TCS Support Response

From: TCS Support
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2017 7:33 PM
Cc: TCS Support
Subject: [External] RE: Default Directory
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Greetings from Adobe.
Whenever you try to update a broken link in RoboHelp it redirects you to its default location where the file was stored. By default, there is no option to change that location to a different location In RoboHelp.
The relinking of the files can only be done manually on the project.
Please let us know if you still have any further queries regarding the same.
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From: Me
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2017 11:30 PM
To: TCS Support <tcssup@adobe.com>
Subject: Default Directory
I have some broken links in my project (red box) because I changed the location of my Word documents. When I right-click to re-link the Word document, I am taken to the “My RoboHelp Projects” folder (purple box). Is there a way to change this to be a network drive folder? I was able to create a shortcut in the shortcuts area under Samples (shown in the green box) so when I get to the My RoboHelp Projects folder, I can click the __Future icon, but it’d be really great to just be able to set my default folder as I have ~300 Word docs to relink.

And this is what I wrote back:

It would be great to have a way to update the path to multiple linked Word documents. In my case, I have ~300 Word docs to relink and doing it one-by-one is time-consuming and, well, boring!

Anyways, thank you for the great information about the default folder. I had looked at this topic: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/robohelp/2017/robohtml/index.html#rhsearch=link%20word%20documents&rhhlterm=link%20word%20documents&rhsyns=%20&t=book%2Frob_basics_ba%2FSynchronizing_linked_Word_documents_with_RoboHelp_projects-.htm for that information, but didn’t see it. It’s that type of information that gives a ‘real-life’ scenario that makes documentation / help text useful. I can figure out the mechanics of how to do something fairly easily. When I read the help text, I want to know any potential downfalls before I do it so I can decide whether or not to do it.

Thus, I think the help text should be updated. I would add a caution or note at the top of the above page. The text would inform the user the following:

1) you have to restore links one document at a time

and

2) recommend that you do not link Word documents until their location is stable.

Here’s a rough first draft that needs editing as to what I’m thinking:

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Caution: We recommend not linking to a Word document unless the file is being stored in a permanent location. If the Word document’s permanent location is in flux, wait until  it is more stable. Restoring the links to many Word documents requires selecting each Word document one at a time and restoring the link. If you move the location of, for example, 50 linked Word documents, you will need to restore the link to those 50 Word documents one at a time, which can be a time-consuming process.

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Then, in the “Restore a link to a missing or renamed Word document” section, step 2 could be updated too:

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2)Select Restore Link To Word File, and browse to select the new location of the missing file. When you restore a broken link, the location where the file was stored displays. By default, there is no option to change that location to a different location. You can only restore links to linked Word documents manually. You can add a location to the left side of the window using the Tools > Add to “My Places” option.

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Also, in the Delete a linked Word document section, I really think you need a note or something that makes it more obvious that you cannot delete multiple linked Word documents at once.  

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You can directly delete a linked document, one at a time, from the Project Files folder. You can delete the references to the documents linked by reference.

1)Right-click a document and select Delete.

When you delete a linked file, all its associated documents, such as CSS, images, baggage files, and multimedia files, are also deleted.

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Thanks for your prompt response to my initial query.

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