How to auto-expand topics in Webhelp?

[Sean Godley]

Hi all,

I'd like to have certain topics auto-expanded when manuals are published in Webhelp format, so that when users view the manual, those topics are expanded by default and all the topics contained within them are automatically visible. How do I do that?

Thanks,

Sean

[Tim Green]

Hi Sean,

I'd like to have certain topics auto-expanded when manuals are published in Webhelp format, so that when users view the manual, those topics are expanded by default and all the topics contained within them are automatically visible.

If I understand you correctly, you're referring to chapters rather than expanding text inside individual topics. There is no way to do that for multiple specific chapters. In both the standard skins and the Premium Pack skins you can configure the skin to open ALL top-level chapters , but you can't tag specific chapters for expansion. (Standard skins: Configuration > Publishing > WebHelp > Navigation / Premium Pack: Skin Options > TOC_EXPANDMAIN)

What you can do, is set one chapter to expand automatically by making it the default topic (TOC right-click menu in Help+Manual). However, that isn't a very good idea. The best solution is to have links to the chapters you want to highlight for your users in the normal default topic.

[Sean Godley]

Okay perfect, thanks Tim.

Sean