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Optimizing Word documents for online output
If you are importing Word documents that have been published in printed or online format, consider the following
before linking or importing them into RoboHelp projects.
Heading hierarchies
Determine the best mapping of Word heading styles to RoboHelp styles so that you can achieve
automatic pagination (splitting the document into topics) based on heading styles. If your document does not employ
hierarchical heading styles, apply them before conversion. For example, you can apply Heading 1 style to standalone
articles in your Word document. Then map this style to a similar RoboHelp style and define pagination to create an
HTML topic for each Heading 1 style. See “Pagination and topic naming in converted Word files” on page 54.
Inline styles and style overrides
You can convert inline styles to CSS styles in RoboHelp. However, converting inline
styles to CSS styles can lead to numerous styles that share the same formatting. See “Converting Word styles to
RoboHelp styles” on page 50.
Header and footer information
RoboHelp can convert headers and footers. However, to ensure consistency across your
topics, you can define a master page that contains the required header and footer information. By using master pages,
Option
Linking
Importing
Remarks
Ability to update generated
topics
Yes. You can update the
generated topics whenever the
source document or your
RoboHelp project settings
change.
No. When you import a Word
document into a RoboHelp
project, RoboHelp copies the
contents of the Word document
into RoboHelp project. RoboHelp
generates topics based on
conversion settings. If the source
document changes, delete the
generated topics and reimport
the Word document.
Use the link option when the
source Word document can
change. Typically, if multiple
projects share the Word
document, you link the Word
document.
If, however, you are bringing in
content as a one-time activity, you
can use the import option.
Ability to automatically update
TOC, index, and glossary changes
from the source document
Yes. When you link a document,
separate TOC, index, and glossary
files are created and associated
with the linked Word document.
When the linked Word document
is updated, the linked TOC, index,
and glossary files are also
updated.
No. When you import a Word
document, the generated TOC is
appended and index and glossary
are merged into the selected TOC,
index, and glossary file.
Use the link option if you want to
automatically update the TOC,
index, and glossary whenever
these components are updated in
the Word document.
Ability to regenerate deleted
topics
Yes. You can delete a topic that is
generated from an imported
Word document, and then
regenerate the same topic when
you update the Word document.
No. Import the source document
again to generate the deleted
topic.
Use the linking option when you
share the source document across
multiple projects.
Ability to preserve changes in
generated topics
Yes. You can mark topics
generated from a linked Word
document to ensure that the
marked topics are not updated
when the linked document is
updated. In this way, you can
preserve any changes you made
in RoboHelp.
No. When you re-import a Word
document, all topics previously
generated from the imported
document are recreated,
overwriting any changes you
made in RoboHelp.
Use the link option if you need to
retain updates made to both the
linked Word document and the
generated topics.
Ability to change the filenames
and topic titles of generated files
from Project Manager
No. When you link a Word
document, you cannot change
the filenames or topic titles of
generated files from Project
Manager.
Yes. When you import a Word
document, you can change the
filenames or topic titles of
generated files.
Use the import option if you want
to customize the filenames
andtopic titles from Project
Manager.
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you can also suppress page numbers in headers and footers. “Convert headers and footers in Word documents” on
page 50.
Chapter versus topic
In printed documentation, the chapter is the logical and physical unit for grouping content. In
online Help, the organizational unit is the topic, and users see topics one at a time. Although you can group the content
into folders that expand when the user navigates the table of contents, only one topic appears on the screen at a time.
Try to provide comprehensive information without adding redundancy by grouping related topics. See “Pagination and
topic naming in converted Word files” on page 54.
TOCs
As you import Word documents, you can also import the Word TOC into the RoboHelp TOC. You can define
the topic hierarchy and represent that hierarchy in the RoboHelp TOC. See “Importing a Word TOC, index, and
glossary” on page 49.
Context sensitivity
In online Help formats, you can link specific topics to dialog boxes and other elements that users
encounter in the application workflow. You can assign map IDs to topics in RoboHelp. However, you can also assign
context-sensitive Help markers in Word documents using custom footnote entries. RoboHelp reads these footnote
entries and assigns the map IDs to the generated topics. Ensure that topics in the source Word document are not overly
fragmented. A topic must contain sufficient information to make sense as a standalone unit.
For example, if a short task doesn’t make sense without some introductory conceptual information, don’t display that
task as a standalone topic. To avoid overly fragmented content, assign context-sensitive Help markers to topics at a
higher level. In this way, the generated Help topic can contain the concept, the task, and any relevant graphics. See
“Convert context-sensitive Help markers in Word to map IDs” on page 55.
Linking options for Word documents
For linking Word documents to a RoboHelp project, you can specify one of the following options in the Import tab of
project settings (File > Project Settings):
Create A Reference
You create a reference to an external Word document. In this case, the source Word document is
not copied into the RoboHelp project folder. It remains outside the project. You can edit and update the Word
document independently in Word. Later, in RoboHelp, you can update the topics generated from the linked document.
Use the linking by reference option to bring in content that is shared across multiple projects. Because only a single copy
of the document exists, any change in the source document is reflected in all projects to which this document is linked.
Create A Copy And Link
You create a copy of the source document and link to the RoboHelp project. In this case, a copy
of the source document is copied into the RoboHelp project and is visible in the Project Manager pod. You can edit and
update the Word copy without affecting the source document. You update the topics generated from the copied Word
document whenever you edit the document.
Use the Create A Copy And Link option to maintain the Word document in RoboHelp, and restrict access to the source
document and allow editing only in the copy available in the RoboHelp project. For example, if you want to bring in
content from a static Word document, link the document by copying it to the RoboHelp project.
Note: This option is available only when you link Word documents. When you import a Word document, RoboHelp does
not keep any link to the source Word document.
Link and import Word documents
• Create a RoboHelp project by linking to or importing a Word document. You can import DOCX, DOC, DOCM, or
RTF files.
• Link or import Word documents into a RoboHelp project.
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• (For linked documents) Update the generated topics whenever any of the conversion settings or the source
documents changes.
HTML files are not created until you define the conversion settings and generate the Help topics. The source Word
documents are unaffected by linking and subsequent editing. RoboHelp creates a copy of the linked or imported Word
documents before applying the conversion settings.
Create a project by importing a Word document
You can create a RoboHelp project by importing a Word document. To import Word files, you must have Microsoft
Word installed on your computer.
Note: DOCX and DOCM formats are not supported by versions earlier than Microsoft Word 2007. See Microsoft Word
Help for more information.
1 In the Starter pod, click Word Document under Import.
2 Select Word Documents from the Files Of Type pop-up menu, select the Word document, and click Open.
3 Enter relevant details in the New Project wizard and click Finish.
Link a Word document to a RoboHelp project
1 Create a project in RoboHelp.
2 Select File > Link > Word Document.
3 Click Browse to select one or more Word documents and click Open.
Note: To import multiple documents with separate TOCs, select them in the order they should appear in the master TOC.
4 Right-click the linked file in Project Manager, and select Properties.
5 In the Word Document Settings dialog box, do the following:
• To generate a TOC from the source document, select the Convert Table of Contents option, and specify a
filename.
• To generate an index from the source document, select the Convert Index option, and specify a filename.
• To generate a glossary from the source document, select the Convert Glossary option, and specify a filename.
Note: You can define the paragraph styles for a glossary term and definition in the project settings. See “Convert
Word paragraph styles to RoboHelp styles” on page 51.
Note: RoboHelp associates the generated TOC, index, and glossary files with the source Word document. So when the
source document is updated, the TOC, index, and glossary files are also updated.
6 Click OK.
Import a Word document into a RoboHelp project
1 Create a project in RoboHelp.
2 Select File > Import > Word Document.
3 Click Browse to select one or more Word documents and click Open.
Note: To import multiple documents with separate TOCs, select them in the order they should appear in the master TOC.
4 In the dialog box, set conversion options for the TOC, index, and glossary, and click Next.
For information about various conversion options, see “Importing a Word TOC, index, and glossary ” on page 49.
