with WinHelp, it
> wouldn't be difficult to manage on our end.
>
> So is there any way I can get the import tool in RH for Word to retain the
> complex structure of the original document?? What do I have to do to get
RH
> for Word to bring in the graphics?
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
>

[Peter Grainge]

I think nobody replied because you have found out for yourself how it works. RH for Word does lose the structure and RH HTML does not have a WinHelp output.

RH does require the Headings to be Heading 1, 2 etc so any variants will cause problems as you have found. Better to accept it than fight it.

I've not tried it but I guess you could import into RH HTML to get your CHM, then create a printed output and import that into RH for Word. I have a hunch though it will be more effort than is acceptable.

Maybe your customers are not going to be early adopters of Vista but surely they can all move to a CHM at least?

[Newsgroup_User]

"Peter Grainge" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:f02pct$g6k$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> I think nobody replied because you have found out for yourself how it
works. RH
> for Word does lose the structure and RH HTML does not have a WinHelp
output.
>
> RH does require the Headings to be Heading 1, 2 etc so any variants will
cause
> problems as you have found. Better to accept it than fight it.
>

Thanks for the response. I'm sorry to hear that RH HTML doesn't "grok"
non-standard heading styles. I thought it was probably just some oversight
on my part, not configuring something right prior to the import process.

> I've not tried it but I guess you could import into RH HTML to get your
CHM,
> then create a printed output and import that into RH for Word. I have a
hunch
> though it will be more effort than is acceptable.

How would I create a printed output to import into RH for Word that would
import any better than my original Word document? Either way, I'm going to
lose the structure, right??

>
> Maybe your customers are not going to be early adopters of Vista but
surely
> they can all move to a CHM at least?

Well, in part, it's also me... I've been resisting moving to CHM because I'm
convinced it's drastically inferior to WinHelp 2000. I've been hoping the
PHBs over at Microsoft would relent and start including WinHelp with Vista.
However, I want to be able to offer the client an informed choice and make
either option viable. When the time is appropriate I intend to have the
full-disclosure discussion, reveal my own particular prejudices, and let
them make the decision.

Of course, I still have my old copy of the final version of ForeHelp...
maybe I can filter the whole thing through that then into RH?

Best regards,

Mike

[Peter Grainge]

The document from RH HTML will not be any better. What I had in mind was that each time you need a winhelp file, you created a Word document which will have the updates you have made. Nothing more than that.

I really cannot envisage MS relenting on HLPs so you will be forcing your clients to download the viewer, you cannot distribute it.

Where is the help going to sit? If on a server you need to be thinking webhelp, not a CHM which is nowadays for desktops because of security issues.

[Newsgroup_User]

This is for a desktop application. The prospect of the viewer download isn't
a big issue in our situation. For the forseeable future, WinHelp is still a
highly viable option.

Mike
"Peter Grainge" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:f05s5e$i3p$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> The document from RH HTML will not be any better. What I had in mind was
that
> each time you need a winhelp file, you created a Word document which will
have
> the updates you have made. Nothing more than that.
>
> I really cannot envisage MS relenting on HLPs so you will be forcing your
> clients to download the viewer, you cannot distribute it.
>
> Where is the help going to sit? If on a server you need to be thinking
> webhelp, not a CHM which is nowadays for desktops because of security
issues.
>
>
>