Help File Print File Instructions Online Text

Do not add these instructions to an application table of contents. They are intended only for the technical writer who is updating the Help file. To print these instructions, follow the Generate Printed Documentation instructions below but pick the document Single Source Guide.

This Help file was set up for single sourcing. The same text can be generated to produce an online Help file (WebHelp) as well as a Word version (Printed Documentation), which can be PDFed. To be able to single source, all text must have styles from a cascading style sheet (CSS) applied to each piece of text in the file.

To produce the printed version you must complete the following tasks:

Prepare the ProPath Template to Receive Text

  1. Open an instance of the ProPath User Guide template at http://URL DNS /process/Library.

  2. Click File, Save As, and save an instance of the template (.dotx) under a name in a folder on your laptop. You'll use this saved template to map styles in the next section.

  3. Click File, Save As, and save the template as a document (.docx) under a name in a folder on your laptop.

  4. Open the document (.docx) version of the user guide.

  5. Delete blue instructional text. Be sure not to delete any page or section breaks. (You are preserving the header and footer setup...mostly the page numbering.)

  6. Scroll to the title 1. Introduction.

  7. Select 1.1. Purpose and all remaining text in the document.

  8. Delete selected text.

  9. Click beside 1. Introduction and press the Enter button to create four pages of empty lines with the style Body Text applied.

  10. Confirm that your cursor in on page 4 of the document. (Again, you're interested in preserving the header and footer setup...mostly the page numbering.)

  11. Save your document.

  12. Close Microsoft Word. If you try to generate printed documentation from RoboHelp with an open Word document, RoboHelp generates an error.

Generate Printed Documentation from RoboHelp

  1. Click the Singe Source tab. Or, click View, Pods, Single Source Layouts.

  2. Click the PPS-N User Guide option. A dialog opens.

    help_inst_dialog_1.png

  3. Confirm that you've made the selections noted above.

  4. Click the Next button. A warning message appears if this file has already been printed.

  5. Click OK to replace the file. The system opens the Chapter Layout dialog.

    help_inst_dialog_2.png

    The list on the left is based on the table of contents (TOC)...your latest and greatest.
    The list on the right is based on the TOC from the last time you generated a printed document.

    You are going to remove all entries from the Chapter Layout box and add all entries from the TOC box. Removing all and adding all back ensures that any pages you added/deleted are included in or excluded from the new printed document.

  6. Click the remove all button to remove all entries in the Chapter Layout box.

  7. Click the add all button to add all topics to the Chapter Layout box.

  8. Confirm that Maintain HTML heading levels is checked.

  9. Click the Next button. The organize dialog appears.

    organize.png

    Normally, you would use this page to edit a title page and several other front matter and back matter pages. However, at the rate at which ProPath templates change, you will want to skip this dialog to avoid continually updating the attached pages to match the ProPath template. The two section you need are the Chapter Layout and Glossary.

  10. Confirm that the Chapter Layout and Glossary appear in the Section Layout box. If they do not, click the plus button to open a dialog and select what you need from the drop-down list. Of note, there are other selections in the list. For this project, you only need the Chapter Layout and Glossary. For other projects, you might need to select the additional options.

  11. Click the Next button. The style mapping page opens.

    help_inst_dialog_3.png

    The system adds all the styles from the Help file to the Project's CSS Styles (all) list. You can use this page to attach a template and match styles. The current project includes the RH_Print_CSS, which is a Word document that includes styles for the print version of the document, which makes cleaning up the printed document easier.

  12. Click the Save and Generate button. The system saves your selections, generates a printed version of the Help file, and displays the following message.

    help_inst_dialog_4.png

  13. Click View Results to open the Microsoft Word version of the Help file.

  14. Select File, Save As, and save the generated document under a new name and in a convenient location on your system.

  15. Close the document.

 

To change the style sheet:

  1. Display the Print Document Appearance dialog.

  2. In Use Styles from, click Microsoft Word Template.

  3. In Microsoft Word Template, click the folder button and navigate to a local copy of the template you created.

  4. Click the Open button. The system updates the Microsoft Word Styles (all) list below. The system automatically matches the styles that it recognizes.

  5. Compare the lists of styles.

  6. If you see a style in the Project's CSS Styles (all) list that has a matching style in your template (Microsoft Word Styles (all) list), click (Unassigned - Use style in project). The system opens a drop-down list of styles from your template.

