Missing: Search Tab

Hi there

Try this. In RoboHelp, click View > Pods > Project Set-up.

Expand the Windows pseudo-folder.

Do you see an icon that looks like this?

If you see that icon (the one with no globe inside) double-click it. If you don't see it, first ensure your Primary Layout type is Microsoft HTML Help. Then click the icon to create a new window.

Either way, you should see the Window Properties dialog. You need to ensure the Search Tab is enabled.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

Rick,

So I have a similar, but not so similar problem. I''ve merged two help projects (Child1.chm and Child2.chm). The .chm output looks great (TOC and CSH are fine), except, I'm not getting an Index. I've selected the TOC & Index option in the Windows Properties for the Parent project. By the way, I'm bringing in FrameMaker by reference. So that may be part of the equation.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Shawn

Hi Shawn

Sorry, but I'm unfamiliar with Frame at this stage of the game. I think the placeholders come into play here. So you may need to experiment with inserting those.

When you create output from RoboHelp, you are able to choose the specific Index you wish to include in the output. Have you ensured you have done this? Additionally, I do believe that for a merged CHM setup a couple of things have to be in place for the index to show.

• The master project has to have at lest one keyword defined and mapped to a topic
• The index must be configured as Binary

To add a keyword to the master you will need to display the Index Designer pod. Unfortunately it's not straightforward. You do it by expanding the Index pseudo-folder in the Project Manager pod. Then double-click the index listed.

Now you add a term to the index.

From here you ensure Binary is enabled. Click File > Project Settings...

Then when you generate output, ensure you are pointing at the right index.

Cheers... Rick

Hi, this solution didn't work for me. I can't get the Search tab to appear in the CHM. It IS selected in the window. I even created a new window, selected it as the default window, AND specified it in the SSL -- still no Search tab in the output. Weird! Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Hi Eileen

Have you tried defining a totally new Single Source Layout? Just right-click in the pod and define a new one.

I seem to recall that doing this fixes some things. Maybe this is one of them.

Cheers... Rick

Hi Rick,

That was a very promising suggestion. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

In the meantime, I have even recreated the entire project (it was a small project) and imported all the original topics, again created a new window, etc. -- all in vain.

Any more suggestions??

Regards,

Eileen

Well Frapdoodle!

This is admittedly grasping at straws, but perhaps worth a shot.

Click here to read an article

Try what is outlined there and see if it makes a difference.

Cheers... Rick

The above didn't help me, but eventually I did manage to get it working. I did several things at once, and I'm not sure which detail fixed it, but here's what I did:

• Changed the name of the default help topic so that the definitions in the [WINDOWS] section of the HHP file fit on one line.
• Deleted the project's HHP file and let RH recreate it.
• Compared the HHP file with the HHP file of another project where the Search tab showed up correctly in the compiled help; made some minor adjustments.
• Compared the project's rhwnd.apj file with the same file in another project where the Search tab showed up; made some adjustments.

I think what happened was that somehow or other the window definition included a Glossary tab and Browse sequence button, when neither a glossary nor browse sequences were included in the RH project. That might be a good clue for the next person who has this problem.

Thank you for trying to assist me, Rick!

/Eileen

Well thank you Eileen.

I hit the same problem so based on your hint, I just cleared the check boxes for Browse Sequence and Glossary and all was well.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Hi Eileen,

I was facing a similar problem and after twisting my brain cells for a day, I finally found the solution. I am putting it on the forum, so others can also try this out.

Goto File-->Project Settings. In the 'General' tab of the new window, select the 'Binary Index' check box under the 'Index' section. Re-compile and the 'Search' tab is there !!

Hope this helps.

Gargi

I have RoboHelp 10 and tried everything listed above without success. Finally I swiched from "add new keywords to - index file (HHK)" to  "add new keywords to - topics" as shown in the image below. The search tab now appears in the .chm file.

Wow... That blows me away that you found this to work. I say that because whether an Index is Binary or not should have zero bearing on the Search tab. But stranger things have happened. That's for sure!

Cheers... Rick