Help – The Logical Blog

July 23, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: Dynamic Filters

by Willam van Weelden

A few weeks ago I showed you how to use named Conditional Build Expressions to include or exclude content from your output. RoboHelp 2015 has a new feature to make tags even more useful: Dynamic Filters.

With traditional Conditional Build Expressions you choose to exclude specific content from your output. Once you generate the output, content is included or excluded from the output. If you use build tags to target multiple audiences, you have to create an output for every audience. Enter Dynamic Filters: With dynamic filters readers dynamically switch the information they want to see.

In the image above there are four holiday destinations in different countries. No country is selected in the Filter by area at the left so the reader sees all of the available content. If the reader selects US, only the content for the US (Mesa Verde, CO) is shown.

With Dynamic Filters you can create a single output where users themselves decide which content they need. You can use this to group content by user role, by module, or by locale.

Add Dynamic Filter to Output

Tag the content in RoboHelp.
Go to the Output tab and select your Responsive HTML5 Single Source Layout.
Select Use Dynamic Content Filter in the output.
Click Customize to open the Dynamic Content Filter dialog box.
From the Define area, click Add criteria button to open theTags and Expressions dialog box. (The Add criteria button is the second icon from the left.)
Select the tags and expressions you want to include as a filter.
Click the OK button.
Click Save to close the Dynamic Content Filter dialog box.
Click Save and Generate to generate your output.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? Come join me for my live, two-day online RoboHelp class (held once each month). And if you'd like to learn more about Dynamic Filters, check out my new 3-hour mini course: Adobe RoboHelp: Advanced Content Reuse.

July 13, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: Conditional Build Tags and Named Expressions

by Willam van Weelden

A project can easily contain thousands of topics. When you generate a layout, all of the topics are generated. But what if you want to exclude several topics from being generated? Using Conditional Build tags, you can mark topics or topic content. When the time comes to generate, you can choose to create conditions that control which tagged content is generated. Using conditions, you can maintain one large project but generate multiple layouts; each layout can have unique content. Content that is excluded from a layout is not seen by your users.

Tagged content appears in RoboHelp 11 and earlier as text with diagonal lines (first image below). In RoboHelp 2015 tagged content appears with an overline. The overline makes it much easier to read the content and see which content is tagged.

The downside of tagged content in RoboHelp 11 and earlier is that you can only create Conditional Build Expressions that show which tags are excluded. A Conditional Build Expression is a list of tags to exclude from your output. These expressions can get confusing because it is not always clear which tags to exclude for which situation. For example, a company has two divisions: East and West coast. Based on the name of the tag below, will the tag exclude content from the East coast or the West coast?

With RoboHelp 2015 you use common sense names to easily distinguish which Conditional Build Expression you need in which situation.

To create a Named Conditional Build Expression, choose Project > Pods > Conditional Build Tag and then click Create a new build expression.

The Define Conditional Build Expression dialog opens. Double-click a tag to exclude the tag from the output and then click Save.

Name the expression and click OK.

If you have existing Conditional Build Expressions, you can easily change their names. Open the Conditional Build Tags pod (choose Project > Pods > Conditional Build Tag).

Click Create a new build expression.

From the Define Conditional Build Expression dialog box, select an expression from the Expressions drop-down menu.

Click Rename this expression.

Name the expression and then click OK.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? Come join me for my live, two-day online RoboHelp class (held once each month). And check out my new 3-hour mini course: Adobe RoboHelp: Advanced Content Reuse.

June 11, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: First Look

by Willam van Weelden

Adobe released RoboHelp 2015 last week, a major upgrade sporting several enhancements. This week we take a first look at some of the big changes.

Ribbon Based Interface

The menu has been redesigned to make RoboHelp easier to use. Options are sensibly arranged and menu inconsistencies have been cleaned up. Lesser known features like search synonyms are much easier to find and use.

RoboHelp 2015 new interface

Small improvements, such as working with tables, make editing content much easier.

One of my favorites is the Locate Item tool. Open a topic and select an image or a Captivate movie. Click the Locate Item tool and the item will be highlighted in the Project Manager.

