Print Sequence for Child Topics Linked in Parent Topic

[Ezekiel Rivera]

Hello,

My project currently includes parent topics, consisting of summary narrative, that hyperlinks to child topics, containing step-by-step procedure.

This structure seems to work great for on-line viewing of PDF and Webhelp, but I am trying to accomodate a training requirement in which printed manuals will be needed. Current PDF print includes topics in the order of TOC (parent then child) and, of course, has only static hyperlink references.

Is it possible to change the print sequence, so that sub-topics print in the order in which they are referenced in the parent topic (where the hyperlinks appear), without disturbing the current TOC structure that works well for the PDF and Webhelp output?

I have avoided the use of toggles thus far and would like to go as simple in formatting as possible.

Your suggestion is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

E.Z. Rivera
H&M 5.0 User

[Aitch]

Hi Ezekiel,

Have you tried adding Page Referrers?
In the Configuration > Publishing Options > Adobe PDF > PDF Layout there is an option to insert Page Referrers - as well as underlining Topic Links.
When printed (even in black & white) the user can see the underlined links, but will have a visual reference of where to go to when to view.

See images.

Hope this helps

H

[Tim Green]

In addition to Heidi's comment on page referrers, which will also be a useful addition, you can actually create "multiple" TOCs in Help & Manual with the help of build options, and then you can also filter them in the Project Explorer so that you can view different versions while you are working. This is possible because TOC entries are really just hyperlinks, like any other hyperlink. So you can have multiple TOC entries pointing to the same topic and put them in different locations.

To set this up you first need to define a build options for your special print version and your standard version, for example called PRNVER and STDVER. Go to Project Explorer > Configuration > Common Properties > Custom Builds and define a build option, entering PRNVER and STDVER as the names. You can also enter a different descriptive title if you want (that is what will appear in the selection list).

Next you need to create additional TOC entries for the topics that you want to have in different positions in the TOC in different versions. See Basic Working Procedures > Managing the TOC & Topic Files: Multiple TOC entries for one topic in the help for instructions on how to do this. Put the additional entries in the positions and order you want to have them in the printed version.

Finally, you need to tag the TOC entries with the appropriate build options. Right-click on the entries in the TOC, select the Include in Builds option in the context menu, and make sure that only the appropriate build option is activated (PRNVER or STDVER if you are using those names). You can then filter the TOC display in Help & Manual while you are working with Explorer > Filter in the Project > Manage Topics tab. You can choose to either hide or highlight inactive nodes with the corresponding setting in View > Program Options > General.

To publish the appropriate version just select and deselect the options in the Publish dialog. To publish the print version, activate PRNVER and deactivate STDVER, and do the opposite for the other version.

[Ezekiel Rivera]

I will enable Page Referrers to assist with readability of child topics, when printing PDF hard copies.

Thanks for your recommendations. Very helpful!