Printing all child topics

[ThisIsRTub]

Hello,

Right now my WebHelp has the print option in the upper right, however this only prints the currently viewed topic. Is there a way I can have the option to print the currently viewed topic AND all child topics?

Thanks,

[Tim Green]

Hi RTub,

That's not how HTML works. In HTML you can only ever print a single HTML page and every topic is a separate HTML page. Also, printing from the browser is terrible anyway. If you want to give your users a print option create a PDF version and link to that. PDF is ideal for printing (and also not really for anything else) because it IS printing. A PDF file is literally raw printer output stored in a file.

A PDF can only be displayed on a computer screen because Adobe came up with the idea of creating a printer driver that "prints" to the screen instead of to a physical printer. They called this driver Adobe Reader. That is the whole reality of PDF, and none of the bells and whistles that have been tacked on to this basic idea with baling wire, duct tape and string since its original invention can change that fact. That's why PDF is pretty awful for interactive documentation, among other things.

[Simon_Dismore]

none of the bells and whistles that have been tacked on to this basic idea with baling wire, duct tape and string since its original invention can change that...

Heath Robinson contraption.jpg

[Tim Green]

[Simon_Dismore]

The source code of 1984 vintage PostScript was released a couple of years ago: PostScript: A Digital Printing Press | Computer History Museum. Interesting to dip into if dense C appeals to you.