Locate item

Skins and Layouts

RoboHelp 2015 includes new WebHelp skins and Responsive HTML5 layouts. The WebHelp skins are clean and modern. Both WebHelp and Responsive HTML5 support Right-to-Left languages. Though for WebHelp you will have to use one of the six new skins.

New skins

The Responsive HTML5 Layouts have more customization options. It is now possible to choose which panes to include in the output, just as with WebHelp. The layouts have Facebook share and Twitter buttons included as well.

Responsive properties

New layout

Important Enhancements:

Named Conditions: Sensible names for Conditional Build Expressions.
Dynamic filters: Conditional Build Tags on steroids. Dynamically switch Conditional Build Expressions in your output for fine grained control.
Improved search results: Control the topic preview text in search results.
Mobile App output: Create a mobile app without any coding.
Right-to-Left: Output for right-to-left languages.
Find and Replace: The Find and Replace pod has new powerful features.
Scalable video: Adobe Captivate videos scale in Responsive HTML5 output.

I've mentioned what I consider to be the most important enhancements in RoboHelp 2015. Stay tuned for articles on each of these enhancements in the weeks to come.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

May 14, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp: Merging WebHelp

by Willam van Weelden

I've previously taught you how to create links between Merged HTML Help projects. This time, let's tackle merged WebHelp. Merging WebHelp differs from merging HTML Help in that you select the RoboHelp project to merge instead of the output.

Prepare a Master Project

Open the master project's table of contents and click New Merged Project.
On the FlashHelp/WebHelp/Multiscreen/Adobe AIR tab, click the Browse button and open the RoboHelp project you want to merge.
Click the OK button to merge the project. (The child project will appear in the master project's TOC.)
Save your project and generate your master project.

Generate Merged Projects

Once you've created the master project, you need to generate the merged projects to the correct folder in the master project's output folder.

When you generated the master project, RoboHelp created the following folder structure:

Folder structure

For every child project, place the WebHelp output into the mergedProjects\<project name> folder. (Meaning that the child project called Child 1 has to be placed in the folder WebHelp\mergedProjects\Child 1.)

Generating

Once you generate all child projects to the correct location, open the master project output to see the results:

Final, merged project

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

February 18, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp: List Images

by Willam van Weelden

When you create a list, there are several list styles you can use in RoboHelp: bullets, squares, lowercase alphabet, and numbers. But RoboHelp brings one more great feature: you can use images instead of bullets.

Create a List Style with Custom Images

On the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box.
Right-click List and choose New.
Enter a name for the list style and press [enter].
Click the Create a bulleted list button.
Select the list images option.
Click the browse button to open the Image dialog box.
Select the image you want to use as a bullet and click OK.
Then click the OK button to save your changes.

Apply an Image List Style

Open or create a topic, and then create a regular bulleted list.
Select the list.
Right-click and choose Bullets and Numbering.
Go to the Custom tab and select your list style in the left section.
Click the OK button to apply your list.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

January 29, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp: Embed a Vimeo Video

by Willam van Weelden

I have previously taught you how to embed YouTube videos in a RoboHelp project. While immensely popular, YouTube is not the only video site. This week, let's focus on embedding videos located on the Vimeo website.

First, access the Vimeo site, locate the video you'd like to use, and then click the Share button located on the video.

Next, go to the Embed field and copy the embed code.

Vimeo: Embed Code

Now that you've got the embed code copied, the rest of the work occurs in RoboHelp. Go ahead and open a RoboHelp topic, switch to HTML mode, and then paste the embed code in the topic as shown below.

Adobe RoboHelp: Embed code added to RoboHelp's HTML.

Lastly, you'll need to edit the HTML just a bit. In the src attribute, type http: in front of the url.

Adobe RoboHelp: HTTP added.

Save the topic, generate the layout, and open the topic in your browser to see the embedded video.

Adobe RoboHelp: Embedded Vimeo video.