5 (Optional) To edit the conversion settings, click Edit.
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6 Check the Import Max checkbox and specify the number of different headers footers to be imported from the MS
Word document.
Note: New master pages will be created with the headers and footers from the imported MS Word document.
7 Modify conversion settings according to your requirements, and click OK.
For information about converting headers and footers, see “Convert headers and footers in Word documents” on
page 50
For information about converting paragraph, character, and other styles, see “Converting Word styles to RoboHelp
styles” on page 50.
8 Click Finish.
Importing a Word TOC, index, and glossary
When you import a Word document into a RoboHelp project, you can also import the table of contents (TOC). Import
the TOC into the RoboHelp project to retain, in Help, the navigation structure you defined in your Word document. If
you import a Word-generated TOC, the first heading becomes a book. Lower-level headings become pages (unless a
book exists at a lower level).
To import multiple documents with separate TOCs, select the Word documents in the Open dialog box in the order
that they should appear in the master TOC. The converted TOC is based on the {TOC} field codes of the Word
document. Ensure that:
• Headings for main books have lower-level headings.
• Headings for sub-books appear under main headings and have lower-level headings.
• Headings for pages do not have lower-level headings.
For example, suppose you import a document with more styles than the TOC contains: The document contains
heading levels 1 through 3, but the TOC contains only heading 1 and 2 entries. To ensure that heading 3 styles appear
in the TOC, either include heading 3 in the Word TOC or auto-create the TOC in RoboHelp.
Import a Word TOC
1 Select File > Import > Word Document.
2 In the Content Settings dialog box, select Convert Table Of Contents.
3 Select one of the following options:
Add To Existing TOC
Appends the TOC entries to any existing RoboHelp TOC present in the project. Select an
existing RoboHelp TOC from the list.
Create New Associated TOC
Enter a name for a new associated TOC that is added to the RoboHelp project.
Import Word index entries
RoboHelp creates an index based on the index markers in the document you are importing.
1 Select File > Import > Word Document.
2 Select Convert Index in the Content Settings dialog box, and select one of the following options:
Add To Existing Index
Add the Word index entries to the existing RoboHelp index of the project.
Create New Associated Index
Enter a name for a new associated index that is added to the RoboHelp project.
Add To Topic
Add the Word index entries to individual topics in which they appear.
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Import Word glossary entries
RoboHelp creates a glossary from the Word document you are importing, based on the paragraph styles defined for the
glossary terms and definitions in project settings.
Note: RoboHelp creates a glossary entry by finding a term and a definition in the specified styles in the Word document.
Consecutive instances of term styles or definition styles are rejected.
1 Select File > Import > Word Document.
2 Select Convert Glossary in the Content Settings dialog box, and select one of the following options:
Add To Existing Glossary
Add the Word glossary entries to the existing RoboHelp glossary of the project.
Create New Associated Glossary
Enter a name for a new associated glossary that is added to the RoboHelp project.
Convert headers and footers in Word documents
You can convert the header and footer text in your Word documents to headers and footers in the generated HTML
topics.
Note: Don’t use this procedure if your projects have topics natively created in RoboHelp and imported or linked from other
sources as well. Instead, use the master page feature in RoboHelp. Using master pages, you can define consistent layouts
and consistent headers and footers.
1 Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, select Other Settings and then do the following:
• To convert the header and footer in Word documents, select Convert Header and Footer.
Converting Word styles to RoboHelp styles
You can select the cascading style sheet (CSS) that RoboHelp uses to map Word styles to RoboHelp styles. RoboHelp
saves all the style conversion settings in this CSS file. By default, RoboHelp uses the RHStyleMapping.css file for your
project.
You can also use a custom CSS for your project. You can later edit the styles either in RoboHelp or in an external CSS
editing application, such as Adobe Dreamweaver®. You can define how the Word styles convert to RoboHelp styles at
the project level. All Word style definitions in the Word document appear in the mapping dialog box, irrespective of
whether they are used in the document.
