Re: RoboHelp Word Errors and Malfunctions

["Pro TechWriter" <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hi Sara:

Sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. A couple of questions:

  - Does the Word document have tables in it?
  - When you convert Heading 1 to topics, do they all show up when you
  compile (I know you get an error, but bear with me)? Or are some of the
  headings missing?
  - Is there a template attached to the huge document, or is it based on
  Normal.dot?
  - Your output is RoboHelp for Windows, correct?

Assuming that you do not have tables in the document, then the fact that you
have over a hundred styles tells me that it is likely that's part of the
problem. Plus, if that document is that large, it is likely getting
corrupted when you try to compile it. The Normal.dot template may also be
part of the problem.

You have a couple of choices. can "clean" the Word document by reducing the
number of styles (first method), and breaking it up into several documents
(by sections or something), and then apply a new template to it. Or (second
method), you can convert it to RTF and strip out all the formatting and
start over (not recommended except as a last resort!)

I'd try the first method. Before you start, though, you should rename your
Normal.dot (Normal.dot old or something) and then delete the
Normal.dottemplate. Then, in Word:

1. Create a new template with a minimum number of styles (with standard
style names) Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Normal, and then whatever
speciality styles you need, like Bullet, Numbered, and so on. But keep it
simple. You can add styles later if you need more.

2. Break up the original document by copying each section into a >new<
document based on the >new template<, but avoid copying the first and last
character (from the very beginning and end of final page) from the original
document. Save the old doc in case you need it.

3. Apply the new template to the documents. Open Tools-->Templates and Add
ins, open the new template, and copy all the styles from the new template to
the new document. You will be prompted to overwrite the existing styles (if
there are any, and there usually is). Say Yes.

4. In each document, search and replace to convert any existing styles that
made it over to the new documents to the basic styles in the new template.
(For example, Find --> Body Indented -- Replace --> Normal, Find--> Bullet
-- Replace --Bullet to get the new style applied).

5. Delete all unused styles from the Styles panel when you are finished.

6. Check for and remove any manual page endings. Save the document.

In Robohelp:

1. Create a new RoboHelp project and start adding the documents, one at a
time.
2. Convert each Heading 1 to a Topic. Make sure the Robohelp template is
applying the styles.
3. Rebuild the TOC
4. Compile and generate for each document.
5. Check to be sure the document shows up in the document list panel.

It's important to rebuild the TOC each time you add a document. It may be
that only one part of the original doc is causing a problem, and this will
let you know if there are further problems that were missed. (You can
arrange the TOC, but do that last because you will be rebuilding every time
you add a document.)

If a document you add shows in the Project  panel, but does not show a plus
sign and Heading 1 topics, then there is still something wrong with the
document. Check for and delete any manual page endings, save, and compile
again.

It sounds long, but it takes less time than you would think :-) I know.

If you can't get any of this to work, please reply off list and I will try
to help you directly on the phone if you need it. I think that's everything,
but if I think of more, I'll send it along.

Good luck, and I hope the instructions make sense.

PT





On 12/15/06, Sara Stewart <sara -at- sara-stewart -dot- com> wrote: