by Kevin Siegel 
Instead of importing content into RoboHelp from either Adobe FrameMaker or Microsoft Word, you can create a link between RoboHelp and the source document. One tactical advantage to linking to content instead of importing is if the Subject Matter Expert (SME) updates the source document, a few simple clicks in RoboHelp will update the RoboHelp project with the updated content.
It is possible that you will need to make local changes to some of the linked content from within RoboHelp and you don't want to rely on the SME to make the changes to the source document. Editing the content within RoboHelp is simple: open the topic from within RoboHelp and make edits just like you would in any word processor. However, if the source document is later updated by the SME, and you update the RoboHelp project with the intent of grabbing those changes, all of the changes you made to the content from within RoboHelp will be lost. Ouch!
If you find yourself needing to make changes to some of the topics from within RoboHelp, and you don't want to risk losing your edits, you can update the linked document so that your changes are preserved should you update the linked documented with its source.
On the Project Manager pod, right-click the linked document and choose Properties to open the Word Document Settings dialog box.
On the File Update Settings tab, select the topic(s) you plan to edit within RoboHelp (put a check in the check box) and then click the OK button.
You are now free to update the topic from within RoboHelp as you see fit. Should you notice that the linked document has been updated by the subject matter expert (a yellow alert icon will appear on the document if the document is our of synch), go ahead and right-click the document and choose Update > Update. Topics that were not selected from the list of Generated files will be updated with the SMEs content changes. Topics that you edited will not be affected.
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