Quick Start Tutorials > Converting old projects

Help & Manual automatically converts old project files from previous versions (H&M 3 and H&M 4) when you open them. Alternatively, you can also use the stand-alone converter program to convert old projects manually.

Help & Manual 4 projects are converted 1:1 and do not require any post-processing after conversion. Older Help & Manual 3 projects did not have the styles and other features introduced in the modern versions of the program and may require some reformatting after importing.

You can convert both Help & Manual 4 (.hmx) and Help & Manual 3 (.hm3) projects. In addition to this you can also import data from a number of other formats using this option.

1.	Click on the Application Button and select Open, then select the format of the project you want to open in the Files of Type: field (or the drop-down menu next to the File Name: field in Windows Vista).

2.	Select the file you want to convert and click on Open to display the following dialog:

3.	Select Convert and open to convert the old project.The new project file will be saved in the same directory as the old project you are converting.

This method automatically converts the old project into a single compressed file with the extension .hmxz containing all the project components except the graphics files. If you are using the Standard version of Help & Manual this is the only project format you can use.

If your old HMX or HM3 project contains "invisible topics" they will be moved to a sub-folder called Topics\Invisible in the Topic Files section in the Project Explorer.

Automatic Converter:

When you use the automatic converter a folder called (Former Invisible Topics) will also be created at the bottom of the converted project's Table of Contents (TOC) section.

These TOC entries are linked to the topic files of the former invisible topics but they will still not be included in your published output because their include options are automatically set to "None".

You can delete the (Former Invisible Topics) folder by selecting it and pressing DELETE. Before confirming, deselect the option Also delete referred topic files to keep the actual topic files.

External Converter:

When you use the external converter program you can decide what you want to do with your old invisible topics:

Add invisible topics to TOC creates the (Former Invisible Topics) folder described above.

Keep organization structure creates sub-folders in the Topic Files section to match your folder structure in your old project. You can create a maximum of 10 levels but the converter will not create more levels than the original project contained.

You need to use the external converter to convert old projects to the uncompressed XML format (Professional version only) and to select additional conversion options for Help & Manual 3 projects.

Follow the instructions above and select Start external converter. For full details see The Project Converter.

When you convert old projects the images they use are left in their original locations. The images are accessed by adding links to the old locations to the Project Search Path in the converted project. If you want to store the images with your new project you must manually copy them to a new folder in your new project folder and then update the Project Search Path of your new project so that it only references the new folder(s) location.

See Managing your graphics for more details on these subjects.