Re: Question: Generating one Word document in RoboHelp withallconditional text

["Holly Steele" <hsteele1 -at- gmail -dot- com>]

OK for the record, here is the rationale for this bizarre project:

The staff there does not know how to use RoboHelp. They want to create a
document that staff can easily update. No one updated the RoboHelp document
because they didn't know how to update the document. After they let go of
the technical writer who had written the manual in RoboHelp, they kept
updating the product and producing design documents, but no one could add
the revisions to the document.

*Why do they want conditional text?*

Well, they produce two products, an Agriculture product and a Forestry
Product. The content for the manuals is basically the same except for
product names, images, and references to screens that are slightly different
in the two manuals (e.g one window has 7 tabs, the other window has 8 tabs).
Both Forest and Agriculture clients use the product and other than one tab
and some other screens, the product is the same. The Agriculture folks don't
want to hear about Forestry and the Forestry folks don't want to hear about
Agriculture.

The company wants one document in Word with conditional text and images so
that not as skilled Word users that work at the company can easily and
globally update the manual.

I am a contractor and while I would be willing to take on more contracts
with the company, I am don't plan to work there full-time. I have a business
to run. If I can make them self-sufficient all the better.

*Why do they want a Master document?*
There are some sections that are shared between the two manuals, as well as
manuals for the other products the company produces. (The manual I am
working on updating is for one module for a suite of software products sold
to both Forest and Agriculture clients).

They want a Master document so that they can link the shared sections to the
manuals that have those sections. A master document would allow them to
update the shared sections once and have the updates globally applied to all
relevant manuals that the shared sections are linked to.

The rationale makes sense to me. Also, when RoboHelp generated the Word
documents (!SSL! files), it created a master document linking the shared
sections with the rest of the manual. I have a very short turn around to
update these manuals and so I am using what I have.

*Why do they want to convert the Word document to online help?

*For one thing, online help is easier for their users. The manual is huge
(about 375 pages). They had it in online help in RoboHelp and their clients
liked it, but for the company no one could update RoboHelp. Flare converts
Word documents to online help. It at the very least allows user to search
the document and view the topics.

So, I can't go from RoboHelp to Flare because they want a Word document
(with all the conditional text) that staff can update. I am a contractor, so
they need some document management method to use after my contract ends.

If I can't find a method of creating one document in RoboHelp with all the
conditional text, I will just add the conditional text to one of the
generated documents (either the Agriculture or Forest documents). If I had
all the conditional text in one doc, it would just make my job easier and
faster.

Any suggestions?

Take care,

Holly
hsteele1 -at- gmail -dot- com

2008/6/2 technical writing plus <doc-x -at- earthlink -dot- net>:

> Another thing is that you appeared to have mentioned 'Word Master
> Documents'
> and I have heard, from many sources, that this is quite a tricky feature to
> successfully use.
>
> Jim Jones
>
> -----Original Message-----
> ...I thought Flare was suppose to be able to import RoboHelp, so I was
> wondering why you have to go to Word first.
>
> ...I am still working on the odd project of taking a RoboHelp document,
> converting it to Word, and then importing it to Flare.
>
> The RoboHelp document was created with conditional text to generate two
> separate but very similar manuals. The problem is that I need to create
> one
> master document with all the conditional text in Word.
>
> Does anyone know if it is possible to take an online help document
> created
> in RoboHelp with conditional text and generate a single !SSL!  Word
> document
> that includes all the conditional text (e.g. says both products names in
> a
> single document and has screenshots from each manual )?
>
> If so, how do you do it?
>
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks to everyone on this amazing list.
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
> printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
> Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
> http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
>
> True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
> Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

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