Incorrect page numbers in printed index

[Nom dAdobe]

In the printed MS Word documentation generated from my HTML help project, the page numbers shown in the index are wrong. This is true for both U.S. letter size and A4 page size versions. Is there some parameter I have to set up in order to make the page numbers come out right?

[Peter Grainge]

I think you will find the page numbers are correct for the start page of the topic the keyword is linked to. Bear in mind a keyword does not have to be contained in the topic so the reference point is the start of the topic.

Recheck the numbers against that and I think you will find they are correct.

[Nom dAdobe]

Unfortunately that's not it.

For example, the on-line help index for subject S references two topics, T1 and T2. The printed table of contents shows those two topics as beginning on pages 20 and 56. The index shows two entries for subject S, pages 20 and 56, which agree with the printed table of contents. However, in the printed documentation those two topics begin on pages 30 and 83. So the printed manual table of contents agrees with the printed manual index. But both are wrong.

Incidentally, I'm using RoboHelp HTML v. 6 build 099. A check for updates indicates that none are available.

[Nom dAdobe]

Here's some more information.

I took a close look at a single topic. I verified that in the project, the name of the topic was indexed, and the single index entry pointed to that topic. I also verified that when I clicked the topic name in the compiled help file index, it took me to that topic. So the on-line help file index is working correctly.

I had RoboHelp HTML generate both MS Word and PDF outputs. In the Word document, the topic is shown as being on p. 50 in the TOC and p. 50 in the index. When the TOC line is clicked, it jumps to the correct page where the topic is located. That correct page is page 64.

In the PDF document, the topic is shown as being on p. 74 in the TOC and p. 50 in the index. When the TOC line is clicked, it jumps to the correct page where the topic is located. That correct page is page 74. So the TOC, but not the index, is correct in the PDF document, and both are wrong in the Word document.

I tried generating only an MS Word document and only a PDF document rather than both at the same time, and got the same result. I also tried independently generating a PDF document from the RoboHelp-generated Word document, and again got the same result.

Every other topic I've checked has also been wrong -- I chose this particular one because it's indexed under the topic name and there's only a single index entry for it, making it easier to see what's happening.

[Peter Grainge]

Are you looking at the page numbers in the document or the page numbers in the status bar of Word?

In the status bar you see the number of the page from start to finish of the document, in the document you see the page number for that section. Not the same thing.

[Nom dAdobe]

In all cases I'm looking at the document page number, that is, the number at the bottom of the image of the printed page.

[Peter Grainge]

If you click in the Index and press F9, do the numbers change?

If not, is this a document you could send me? Send via my site and specify an example.

[Nom dAdobe]

You're definitely onto something!

Yes, the numbers change. When I click on the index (in the Word document) and press F9, the index reference becomes correct, but the TOC reference is still wrong. Clicking on the TOC and then pressing F9 corrects the TOC. So it looks like everything is ok after doing that.

But it isn't. If I save and then re-open the document, the location of the topic -- that is, the document page the topic is on -- has changed. I haven't looked into what sort of reformatting has taken place to cause it to move, but in the example I've been using it moves from page 64 to 74. Meanwhile, the index and TOC references are the same as before, so they're wrong again. So I click F9 on the index and F9 on the TOC again, and the index and TOC are again correct. Now when I save and reopen it, the topic is still on the same page and everything is finally ok. And if I create a PDF from it, the PDF is also ok. (Creating a PDF before doing the second round of F9s resulted in wrong references in the PDF.)

Thanks very much for mentioning the F9 trick -- at least now I have a manual I can distribute to my customers.

But can I expect to have to do this each time I create a printed document with RoboHelp?

[Peter Grainge]

F9 only updates the field the cursor is in. I think it is Shift F9 that updates all. Also there is an option to update fields when you print. With that selected if you sent your document to the printer that would update it.

It's F9 or find the cause! What template is selected in the last page of the wizard?

[Nom dAdobe]

Having the index and/or TOC wrong until printing is unsatisfactory -- I'd be sure to get a sizeable volume of email from people who notice the error in the viewed documents.

