RoboHelp 11 to RoboHelp 10?

[susan@simply4]

Can I save RoboHelp 11 as RoboHelp 10? is there a compatibility issue? My colleagues have 10 and I have 11. We share files. Will this be a problem?

[RoboColum_n_]

Yes you can share content between the team members but...    

Firstly if a project authored in RH11 is opened in RH10, a message is displayed saying that the project can't be opened. That is because projects are not backward compatible. However you can change the <projectname>.xpj file in Notepad. If you look in there for the following line:

<rhpml majorversion="x" minorversion="0">

This specifies the version last RH used. The "x" is the crucial number. I think RH10 is "5" and RH11 is "6" but you can check this. By changing the value and saving the file, you can open a RH11 file in RH10. You'll also need to ensure that you take backups before editing anything and also delete the <projectname>.cpd file.

Plus each time you took the RH10 content you'd have to upgrade the project and check for any issues with it. Then of course, you'd need to repeat the above process to enable them to open the project in RH10.

Secondly if you author using RH11, you must not use any functionality that is not available in RH10. If you do, you are asking for trouble.

If this all sounds like a complicated process that has potential for mistakes, you'd be right. It would be a lot simpler if you could all upgrade to the latest version.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

As Column indicates, you can downgrade a project, but it isn't the

easiest way to go. Especially since you may lose some capabilities. You

find downgrade procedures on

https://www.wvanweelden.eu/articles/downgrade-robohelp-project

Kind regards,

Willam

[VTINFO]

Hi Column, our team is considering upgrading from RoboHelp 10 to RoboHelp 11. Can RH10 projects open in RH11 okay? Do you know if there are any differences in the files types used in RH11? I'm looking for documentation on this process (I've only been using RH10 for about 5 months now) I'd appreciate if you could share any resources on this upgrade you may know. Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

@VT...

As your question is the reverse of what this thread is about, it might have been better to start a new thread.

The file format is the same but the HTML will have some differences. In theory any Rh HTML project can be opened in any later version but occasionally there can be issues if you are skipping many versions. In your case you should be OK. Please don't do as some folks do and ask for a guarantee as ultimately it depends on what you may have put in your topics. The answer is to zip up a copy of your projects so that you have a clean copy if something should go wrong. I recommend zipping rather than copying as it is too easy to later open that copy and mess it up for all eternity. Zipped copies cannot be opened and they can create clean copies as many times as you want.

See the RoboHelp Tour on my site for information about what was introduced and changed in Rh11. Also see the samples for working projects explaining the changes.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[VTINFO]

Thanks so much Peter! That is very helpful.