Search not returning all results

[5bultech]

We are on an older version of RoboHelp - 5.0.2 and not able to upgrade at this time. Hoping someone can help me figure out why the search function would stop working out of the blue... it does work for pdf files, but is not pulling up the htm or chm files.

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi 5bultech and welcome to the RH forums.

You say it works for PDFs but not for HTM or CHMs. This sounds like you are talking about searching inside individual files (e.g. Ctrl + F)?

[5bultech]

Our associates use a link on our intranet to go to online manuals - then we have the search (button) capability within those manuals... in our Teller Manual for instance, when an associate clicks on search and inputs the word "cash", they will see results for the forms, pdfs... but none of the help files (procedures) that were written to go along with it.

[RoboColum_n_]

Sorry but I'm still not clear where the search button is. You say manuals, but are they webhelp output generated for your intranet? And is the Search button the standard search tab you can see in RH generated output or some custom button on your intranet?

[5bultech]

It is Webhelp - and yes, I believe the search button is the standard from RH.

[RoboColum_n_]

Well it would be good to confirm that we are actually talking about the same thing 😉 Also where do the HTM and CHM files fit into this scenario? It would help to have all the detail in order to help you.

[5bultech]

It must be painfully obvious that I know nothing about Robohelp or the Roboengine, etc.
Yesterday the search was worse... and I found settings to adjust the Relevance Threshold and max Results... now one of the manuals appears to be fine - even is pulling the htm files, but the other Manual is not. The settings are the same for both. The person who creates these files with Robohelp, and "publishes" them, said she went in and publised for the one manual - then it started working. But doing that for the other didn't fix it. I just think there must be something very simple here that I'm missing... because I know nothing about it - we've had two "experts" on this in the past... and they are both gone now... so here I am trying to support it - without a clue.

[RoboColum_n_]

Don't worry 5bultech. These forums solve most problems that people have. If you are talking Robo Engine (BTW it is now called RoboHelp Server) it has the ability to have the help files plus additional files (e.g. PDFs) on a server and the content all searchable. So now your earlier comments are making more sense. Either that or my second coffee has started to kick in

What may be worth doing is deleting all the content from the server and getting your author to republish all the output. Before they do that though I'd get them to just "generate" the output. They should know what that means but in case they don't it involved creating the output files locally (i.e. not "publishing" them to the server). From there get them to check that the search works. They won't be able to check the content of the PDFs as that functionality is only provided by the RoboEngine. Then when they are happy, get them to publish the content to the now clean server.

Post back with what happens.

[RoboColum_n_]

One other thing, get your author to ensure that when they generate that they tick the "Republish all" option in the WebHelp Pro single source layout wizard.

[5bultech]

No change...

[5bultech]

I deleted the projects again and had her re-publish - saw that it was find on her local box...
and this time it worked. The search function works for the procedures. Now the pdf's do not show in the search, but she's ok with that. I'm leaving this alone now and calling it good. Don't know why it worked this time & not the first time we tried it... but I'll take it 🙂 Thanks for all your help and advice!

[RoboColum_n_]

Can you get your author to check the output that is generated locally before it is published. Publishing to the server is a two step process. The output is generated and then published to the server. Check that searching works in the generated output. They should be able to tell you where this is located. You won't be able to search on PDF or other external file content as this is a RH Server function and the output won't be there yet but you should be able to find everything else. It should prove whether the problem is RH or RH Server.

[5bultech]

My author has gone on vacation now... we may not be able to do this till June 3rd. - Unless I can get her to answer an email and let me use RH in her absence.... we'll see. Thanks for all your help so far!