Unused Topic Keywords

[Montage9]

Using RH10

My WebHelp project has been longstanding, and has been inherited. I have spent some time clearing up the Index file. When running the Unused Index Keywords report I now only get "Unused Topic Keywords", and rather a lot of them. According to RH Help, Topic Keywords are not the same as Index Keywords.

However, these Unused Topic Keywords do not appear in the Index Pod (I only have one Index in the project). I suspect that the Topic Keywords were originally created by importing HTML Help into an early version of RH (maybe 7 or 8).

There are NO entries in the Index Pod with a "key within a square" used to identify Topic keywords as opposed to Index Keywords.

The RH Help suggests that Topic Keywords are stored in the actual topic file - if this is the case, I can't find them. Selecting a topic's properties also does not display any Keywords in the General tab.

My question is, how can I remove these Unused Topic Keywords as I don't appear to be able to locate them anywhere within RH?

[RoboColum_n_]

They are stored in a meta tag in the topic HTML. Open up the HTML view and look for the following tag:

<meta name="MS-HKWD" content="xxxxxxx" /> where xxxxxxx is the keyword.

[Montage9]

Many thanks RoboColum(n)

Searched project for 'Begins with <meta name= "MS-HKWD" content=' and Ends with ' " />'

This found multiple instances of the Topic Keywords in multiple files.

Removed all instances, saved project. Closed project, reopened, and ran the Unused Index Keywords report again.

Unfortunately, the report shows all of the same "Unused Topic Keywords" that were there before I started removing the meta tag references.

Any ideas where else these unused topic keywords are also stored and how to get rid of them?

[RoboColum_n_]

Can you check your project settings for me - File > Project Settings. On the General tab is the Index set to add keywords to the .HHK file or topics? If it is the former, it could be that the project has these keywords added in the index file with no box around the key icon. If so and you don't want them, you could just delete them.

It sounds like you are trying to get to a situation where you have no index entries at all. If this is the case, it may be easier to create a new index, delete the old one and rename the new one to the existing name.

[Montage9]

Project Settings has "Add New Keywords to Index File (HHK)" and Binary Index is checked. I cannot remove the latter because a message is displayed telling me that my project contains Topic Keywords.

I am not trying to remove ALL index entries, only the topic keyword entries. I am trying to achieve a situation where the only index entries are Index Keywords.

Unfortunately, in the long distant past, the project I have inherited appears to have been indexed using the RH Smart Index functionality totally indiscriminately resulting in many meaningless entries. As I review/rewrite each topic (over 1000 of them) I am removing all Index Keywords and replacing them with new Index Keywords that have some relevance.

There are currently some 1200 Unused Topic Keywords according to the RH Unused Index Keywords Report. None of these seem to appear in the Index Pod for the default Index. When running the report, there is a Select Index drop down box, when set to the Default Index there are NO unused keywords, but when the check box is set to <All>, the Unused Topic Keywords are displayed.

As you previously suggested I have removed all Meta Tag references to "MS-HKWD" in the individual topics.

What I now need to to do is to try and remove the Unused Topic Keywords but do not know where these may be registered within the project as I only have a single .HHK file in the project (The default Index), and no meta tags in topics, and the Unused Topic Keywords do not appear in the default index file (as displayed in the Index Pod).

Any other suggestions as to where I might look?

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

" When running the report, there is a Select Index drop down box, when set to the Default Index there are NO unused keywords, but when the check box is set to <All>, the Unused Topic Keywords are displayed."

That suggests the project believes there is another index file somewhere. Have you checked for the existence of other HHK files using File Explorer?

Also have you tried deleting the CPD file and reopening the project  in case that has got confused?

If that fails, would you send me the project? See the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Montage9]

Peter

Thanks for the response.

There are no other index files (.HHK) anywhere in the project other than the default.

I have just tried deleting the .CPD file for the project, and then re-opened. This appears to have done the trick.

I should have tried that earlier - I've been using RH for long enough now to have learnt such "little tricks" but in this instance I admit I didn't give it a thought.

All looking tidy now - thanks to all who contributed to this discussion.

Regards