Select CSS for style mapping
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box, do one of the following:
• Select the CSS file from the CSS For Style Mapping menu. RoboHelp lists CSS files in the root folder of your
project, from which you can select a CSS file.
• Select Browse CSS from the CSS For Style Mapping menu, and select the CSS file that you want to use. Use this
option to specify a custom CSS for your project. When you select this option, RoboHelp copies the selected CSS
file into the root folder of your project, and uses the selected CSS for style mapping.
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Note: You can edit the CSS file you want to use for style mapping. The Edit With option lets you select an editor from a
predefined list, which includes RoboHelp CSS Editor and other registered CSS editors.
Automap styles
RoboHelp provides a quick option to map paragraph, character, and table styles in the Word files to the corresponding
styles in the CSS selected for style mapping. The style names in the Word files and the CSS should be same for automap
to work.
1 Select File > Project Settings.
2 Click the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box. Do one of the following:
• Select the CSS file from the CSS For Style Mapping menu.
• Click Add next to the CSS for Style Mapping pop-up menu, and select a CSS file.
Use this option to specify a custom CSS for the project. When you select this option, RoboHelp copies the
selected CSS file into the root folder of the project, and uses the selected CSS for style mapping.
3 To edit conversion settings for Word documents, click Edit.
4 In the Paragraph tab, select Automap Paragraph Styles.
5 In the Character tab, select Automap Character Styles.
6 In the Table tab, select Automap Table Styles.
Convert Word paragraph styles to RoboHelp styles
By default, RoboHelp converts all Word styles to CSS, thus retaining the appearance and behavior of the Word styles in
the RoboHelp project. If you want to ensure consistency of your online Help projects, you can map the Word styles to
RoboHelp styles and edit them.
If the style names in the style sheet selected for style mapping match RoboHelp style names, follow the steps described
in “Automap styles” on page 51.
To manually map the styles, follow these steps:
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, select the Word style from the Paragraph group.
4 From the RoboHelp Style pop-up menu, select the RoboHelp style that you want to map to the Word style. To retain
the appearance of Word text in your online Help format, select [Source].
5 Select the properties for the selected Word style. To edit the selected RoboHelp style, click Edit Style.
To mark a style for glossary
• Select Glossary Definition Style to mark the style to consider for the glossary definition.
• Select Glossary Term to mark the style to consider for the glossary term.
Note: Follow Glossary Definition Style with Glossary Term Style for a complete a Glossary Term Definition pair.
RoboHelp uses the terms marked with the selected styles, to create a Glossary.
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• To set up pagination: Select Pagination (Split into topics based on this style) to create a Help topic at each
occurrence of the selected Word paragraph style. For example, if you select Heading 1 and Pagination (Split into
topics based on this style), RoboHelp starts a new topic at every instance of Heading 1. For more information on
Pagination, see “Set pagination for online Help topics” on page 54
• Using a user-defined HTML tag: Select or enter a user-defined HTML tag for the selected paragraph style.
For example:
A paragraph with style ParaStyleOne is imported in RoboHelp as
<p class=ParaStyleOne> Paragraph
Text </p>
.
Specifying this string as Pre for the style ParaStyleOne causes RoboHelp to import the paragraphs with the style
ParaStyleOne as
<pre> Paragraph Text </pre>
.
Convert Word character styles to RoboHelp styles
You can map the Word character formats to character styles in RoboHelp. You can also edit the styles in RoboHelp.
If the style names in the style sheet selected for style mapping match RoboHelp style names, follow the steps described
in “Automap styles” on page 51.
To manually map the styles, follow these steps:
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, select the Character group.
4 Select the Word character style from the left pane of the Conversion Settings dialog box.
5 Select the RoboHelp character style from the pop-up menu. Optionally, you can do the following:
• To import the Word character style, select [Source] from the pop-up menu.
• To edit the character style in RoboHelp, click Edit Style.
List mapping
You can map Word lists to RoboHelp lists (multilevel lists) or HTML lists (basic ordered and unordered lists) in
RoboHelp. If you have defined lists as paragraph styles in RoboHelp, you can map these list styles in RoboHelp. If you
do not select a style mapping option for a list, it is converted to text without list properties.