Note: Vimeo includes a hyperlink with a description below the video. Retain this link unless you have the correct license for removing it.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

October 3, 2014

Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel List Sub-Numbering

by Willam Van Weelden

A few weeks ago I showed you how you can use multilevel lists to easily create complex lists with multiple levels. But multilevel lists are far more powerful than I could show you in a single article. This week, I'm going to expand on the multi-level list theme by teaching you how to add sub-numbers to lists:

Sub-numbering is important for many procedures and legal documents. You simply can't have sub numbering in RoboHelp without multilevel lists, unless you want to manually type in all sub-numbers. But with multilevel lists, you control this behavior right from the style sheet!

To add sub-numbering to a Multilevel List, first Create a multilevel list. Then, on the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box.

In the Styles dialog box, select your multilevel list. From the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu, choose a level that will use the sub-numbers.

Click in the Edit Style field and, from the Insert Level drop-down menu, choose 1.

Click OK to close the Styles dialog and save your changes.

And that's it. From this point forward, any of your multilevel lists can include sub-numbering (as shown in the image below):

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

April 4, 2014

Adobe RoboHelp: Master Pages for Word Headers and Footers

by Willam Van Weelden

When importing or generating Microsoft Word documents with RoboHelp, one of the chief weaknesses has always been the lack of support for Word's headers and footers. When importing, the Word headers and footers were ignored. When generating Printed Documentation, there was no support for controlling the resulting headers and footers from within RoboHelp. Instead, you had to edit them in the Word document.

With the new Adobe RoboHelp 11, you can now control the headers and footers for Printed documentation with Master Pages. This allows you to control the information displayed in the headers and footers of Word and PDF documents generated by RoboHelp.

A master page is a template for your topics. You can assign a style sheet to a master page, and set up headers and footers. If you apply a master page to a topic, the topic will use the style sheet and display the header and footer. When you create printed documentation, the printed documentation can use the header and footer you set up on the master page.

Setting up headers and footers in a Master Page

To change the header and footer of a master page, follow these steps:

Open the Project Set-up pod. (View > Pods > Project Set-up)
Open a master page (or create a new one)
Choose View > Header to open the header pane
Add content to the header just as you would add content to a topic
Choose View > Footer to open the footer pane
Add content to the footer, just as you would add content to a topic

Using the Master Page for Printed Documentation

Once you have set up the master page, you can use the master page when generating printed documentation.

Open the Single Source Layouts pod (View > Pods > Single Source Layouts).
Double-click a Printed Documentation layout to open the Print Document options.
From the Header/Footer area, select the master page you set up earlier.
Click Save and Generate to create the printed documentation.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

August 9, 2013

Adobe RoboHelp: Using SharePoint for Version Control

by Willam Van Weelden

In a previous article I showed you how you can use SharePoint to host a shared review. You'll be happy to learn that with RoboHelp 10, you can also use SharePoint for version control. Version control is a method by which you store all project files on a server. You work with a local copy and synchronize all changes with the server. The benefits of using version control include:

Version history: the server makes a new version of topics for every change. This allows you to retrieve old versions right from your RoboHelp Project.
Multiple authors: multiple authors can work with the same project simultaneously.
No more backups: the server does that for you.

Prepare SharePoint for Version Control

On the SharePoint site, add a new library. Enable version control for the library and require files to be checked out before editing. You can choose to use either minor or major versions. All reviewers must have edit permissions for the library. Your SharePoint administrator can help you with this.

Add a RoboHelp Project to Version Control

Open or create a RoboHelp project.
Choose File > Version Control > Add to version control.
In the Select Version Control Provider dialog box, select RoboHelp SharePoint Connector and click the OK button.
In the Connection Details dialog box, add the URL of the SharePoint site in the SharePoint Site field (and then click the OK button).
Choose a library to use for the version control.
Select a folder in the library (or create a new folder) and click the OK button.
Click the Yes button to add all of your RoboHelp project files to the SharePoint library.

Adding files to the SharePoint library could take time initially. However, once the files are added, you should not see any performance issues. To enable the version control toolbar for easy check-in and check-out, choose View > Toolbars > Version Control.

Want to know more about working with version control? Click here.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once each month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.