The template is a home-made one, in which I've defined styles and the page size. (I have two templates, one for U.S. letter page size and one for A4.) I'm not much of a Word user, I'm afraid, so if there's a way to goof up the template, I've probably done it. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm using Word 2000, by the way, with all current updates.

Thanks for your help!

[Peter Grainge]

First, the users will not see the error as you will have corrected and saved it before you release the document, indeed before you PDF it and it is the PDF you will be releasing.

Your second paragraph reveals the cause of the problem, a home brewed template. Take a look at the topic on my site about Printed Documentation. There I recommend using the Style Mapping template. I have seen so many problems that go away when people stop using their own templates and using that tone. There is nothing wrong that anyone can find with the home brewed template so don't see it as meaning you have done something wrong in that template. However Style Mapping will almost certainly get it right.

First just generate using the supplied Style Mapping and check the page numbers to confirm they are correct. That will import the copy in Program Files into your project. Assuming it fixes the problem, amend the styles using by importing from your template. When you have got that right with the Letter size paper of that template, rename it Style Mapping US. Create a copy and name it Style Mapping A4. In that copy change the paper size to A4 and the Language to English UK.

Let me know how that goes.

[Nom dAdobe]

quote:

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Originally posted by: Peter Grainge
First, the users will not see the error as you will have corrected and saved it before you release the document, indeed before you PDF it and it is the PDF you will be releasing.

Actually, I release both the Word and .PDF documents for the convenience of my customers.

Your second paragraph reveals the cause of the problem, a home brewed template. Take a look at the topic on my site about Printed Documentation. There I recommend using the Style Mapping template. I have seen so many problems that go away when people stop using their own templates and using that tone. There is nothing wrong that anyone can find with the home brewed template so don't see it as meaning you have done something wrong in that template. However Style Mapping will almost certainly get it right.

First just generate using the supplied Style Mapping and check the page numbers to confirm they are correct. That will import the copy in Program Files into your project. Assuming it fixes the problem, amend the styles using by importing from your template. When you have got that right with the Letter size paper of that template, rename it Style Mapping US. Create a copy and name it Style Mapping A4. In that copy change the paper size to A4 and the Language to English UK.

Let me know how that goes.

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When I selected the Style Mapping.dot template, the generated .PDF document TOC and index listings were correct. The Word document TOC listing was correct but the index was not. But of course the heading styles were goofy.

After trying the style mapping, I couldn't figure out how to map to the styles in the template I'd created. The only items I'm offered for mapping are non-heading styles, and it's heading styles that I defined. And, for that matter, it doesn't appear that I can choose to map to the styles in my custom template -- I can map only from the project's CSS styles to Microsott styles. I spent considerable time tweaking the header styles to make my document look good, so I sure don't want to start over and have to figure some other way to outwit RH in its effort to format things the way it thinks I want it to.

It looks like I'll just have to accept the fact that RH doesn't really work as claimed with an external style template, and plan on having to generate a Word document, fix the TOC and index, then create a PDF. It's cumbersome and somewhat time consuming, but it does produce the documents I want, and which I had expected RH to be able to create.

What would be the best way to report this bug to Adobe so they can fix it?

Thanks very much for all your help, and the excellent web site!

[Peter Grainge]

The PDF is generated from the Word document so I am struggling to see how the PDF index is correct and the DOC is not. Let's come back to that and for now focus on the appearance of your document.

If I read correctly, your problem is that in your own Word template you have the styles you want and your issue is you cannot map to those. Correct behaviour. The styles in your project can only be mapped to one template and we are having to use Style Mapping to avoid other issues. That doesn't mean you cannot have the styles you want in Style Mapping and with little effort. Take a copy of Style Mapping and name it MyTemplate. Now use Word's organiser to import the styles from your own template. Hey presto, you have a template you can select in the wizard and that will have your styles.

That should just leave the index page numbers in your DOC file that are wrong.

Post back when you have tried this and let us know how you got on.