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, select the Other Settings group.
4 Do one of the following:
• To convert the Word list styles to RoboHelp lists, select RoboHelp List from the Convert Word List To pop-up menu.
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• To convert the Word list styles to HTML lists, select HTML List from the Convert Word List To pop-up menu.
Create custom HTML tags
You can define or apply a custom HTML tag instead of the standard <p> tag for paragraph styles in the HTML output
for the formats that you import from a Word document. You can define separate HTML tags for each format in the
Word document.
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, select a Word paragraph style, and then select User Defined HTML Tag
option.
4 Type the name of the custom HTML tag or select an existing tag to use instead of the default HTML tag.
Convert Word table styles to RoboHelp table styles
You can map Word table styles to RoboHelp table styles. Alternatively, you can import the table styles as inline
formatting from the Word document. Optionally, you can edit the converted table styles in RoboHelp.
If the style names in the style sheet selected for style mapping match RoboHelp style names, follow the steps described
in “Automap styles” on page 51.
To manually map the styles, follow these steps:
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab, click Edit under Word Document.
3 Select the Word table style from the left pane of the Conversion Settings dialog box.
4 Select the RoboHelp table style from the pop-up menu. Optionally, to edit the table style in RoboHelp, click Edit
Style.
Convert Word references to hyperlinks
RoboHelp can convert the cross-references in the Word documents. These references appear as hyperlinks in the
generated Help topics.
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings group, select Other Settings, and then select Convert References To Hyperlinks.
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Create RoboHelp styles from inline formatting
Even though it’s best to avoid inline formatting in your Word documents, and apply defined paragraph and character
styles, you can link and import Word documents to RoboHelp. You can also create RoboHelp styles from inline
formatting in your Word documents. Such styles are added to the project CSS.
1 Select File > Project Settings.
2 In the Import tab, click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, select Other Settings and then select Auto-Create CSS Styles From Inline
Formatting.
Pagination and topic naming in converted Word files
In addition to splitting the document into topics and defining topic naming settings, you can do the following:
Convert header and footer
Header and footer text in your word documents is converted and used in the Help topics.
See “Convert headers and footers in Word documents” on page 50.
Convert TOC and index entries
TOC and index entries in the Word document are converted in your RoboHelp project.
See “Importing a Word TOC, index, and glossary ” on page 49.
Map Word list styles to RoboHelp styles
You can convert the list styles in Word to either RoboHelp list styles or HTML
list styles. See “List mapping” on page 52.
Automatically create CSS styles from inline formatting
See “Create RoboHelp styles from inline formatting” on
page 54.
Set pagination for online Help topics
When you import a Word document, you define how the contents of the Word file appear as topics in RoboHelp. For
example, suppose your Word file contains ten topics. If each topic contains subtopics, definition lists, tasks, and tables,
you can have each topic appear as a separate HTML file. If each of these topic headings is in Heading 1 style, you can
have each Heading 1 topic created as a separate HTML topic. If, however, you set the pagination at Heading 2, separate
HTML files are created for each Heading 2 topic.
You can select multiple paragraph styles for pagination. For example, selecting Heading 1 and Heading 2 for pagination,
causes RoboHelp to start a new topic at every instance of Heading 1 as well as Heading 2.
Note: Pagination is based on the Word paragraph styles and not on RoboHelp styles.
Even though you can set pagination for any Word paragraph style, the topic generated must contain relevant, complete
information for the reader. For example, if you set pagination for Heading 3, you run the risk of creating topics with
only task-level instructions. In this case, the required contextual information required to complete the task is isolated
in another Heading 3 level topic. To avoid such disjointed, incomplete topics, set the pagination at a higher level.
1 Do one of the following:
• Select File > Import > Word Document.
• Select File > Link > Word Document.
• Select File > Project Settings.
2 Click Edit under Word Document.
3 In the Conversion Settings dialog box, in the Paragraph group, select the paragraph style on which to base
pagination.
4 Select the option marked Pagination (Split into topics based on this style) and click OK.
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