Navigation: Basic Working Procedures > Importing Data Settings for importing data |
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Generally the interactive screens displayed when you select Import in the File menu provide most of the information you need. However, the additional tips below will help you to choose the settings that will produce the best results with the individual import formats.
The importer needs to know how to deal with the different parts of HTML topic pages. You can improve the import performance with the import options settings. Converting imported HTML formatting to styles Provided style classes were used in the original HTML you can globally strip out inline formatting imported from HTML and convert it to style references with the powerful Toolbox utility included in the Premium Pack style pack.
![]() Topic header: Topic body: Ignore internal folders: Single-column tables: Import tags and labeled elements as anchors: Import invisible block elements (and make them visible): Ignore HTML styles and use default styles (except margins, bold, italic, underline): Overwrite existing topics: Popup topics file: |
Help+Manual automatically imports and integrates the styles from Word RTF files, but formatted text from HTML must be imported as "manual formatting". This is necessary because HTML formatting cannot be automatically converted cleanly into "text" and "paragraph" styles. Normally, if you want to use styles on imported formatted text you must first create Help+Manual styles on the basis of the imported formatting and then apply the styles to your text. Converting imported HTML formatting to styles globally with Premium Pack Toolbox Provided style classes were used in the original HTML you can globally strip out inline formatting imported from HTML and convert it to style references with the powerful Toolbox utility included in the Premium Pack add-on for Help+Manual. If you have or are considering buying the Premium Pack, see Integrating imported formatting globally for details on this. Otherwise see the Replacing Formatting and Styles chapter for instructions. |
There are no special settings for importing Markdown files, as the Markdown format is by definition extremely simple. The Markdown flavor (Daring Fireball or Common Mark) is selected automatically on the basis of the content of the file. A set of standard styles is used to represent the basic Markdown formats. |
There are no special settings for importing Winhelp files. You will get much better results if you import Winhelp project source files (.hpj project file and other accompanying files). Compiled .hlp files do not contain all the information needed for recreating Winhelp projects. |
Help+Manual does not import Adobe FrameMaker projects directly. However, you can achieve very good results by using FrameMaker's Save as RTF function. This provides all the benefits of importing Word files, including integrating your styles in the Help+Manual project stylesheet. In addition to this, FrameMaker also does a great job of exporting its compound graphics to vector-based EMF files, which Help+Manual can handle very well. So to import a project from FrameMaker, just save it as RTF in FrameMaker, then follow the instructions for importing Word RTF files below. |
There are no special settings in the import wizard for importing RTF files. However, you do need to plan the content of your RTF files in order to get the best results. Save your Word files in the RTF format with Word before importingIf you have RTF files that were not created with Word, always re-save them to RTF with Word before importing them to Help+Manual. Automatic topic generationThe importer splits the contents of RTF files into topics automatically if possible, using one of two methods: Standard Word Heading1 - Heading 9 styles: Hard page breaks: Limiting the depth of chapter creationYou can limit the depth of chapter creation when importing Word documents with excessively complex chapter structures. You do this by specifying the maximum levels that should be converted to chapters and sub-topics in your Help+Manual project. For example, if you specify you only want the first 3 levels as chapters, all sub-topics below level 3 will be included in body of the corresponding topic. These lower-level topics will not be included in the TOC and their headings will be rendered as normal text sub-headings in the body of the topic, along with their text. Styles in RTF filesStyles used in RTF files are imported to your Help+Manual project. They remain attached to the text they were applied to in the RTF document and they are also added to your project styles list. If the RTF you are importing to an existing project contains styles that conflict with existing styles in the project a dialog will be displayed asking you whether you want to keep the old styles, the new styles or add a second version of the style with a different name. You can start using your styles immediately after importing and you can also edit them in Write > Edit Styles. Map styles to imported styles: Hyperlinks in RTF filesMost hyperlinks in RTF files will be converted correctly but in some cases it may not be possible to resolve their targets with 100% certainty. In these cases the links will be shown highlighted in red in the Help+Manual editor so that you can check them and make the necessary correctly. Graphics in RTF filesGraphics embedded in RTF files do not have names, they only have sequential numbers, starting with 1 in every RTF file. Help+Manual automatically generates sequential names for the graphics files combined with the first 8 letters of the RTF name, or of the project name if it is a WinHelp HPJ project. This ensures that you don't get duplicate file names for different graphics when you import RTF files to different projects. |
About AuthorIT importing: Help+Manual does a very thorough conversion and import of your AuthorIT project. All the following items are imported: •All topics and snippets •All "Books" (converted into H+M TOCs) •Index keywords automatically created by AIT •Text and paragraph styles (AIT Help styles) •Hyperlinks to topics and web pages •Tables •Variables (3 predefined variables and all user-defined variables) •Topic status (converted to H+M topic status) •Build tags (AIT Help, Web and Print tags converted to H+M build tags) •Graphics with original file names •Embedded pictures •"See Also" link lists in topics First publish your AuthorIT project to XML with the Publish To option: To import an AuthorIT project you first need to publish it to XML using the Publish To option. This step is essential. You won't be able to import an Author IT source project directly. ![]() Options you must set in AuthorIT: These two options must be set as follows in your AuthorIT configuration when you publish to XML for importing to Help+Manual: •Export embedded pictures as files:YES •Export linked pictures as files:YES The following option can be activated, but is not required: •Include preview of file objects:optional AuthorIT import options in Help+Manual: You can then import the XML project created by AuthorIT to Help+Manual. You will be shown these options: •Create topic IDs from titles •Import snippets as separate topics •Add a list of related topics |
You can import RoboHelp X5, X6, 7, 8 and 9 projects. Here too, the importer needs to know how to deal with the different parts of the HTML topic pages. You can improve the import performance with the import options settings. Topic header: Single-column tables: Graphics files: |
With the exception of RTF files (see above), text imported from external sources is all tagged as "manually formatted" with inline formatting, not with styles. You can integrate this formatting into your Help+Manual stylesheet with the Create Style from Selection and Replace Styles functions. Provided style classes were used in the original HTML you can globally strip out inline formatting imported from HTML and convert it to style references with the powerful Toolbox utility included in the Premium Pack style pack. For instructions see Replacing Formatting and Styles. |