  7. Click the matching style in the drop-down list.

  8. Click the Save button to save your selections.

 

Insert Generated Text into the Altered ProPath Template

  1. Open Microsoft Word if necessary.

  2. Open the altered ProPath template.

  3. Scroll to the end of the template (page 4) and click once in the blank line.

  4. Select the Insert tab. Word opens the ribbon.

  5. In the Text group, select the Object drop-down arrow.

  6. Select Text from File. Word opens the Insert File dialog.

  7. Navigate to the location of the generated file.

  8. Select the file.

  9. Click the Insert button. Word inserts the text from the generated file into the altered template version of the user guide. Congratulations! Your text has arrived.

Clean Up the Microsoft Word Version

If you followed the guidelines laid out in Help File Instructions Online Text, you should be presented with a fairly clean version of text from the Help file.

The clean up of the document involves incremental editing. Generally speaking, each document presents it's own editing issues (which are minimal). The following are the specific steps used to clean up this document.

Update the ProPath Template

To Update the Title Page:

  1. Replace any lingering blue instructional text with factual text.

  2. Be sure to delete blue instructional text that may still be in the document.

To Update Revision History:

  1. Scroll to the empty Revision History table on page ii.

  2. Select the table and delete it.

  3. Scroll down to the generated Revision History table.

  4. Select and cut the table from the generated text.

  5. Scroll up to the page ii and click to place your cursor where the empty template Revision History table had been.

  6. Paste the table from the generated text. Be sure to delete blue instructional text.

To Update Footers:

  1. On page ii, double click the footer to open it.

  2. Update footer information.

  3. Copy footer information.

  4. Scroll down to the first page of text that has no footer. The page should include the Introduction title.

  5. Paste footer information on that page.

  6. Press the Backspace key once to remove the empty line in the footer.

  7. Check the remainder of the document to confirm that all pages have footers. Add them where they are missing.

  8. Close the footer.

To Clean Up Empty Lines and Update Page Numbering:

  1. Delete any empty lines you added to preserve the header and footer information.

  2. Check the page numbering in the footer. The number almost always needs to be restarted at 1.

  3. Update the Table of Contents.

  4. Examine the Table of Contents to see if any pages are not sequentially numbered.

  5. Adjust page numbering as necessary.

  6. Save your document.

Alter Formatting in the Document

To Adjust Displayed Styles list:

  1. Open the Styles pane and select Options as shown below. Selecting Options narrows or expands the list of styles in the styles list.

  2. Save your document.

    help_print_dialog_1.png

    You are going to want to make different selections depending on what you are trying to do. For example, when you adjust bullets, in Select styles to show, you will want to pick Recommended to see additional styles. The style list still isn't showing all available styles but it does show all styles that are in use and available from the ProPath template and your RH_Print_CSS template.

To Alter Formatting for Header Type Styles:

The only header styles necessary for the table of contents and for numbering should be Heading 1, 2, and 3. However, the style list includes other styles that function as headers and need to be kept with the text that follows it.

To Keep With Next:

  1. Scroll through the style list to and right-click Glossary Heading. A drop-down list opens.

  2. Select Modify. The Modify Style dialog opens.

  3. Click the Format button at the bottom, and then select Paragraph from the drop-down list.

  4. Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.

  5. In Pagination, click the Keep with Next check box, and then click OK. The Modify Style dialog reappears.

  6. Click the OK button.

  7. Save your document.  

To Update Bullets:

  1. Adjust the Styles list to show Recommended styles. Word expands the style list.

  2. Scroll through the style list to and right-click rh_body_text_bullet_1. A drop-down list opens.

  3. Click Select All. Word selects all text that has the style applied.

  4. In the Style list, click Body Text Bullet 1. Word applies the style to all selected text.

  5. Save your document.

To Update Notes:

  1. Scroll through the style list to and right-click rh_note.

  2. Click Select All. Word selects all text that has the style applied.

  3. In the Style list, click Note. Word applies the style to all selected text.

  4. Save your document.

To Update Table Headings:

  1. Click the table heading row. Word opens the Table Tools on the ribbon above.

  2. Click the Layout tab. Word opens the tab.

  3. In the Data group, click the Repeat Header Rows button. Word adds the header to any rows appearing on subsequent pages.

  4. Save your document.

To Adjust rh_body_text_numbered_1:

Change to 12 point Times New Roman with 0 points before and after.

To Adjust Number Steps:

  1. Scroll through the style list to and right-click rh_body_text_numbered_1.

  2. Click Select All. Word selects all text that has the style applied.

  3. On the Home tab in the Paragraph group, select the Decrease Indent button until all numbers are flush left. You will most likely click the button a few times.

  4. On the Home tab in the Paragraph group, select the Increase Indent button once. Word aligns the steps to match the ProPath template.

  5. Select the entire document (Ctrl + A), and then click the Right Indent button on the Ruler to reset the right margin for numbered text, as well as the remainder of the document.

  6. Save your document.

Note: You'll still need the check the step numbering when you do the general inspection of the document. This process corrects most instances of numbering. When you find an instance that the process didn't correct, you can try the Decrease/Increase Indent buttons again. If that doesn't work, apply the Body Text Number 1 style from the ProPath template. If you apply it more than once, you'll need to restart number at one.

Insert Figure and Table Numbering

The following instructions suggest that you want to do this task incrementally; that is, all at once. The other option you have is to do this task as part of the general inspection of the document, when you are going to look at every page of the document to make any necessary adjustments.

To find figures:

  1. Search for text that has the style Caption applied.

  2. Click in the beginning of the document and display the Advanced Search dialog.

  3. On the Find tab, click the More button. The dialog expands to show more options.

  4. Click the Format button, and select Style from the drop-down list. Word opens the Find Style dialog.

  5. Select Caption in the style list, and then click OK.

  6. Click the Find Next button. Word scrolls to the first instance of text with the Caption style applied.

  7. Add a figure or table caption with Word auto numbering.

 

adv_find.png

To add automatic numbering to figure and table captions:

  1. Select and copy table or figure title. When you select, if Word is selecting the hidden paragraph mark with the formatting at the end too, hold down you Shift key and click the left arrow on your keyboard. Word removes the hidden paragraph mark from the selection.

  2. Delete table or figure title. Make sure you select just the text. You should have an empty line with the table or figure and the style Caption applied.

  3. On the ribbon, click the References tab. Word opens the tab.

  4. In the Captions group, click the Insert Caption button. Word opens the Caption dialog.

  5. In Label, select Table or Figure from the drop-down list, depending on the caption you are adding.

  6. In Caption, type a colon and paste (Ctrl + V) the table or figure title.

    help_print_dialog_2.png

  7. Click the OK button. Word closes the dialog and shows the table or figure with auto-numbering.

  8. Save your document.

  9. Click the Find Next button at the bottom right of the screen. Word scrolls to the next instance of text with the Caption style applied.
    find_nexzt_button.png

  10. Repeat these instructions to add the next table or figure caption.

To confirm that all captions have numbering:

  1. Display the Styles list and right-click the Caption style. A pop-up menu opens.

  2. Click Select All. Word selects all instances where the style Caption has been applied.

  3. Copy caption text (Ctrl + C).

  4. Open a new Word document.

  5. Paste caption text (Ctrl + V). You'll see a list of all text that has the style Caption applied.

  6. Do a visual inspection of the list to confirm that all entries include the label (Table or Figure) with automatic numbering applied. Using the list, you can update any missed table or figure captions.

Complete a General Inspection of the Document

As automated as this process is, trouble spots can still exist in the document. Start at the beginning of the printed document and complete a visual inspection. When you find a trouble spot, be sure to complete these steps.

  1. Make the change in RoboHelp and save.

  2. Make the change in the printed documentation and save.

Here's a list of what you should be looking for.

Finalize the Document

  1. Update the Table of Contents.

  2. Confirm that only Headings 1, 2, and 3 appear in the TOC. If you need to adjust headings, you need to change them in both RoboHelp and the Word document. You might also need to suppress headings in the Word document.

  3. Do one last inspection of your document. Pay particular attention to Heading styles (adjust as necessary) and footers.

  4. Depending on the changes you make in step 4, you might need to update your TOC. Do so if necessary. At this point, the Word version of the Help file should be ready for any additional handling necessary; for example, creating a PDF of the document and posting it to a location.

Making Other Changes Caution

If you find something that needs to be edited in the printed document, you must remember to edit it in RoboHelp. If you are to single source successfully, the RoboHelp file must always be your golden source without exception.

Deciding if and when you need to generate another print version is a judgement call.