About printed documents

Online output and printed documents share source files. Similarly, you can generate PDF files and print documents from the same source files.

Organize and customize content

Design a printed document based on only part of the project or the entire project. Determine where topics go in the document by arranging the pages and books during generation. Base printed document structure on the project TOC or select topics from custom folders in the Project Manager.

Map project styles to Word

Control how styles are used in printed documents with style mapping. Copy project styles directly to a Word document. Any applied project style retains the style in Word. You can alternatively skip style mapping and use topic styles.

Types of Word documents to create

Individual documents
Separate Word files for the title page, table of contents, glossary, and index. A separate document is also created for each root-level book (chapter) and page in the printed table of contents.

Master document
An optional document that links to the individual documents. Familiarity with master documents in Word is recommended. Do not edit this file; it contains only field codes referencing the documents. Do not use a master document for large manuals.

Single document
One Word file containing the title page, TOC, chapters, glossary, and index.

Printed document structure

  • Books and pages at the root level of the printed document begin a new chapter.

  • Subbooks and pages that are not at the root level of the printed document continue uninterrupted.

  • For books that link to pages, the link destination is placed directly after the book in the printed document.

  • Pages that link to a destination other than a topic are not available to use in the printed document.

  • Organize sections of the printed documentation output in the Section Layout dialog box.

Adobe recommends

Organizing sections

David Rivers
Learn how to define the section layout for printed documents.

Conversion of online features

RoboHelp converts many common project features. It removes others, including ActiveX controls, borders, Dynamic HTML, headers and footers, JavaScript, link controls, and topic borders. The following table provides conversion details for specific features.

Feature

Conversion notes

Bullets and numbering

Converted (except image bullets).

Conditional build tags

Topics and topic content that are excluded with conditional build tags and expressions are removed.

Drop-down hotspots and expanding hotspots

If specified, expanding text and drop-down text appears inline. Map a style to hotspots so that they look different from the other text.

Expanding glossary hotspots

Selecting expanding text and drop-down text in the printed output converts and displays inline. Map a style to hotspots so that they look different from the other text.

Font sets

Word uses the first font. If the first font does not exist, Word creates a default font.

Forms

Converted to HTML in Word. Third-party forms are removed from documents.

Images

Specify whether you want to place or embed images. Placed images are included in an images folder in the output folder. Embed images if you want to place them within the document. Images can be included in headings, and then they also appear in the printed TOC.

Marquees

Converted as text in Word.

Positioned text boxes

Converted and placed at the end of the document or the bottom of the page.

Shading

Fills but not patterns are converted.

Text boxes

Converted and resized to fit text only.