RoboHelp

Changing Topic IDs

RoboHelp relies on identification codes to track topics in a help project. RoboHelp uses the topic title, with underscores (_) replacing spaces, as default topic IDs. If you have more than one topic with the same title, RoboHelp adds a numeric sequence at the end of the topic ID to tell the topics apart. There will be times when you'll want to change the default topic ID, such as when your department has a defined topic ID scheme, or when the automatic numbering gets too difficult to follow. RoboHelp allows you to do this.

Note

When you change topic IDs, you might break links from other topics in your project. You can use the Resolve Broken Links dialog box to locate and fix any broken links.

To change topic IDs:

In RoboHelp Explorer, select the topic whose ID you want to change.
Right-click the topic and select Properties.
The Topic Properties dialog appears. Use this dialog to set various properties for a single topic.
Select the General tab.
Enter the new topic ID in the Topic ID: field.

Tip

Do not use special symbols or spaces. Special symbols can cause RoboHelp to behave oddly. You can use underscores (_) instead of spaces.
Click OK.
If other topics link to the topic you are changing, the Changed Topic ID dialog appears. This dialog provides several options for handling the broken links that will occur as a result of changing the topic ID. I generally select the first option (Update the Topic ID Only) and manually change the links. For this tutorial, we'll let RoboHelp do the work.
Select the Find and Replace all occurrences of the old Topic ID in this Help Project option.
Click OK.
The RoboHelp Find & Replace dialog appears. RoboHelp searches your help project for all occurrences of the old topic ID and prompts you to replace the occurrence. The RoboHelp Find and Replace functions just like the Find and Replace in Word.
Click Replace for each occurrence of the old topic ID that RoboHelp locates.
After RoboHelp has located all occurrences of the old topic ID, it opens an alert stating that "RoboHelp Find and Replace complete."
Click OK.
Click Close in the RoboHelp Find and Replace dialog to close it.

That's all there is to changing topic IDs. You should always check the Resolve Broken Links dialog after changing a topic ID to make sure you haven't accidentally broken any links to the topic. Select Tools > Resolve Broken Links... .