Upgrading from RoboHelp HTML version 7.03.001 to the latest version...

[rccrcoleman]

How difficult would it be to upgrade from RoboHelp HTML version 7.03.001 to the latest version (is it v 2015?)? Does the latest version of Robohelp HTML support multi-browsers?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Find a non-production machine, download the trial RH2015 version on it, update it, then try upgrading a copy of your RH7 project to see how it behaves.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

RoboHelp (2015 Release) is indeed the latest version.

Are you talking about the process of upgrading RoboHelp itself or projects?

To upgrade RoboHelp itself, you simply install it where you like. I always like putting different versions in different folders myself. But it's really straightforward.

To upgrade projects, you simply open RoboHelp and open the project. At the time you open the project RoboHelp should see that it's from an older version and offer to upgrade it for you.

As for multiple browser support, RoboHelp has offered that for a very long time. The key with this is staying on top of RoboHelp upgrades to new versions. Because each new version changes the underlying code produced so that it works with new browsers.

Cheers... Rick

[rccrcoleman]

I am talking about upgrading projects. All my projects were created using RoboHelp HTML 7 and the powers that be would like to upgrade to the latest version. Our current help files are not playing nice with our multi-browser build. Thanks for your responses Jeff and Rick, I will pass the information along.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

When upgrading a project from RoboHelp 7, there are some gotcha's to keep in mind:

1. The HTML structure in the products has been changed. After updating the project, run Update DHTML effects to make sure all topics are updated to the new code.
2. Lists may prove to behave unexpectedly after upgrading. You can fix these links to make sure they show correctly. See Lists for all the details and a step by step guide.

[Captiv8r]

Indeed I would fully expect output produced using RoboHelp version 7 to have issues with WebHelp output.

One of the nice things about RoboHelp (2015 Release) is that you have the option of a Responsive layout type that simply adapts to the device presenting it. You can see one such example by visiting my RoboWizard.com site. I recently worked it over and used a customized RoboHelp Responsive output on it.

Cheers... Rick

[Willam_van_Weelden]

LOL. Fishing for a compliment Rick 😉 The site looks nice. Now you only have to update/remove the direct URL fields in your monthly scry (that's still the old WebHelp link)

[rccrcoleman]

It looks like RoboHelp 2015 supports multiple languages so that's a plus. Rick, you mentioned that you like to keep different versions in different folders. Does this mean I can have multiple versions of RoboHelp on one machine?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Yes, it plays nice with different versions on one machine. About the only thing that doesn’t is Acrobat Pro.

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

Indeed I have versions 8, 9, 10, 11, and RoboHelp (2015 Release) happily coexisting on my development machine.

The thing you have to be careful about when working this way is that whatever was installed last will generally take over the file association in Windows. What I mean is that if you are the type of person that likes to work by first locating the project file (The ProjectName.XPJ) and double-clicking it, Windows determines what to open based on file association. So let's say you had version 11 installed and you needed to work on something done using version 8. So you install version 8 and all is happy until you then want to work on something you did using version 11. If you double-clicked the XPJ file, it would try to open RoboHelp version 8 because that was the last version you installed.

Personally, I avoid all that by simply opening RoboHelp first, then navigating to the project from RoboHelp. I never just double-click files to open them. At least not RoboHelp files.

Cheers... Rick

[Captiv8r]

LOL, no I really wasn't fishing for a compliment. Just knew that I had that out there and could use it as an example as I couldn't easily remember others.

Thanks for the heads up on the direct links. I'll have to look at those soon. (headed out for a meeting at the moment)

Cheers... Rick

[Peter Grainge]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the way lists work changed in Rh8 and that can be a problem when upgrading. See Lists on my site.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge