RoboHelp is a help authoring tool used to generate output in various formats from one source (this is called single sourcing).
In this company we generate WebHelp, Responsive Help and Word (transformed to PDF for final delivery). This tutorial will refer primarily to WebHelp, as that is the main deliverable.
To start working with RoboHelp, you need to either open an existing project or create a new one.
You can open or create a project from the Starter screen or from the File menu.
A basic RoboHelp project - defined as a project that can be used to generate a delivery-ready output - should at least contain the following:
A basic workflow for generating a deliverable (output) is:
This output can then be published (copied) to a website, an internal shared drive, etc.
The image above explains the most commonly used components
Other features that are commonly used are:
Topics are HTML pages that make up the online help system - topics are essentially our documentation. You can create topics starting from the Project Manager pod or the TOC - the differences are described in the table below.
| Action | Screenshot | Result |
|---|---|---|
|
Right-click a folder in the Project Manager and select New > Topic. This is the recommended way.
|
|
The topic is created in the folder you selected. 
|
| Right-click a book in the TOC and select New > Topic. |
|
The topic is created in the root folder.
|
The File Name is the name under which the topic is saved to your HDD and it is created automatically from your topic title. These two names do not have to be identical, but it is good practice to use the same name in both fields.
After you have created a topic, you can change its properties by right-clicking it in the Project Manager. This opens a window identical to the New Topic window.
To delete a topic, right-click it in the Project Manager and select Delete.
To check topic links, right-click the topic (in the Project Manager or TOC) and select Show > Topic Links. This displays the topics that link to the current topic and the topics that the current topics links to.
To check topic references, right-click the topic (in the Project Manager or TOC) and select Show > Topic References. This displays all the above links, plus the references in the TOC or Index.
To add a topic to the table of contents, simply drag it from the Project Manager into the TOC pod.
You can edit topics in Design Mode or in HTML Mode.
| Mode | Screenshot |
|---|---|
| Design Mode offers a WYSIWYG editor that uses common formatting shortcuts (CTRL + B, etc) |
|
| HTML Mode lets you edit the source of the file directly. |
|
Each topic has to be associated to a stylesheet that is defined at the project level. If your new topic does not pick up the correct stylesheet automatically, you can add it yourself from the Edit ribbon tab.
Most formatting commands can be found on the Edit ribbon tab.
Never
paste content from Word or from other applications that include text formatting!
If you need to paste text, pass it through Notepad or similar first. You can also download the free
utility
PureText.
Dropdowns are RoboHelp-specific elements that allow you to "hide" content until you click the dropdown.
To insert a drop down, follow these steps:
The table of contents defines the structure of the content (the way it is displayed in the online help output). The TOC is structured into books and pages. Each page is essentially a link to a topic that exists in the project.
You can edit the properties of a topic (though you usually don't need to) by right-clicking it and selecting Properties.
The properties for a book are similar:
The Book with Link setting indicates what happens when you click a book in the generated output:
Single source layouts allow you to generate various types of output starting from a single source. In this company, we mostly use WebHelp, Printed Documentation and Responsive Help.
SSLs are managed in the Outputs (SSL) pod.
You can rename your outputs or keep the default names (but this is usually standardized at the product team level, so don't go changing things without asking first).
The buttons at the top of the pod let you perform various actions like creating a new layout or duplicating an existing one.
To generate an output, simply double-click the respective layout and follow the steps of the wizard.
Conditional build tags (CBT) are RoboHelp-specific code snippets that allow you to customize one set of source files for multiple audiences or purposes. For example, if you are writing a new topic, but you haven't finished yet, you can use a conditional build tag to make sure that the incomplete content is not published by mistake.
You can apply CBT to:
To apply a tag to an element, simply select it, right-click, select Apply Conditional Build Tag, then choose an existing tag or create a new one.
You can also drag the tags from the Conditional Build Tags pod to the selected text or to a topic/page.
If you want to see what your output would look like if you excluded a specific conditional build tag, you can preview the topic by clicking View Item on the Project ribbon tab and then changing the Conditional Build Tag Expression.
When generating an output for a RoboHelp project, conditional build tags are grouped into expressions to indicate what parts of the content should be published.
To remove a conditional build tag from an element, select the element, right-click it, select Apply Conditional Build Tag, then click the applied conditional build tag to remove it.
CBT are managed in the Conditional Build Tags pod.
In this pod, you can create and delete tags, and view tag properties. All these options are available in the context menu.
