Is it safe to delete the old images saved as gif file in Web Help project created in RH Html v3?

[SangyD]

I am updating the Web Help Project created in the RH HTML v3 to v6. As almost all the images (saved as a gif file) of the help file are outdated I was thinking of deleting (delete from the wysiwyg editor as well as from the system – by deleting from the Explorer) them and saving new images (as gif type) with the same image file name.

I just wanted to make sure beforehand that it is not going to give any problem later when I take Web Layout or the Printed documentation layout.

I would appreciate if anybody can give me suggestion on that!

[johnmccallum]

Hi SangyD,

I often delete images and replace them after annotating them. I do this from Windows Explorer and it is never a problem but there is one thing to be aware of. If you change the size of an image, you need to delete and reinsert it in RoboHelp or it will be distorted.

John

[SangyD]

Thank you all for replying.

John, I have one question for you! When you said that you often delete images from explorer, what location you exactly meant in Explorer - from your working folder (that is if your Project is under Visual Source Safe) or from Program file/RoboHelp 6.0 folder.

I am not sure if that would make any difference but i was deleting from my working folder of Visual Source Safe, as that is the only location in Explorer I know from where Robohelp images files can be seen. I could not find any images files under Program file/RoboHelp 6.0 folder.

Although, I am curious to find out if there is any other location where images files can be deleted from and should be deleted from. Just want to make sure if i am doing the right way!

[johnmccallum]

I have an old version of RoboHelp (v. 2000) so it doesn't have any source save, etc. just a single project folder,

[Guest]

If the pixel size of the new .gif image is not the same as the old .gif image, you can open the topic, right-click the new image, and select Reset Size.

It's still not very fast, but it's a bit quicker than re-importing (and if you're under source control, it's a WHOLE LOT quicker!)

And thanks, John, for remembering that - I always forget and have to hear about the distorted images from QA!

Elisa

[Gravenstein]

One other comment...if you have image maps associated with the graphic, *don't* delete it before replacing the graphic in Windows, or you'll lose your image mapping. If you just do a simple replace from Windows, then you'll retain your image maps. And as Elisa mentioned, you'll need to do a Reset Size from within RH to fix any distortion.

G