I am looking at using RoboHelp for a Support site. How do I combine or merge all of my online help projects (Responsive HTML5) into one master project?

[lukep847985]

Hi all,

Over the past six months I have created some small online help for four different projects.

I am planning to roll out a support site later this year and was wondering if, and how I can merge all of these projects to make one master project, so our users can go to it and self-help. It would be beneficial if users can go to this site and search for all of the available help in one place, which is Responsive HTML output.

My current support projects currently published independently on different urls. It would be ideal to combine them together to make a super support site. All the while, also keeping them independent (when required) to control publishing for both online and printed manuals. I still would like to keep RoboHelp as the single source of truth and reuse content regularly.

I would love to use RoboHelp to create and control all of the content on this site, including demo videos etc.

Any tips, tricks and feedback is appreciated.

Has anyone used RoboHelp for such a requirement and project? How did it go and what did you learn?

[Sheena Kaul]

Moving to RoboHelp​

[Gefasoft]

Hi,

I'm using RH 2015 for exactly that purpose. You can take a look at the help:

Adobe RoboHelp 11 * Merging Help projects

This is for RH 11, but it works similar in RH 2015.

A short description of what to do is:

1. Create an empty project, possibly with one general file and a cover or the like

2. in this empty project, create a new TOC

3. In the TOC, click the icon "New merged project"

4. select the tab "FlashHelp/WebHelp/MultiScreen/Adobe AIR", enter a name for your 1. subproject and search the .xpj-file of your first subproject you want in the merge

5. repeat 4. for all your subprojects

6. generate an output

7. open your 1. subproject and output it to the folder "mergedProjects[Subproject]" in the directory where you put your merged project

8. repeat 7. for all other subprojects

That's it

Hope this helps

Karin

[Peter Grainge]

There's a more detailed description on my site.

[achyut_com]

Hi Peter,

When I use your method, the child projects are being displayed correctly however the parent redirect does not work, it shows the following:

[Amebr]

Which output are you generating (WebHelp, Responsive HTML5)?

I think Adobe changed the Responsive output so it correctly knows about the children, so the redirect isn't needed.

I'll try to have a look over the weekend, but I have a number of other things on.

[achyut_com]

I am generating Responsive HTML5 output by using the Robohelp 2019 Classic version.

[achyut_com]

Thanks for suggesting to remove the redirect. It worked, the child projects now render correctly and are responsive. However, an another problem cropped up. When I generate Responsive HTML 5 output for a child project, the output opens with a browser but I cannot click or open any topic even the first book, it completely becomes unresponsive.

[Peter Grainge]

We need to be clear about the purpose of the redirect. It is NOT about making the merge work. It is about having all the content in child projects so that cross project links are easy to create in the source projects in a way that works in the output.

The parent of any merge is what has references in the parent TOC to the child projects in the merge. The parent has a redirect so that on opening a topic from a child project is displayed. You don't have to do that and you can have a topic in the parent if you prefer. However, any links from the parent to child projects or vice versa will break in the output unless you manually edit them. Most people find using the redirect and having all content in child projects easier to work with but, as I said, it is not mandatory.

There is a demo merge on my site to download. It is deliberately in an older version so you just upgrade each project on opening it.

From what you say, the merge is working but if you then open a child project on its own, then it doesn't work. I need to test that again but I believe that is a known issue. What you need to do is create a separate SSL in the child differing only in the output path. See if that helps and let us know.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for detailed information.

I published the child project to a different location but it did not work. I think after the child project is added to a parent, Robohelp does add some configuration which does not allow the child project output to open on its own.

[Peter Grainge]

I just tested with the demo on my site and when a child project is generated to a different location it works OK.

When a project is generated to mergedProjects, the way it works does impact the child projects. However, if you generate to a different folder outside the merged setup, then it is an entirely separate output and should function, other than cross project links of course.

Try with the download at Merged WebHelp and HTML5 Help. Although it refers to being for up to 2017, it will open in 2019 Classic and work there.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

Hi Peter,

I tried this method already, however publishing to a different location, output of a child project, did not work in my case. In my case, the parent project contain a launch topic, does that have any connection with the issue.

[Peter Grainge]

What I was suggesting was to try with the simple demo to see if generating the whole merge there and then generating a child project to a different location worked. That would tell is if the issue is with your setup so that we could then investigate that further.

What I have suggested should work so something else is at play here.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

Thanks Peter, it worked fine.

[Peter Grainge]

The demo worked when generated separately or now your own project is OK if a child is generated to a different folder? I am not clear whether you are saying the problem is resolved.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

The demo first upgraded and worked as parent-child structure as well as when published as a standalone output for a child.

My project do not have any hyperlinks connecting childs. When i publish child project outputs to a different location, for all projects it opened correctly as standalone help.

However, i observed for a project, when i clicked a topic, it opened the master project output and showed the topic from the master TOC but not from the child project output and child TOC.

[Peter Grainge]

The way it works is if you publish to mergedProjects, when you open a topic in a child project, it will open as part of the merge.

If you publish to a location outside the merge, it will open as a standalone project.

I think that is what you are saying is happening so it is what is expected. If I have not understood you, please clarify.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

I have published a child project to a location other than the mergedProjects folder. When i click the index.html file in the output, it opens the OH but keep only showing the gif as the help is loading.

[Peter Grainge]

Can you share that child project with me? See the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

Hi Peter, the child projects are opening correctly now when published to another location. Do not know the reason why it was not working earlier.

Thanks

Achyut

[Peter Grainge]

Help often starts to behave when threatened.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[achyut_com]

that is true, .

[lukep847985]

Thanks for the tip, I will look into it!