Index entries missing in .chm but are present in the printed version

[MM_Acton]

This is strange.

I have a number of index entries as follows:

troubleshooting/file problems

troubleshooting/login problems

troubleshooting/printer problems

These appear in the .docx (Word) version, which is what I've been using for the review cycle. Today, though, I had the .chm open and I noticed that the entire group of troubleshooting\ entries aren't in the .chm!

I recompiled the HTML Help, just in case I was looking at an old version and no, they're not there.

I searched for them in the Index tab, thinking maybe they were somehow out of order, but they're truly not there.

Any idea what could be causing this?  I'm using RoboHelp 9.

[RoboColum_n_]

If they are not in the index at all they shouldn't even be in the Word output. Have you tried regenerating this to see if they are there? Maybe your old Word file was produced before the index entries were removed?

[MM_Acton]

You wrote:

"If they are not in the index at all they shouldn't even be in the Word output."  

Yes, that's exactly what I thought!

"Have you tried regenerating this to see if they are there?"

Yes, and just to make absolutely sure, I did it again just now.  This is what I see in the .chm:

This is what I see in the Word doc:

[RoboColum_n_]

Have you applied conditional build tags against the index entires that are being excluded from the CHM output?

[MM_Acton]

I don't know how to apply conditional build tags against an index, so I didn't do that -- at least not deliberately

I looked at the HTML, the Advanced tab in Topic properties, and the TOC page properties. I don't see anything there that looks like a Condition setting. I looked at the HTML externally (that is, went to Windows Explorer and double-clicked the file and then looked at the HTML source). Couldn't see anything. I launched the .chm file and then looked at the HTML for that topic. Still couldn't see anything.

I opened the .hhk file and I can see the entries for troubleshooting, I believe. Here is what I see:

<item name="troubleshooting">

        <item name="file problems">

            <section name="Release Information" link="Release_Information.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="printer problems">

            <section name="Printing Problems" link="Printing_Problems.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="checkerboard">

            <section name="Checkerboard Pattern in Window" link="Checkerboard_Pattern_in_Window.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="screen display">

            <section name="Checkerboard Pattern in Window" link="Checkerboard_Pattern_in_Window.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="login problems">

            <section name="Login Problems" link="Login_Problems.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="misc problems">

            <section name="Other Problems" link="Other_Problems.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="Reporting Services Reports">

            <section name="Reporting Services Reports Problems" link="Reporting_Services_Reports_Problems.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

        <item name="sorting problems">

            <section name="Sorting Incorrectly" link="Sorting_Incorrectly.htm">

            </section>

        </item>

    </item>

[RoboColum_n_]

Does your project have more than one index? If so, are you using the same index for both outputs?

[MM_Acton]

No, just one index.

[RoboColum_n_]

One thing we haven't established if what RH version you are using. Can you confirm this. We also have not confirmed that you don't have build tags on your index enties, just that you don't think you have. So let's focus on this next. Try this;

1. Open your index
2. Hover on the Troubleshooting index item. Does it display a tooltip? If it does, it shows the CBT assigned to it.

[MM_Acton]

I'm using RoboHelp 9 (RH9).

I hovered over it, didn't see a tooltip. So, I right-clicked it and selected Apply Conditional Built Tag > New/Multiple. It doesn't show any conditions as being checked.

So, just for fun, I selected all conditions (Check All), applied them, saved, then deselected all conditions (Uncheck All), applied, saved.

I recompiled it. Nope. Troubleshooting still does not appear.

I selected it again and applied my Online condition. Troubleshooting still does not appear.

At this point, I have to assume that something is amiss with that keyword. Since I have a backup copy of my project, I deleted the index keyword completely, exited RoboHelp, and restarted.

I added one index entry (troubleshooting\login problems) to one topic and recompiled. Troubleshooting still does not appear in the index!

So, is troubleshooting a reserved word? I added a new index entry to that topic: bookcase\login problems and recompiled.

As I said at the beginning of my post, this is strange!

[MM_Acton]

(Just to clarify, my new entry, bookcase\login problems, appears in the .chm index. My other entry, troubleshooting\login problems, does not.)

[MM_Acton]

More information:

My version of Internet Explorer is IE 8. Internet Explorer was not my default browser. I made it my default browser and tried again. As the British would say, "Still no joy."

I've been avoiding upgrading to IE 9 because I read that there was a problem with RH 9 and IE 9.

Do you think I should try upgrading to IE 10?

[RoboColum_n_]

Nope. Not reserved words. I've just reproduced your index and topic names in both RH8 and RH10 and both return the index entries. I can't think why that the same wouldn't be true of RH9 also. I don't think the browser is the problem either.

Try creating a new project, importing the index file and the topics relating to the "troubleshooting" index entry and see if the same happens in that project. If it does, the issue has to be with the project index file.

Would you be willing to share your project with me? I could take a look at it over the weekend. I'd enjoy the challenge 🙂

[MM_Acton]

Still no joy. Yes, I'd be happy to share the new project, the one that still contains errors.

In the meantime, I changed these entries:

troubleshooting/file problems

troubleshooting/login problems

troubleshooting/printer problems

to these:

troubleshoot problems/file problems

troubleshoot problems/login problems

troubleshoot problems/printer problems

When I generate the .chm, I get the index entries. I'll probably get both sets (troubleshooting and troubleshoot problems) when I generate the Word doc, but I can live with that. I don't want to mess with conditionalizing at this point.

[Peter Grainge]

Could the issue be some index entries are in the HHK file and some are in the topics?

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MM_Acton]

Peter, I just realized that I didn't answer your question.

As far as I can tell, all of my index entries are in the HHK file. The ones that are missing from the .chm (the troubleshooting ones) definitely are.

[RoboColum_n_]

For the sake of anyone else following this thread, I have found that compiling a CHM produces HHC warning messages that relate to the topics containing the missing keywords. I have made a couple of suggestions to follow up on to see if this helps. When we know more, I'll post back with further details.

[MM_Acton]

Surprisingly, I ran into this problem again and found my own post when looking for an answer. I think I have a workaround, but I'm still clueless about what is causing the problem.

I have a first-level index topic called reports. Under this, I have subentries for each report we have. For example, I have:

reports

    Accounting Staff Headcount

    Aged Trial Balance

    Sales for Current Month

... and so on.  I was doing a help training session today and wanted to show the users this really helpful set of entries ("Want to know how to run a certain report? Okay, click the Index tab and start typing reports. What do you see? ... Nothing? Really?")

You get the picture. Instant loss of credibility

So after the training, I looked at a Word version. All of the entries show up in the Index.

The only index change I could think of was that I had removed links to the first-level index, so that the first level was just that, a level, and not a link to the topic.

I noticed, though, that many were okay. Still, it was the last odd change to the index, so I linked a topic to the first-level entry (reports). (That is, I opened the topic "About Reports" and added the index entry reports.)

And that fixed it!

Just thought I'd report back on this.

I'm using RoboHelp 9 (yes, I realize that 11 is out and have requested that we upgrade). Maybe this doesn't happen in 10 or 11.

[Peter Grainge]

That shouldn't be necessary. Try generating again.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MM_Acton]

Regenerating didn't help.

[Peter Grainge]

It happened first time I checked it is not broken but after that it worked just fine. Change one of the topics linked to. You can change back later.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Care re IE10. See Snippets on my site. Not aware of IE9 problems.