Upgrade a project in Adobe RoboHelp

Upgrade from RoboHelp Classic

When you upgrade a project created with RoboHelp Classic to the reimagined version (2019 release or 2020 release), a new project folder is created. The Classic project remains as is.  

What happens after the upgrade

• Upgrade your Classic project, if created with an earlier version, to RoboHelp 2015/2017/2019 Classic first. To download Adobe RoboHelp, see Download RoboHelp.
  
• If the Classic project contains a CSS with syntax issues, while upgrading, there will be issues. The CSS in the upgraded project will be blank.
  
• Once you’ve upgraded to a newer Classic version, upgrade to RoboHelp 2020. If there are issues in the process, check the upgrade logs in \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\RHTMP.
  
• After upgrading your project, check for broken or unresolved links.
• All baggage files, such as, pdf, doc, or docx, which are present in the root folder, are copied in assets > docs in the upgraded project. All other files maintain the same folder structure as the Classic project. The following folders are created after upgrade:        
  • conditions- This folder contains the file for conditional build tags present in the project. 
    
  • contents- All the folders and topic files from the Classic project, which are upgraded, are kept inside this folder. The files and folders from this folder are shown in the Contents panel in the re-imagined RoboHelp. 
    
  • glossary- This folder contains the upgraded glossary files. 
    
  • index- This folder contains the index file having all the keywords. 
    
  • publish- This folder contains data related to output generation like presets, languages, browse sequences, filters, map files, skins, variable sets, window settings for chm, and so on. 
    
  • seealso- This folder contains the upgraded seealso file.
    
  • settings- This folder contains the setting files for Word, FrameMaker import. It also contains the upgraded list of fonts from classic project.
    
  • toc- This folder contains the upgraded TOC files.
    
  • variable- This folder contains the upgraded file containing the variables.
    
• The assets folder contains the following folders: 
  
  • css
    
  • docs (pdf, docx, and so on)
    
  • images
    
  • multimedia
    
  • master pages 
    
  • snippets 
    
  • ...and others
    
• The Webhelp and Multiscreen HTML5 SSLs are converted to Responsive HTML5 on upgrade. Other SSLs, such as, Adobe AIR, Flash Help, Flash Help Pro, JavaHelp, and Oracle Help no longer exist in reimagined RoboHelp, as Flash has been deprecated.
  
• The classic project file .xpj is upgraded to .rhpj file in the root folder. rhpj is the extension for any project in the reimagined RoboHelp. 
  
• Any links with files and folders in classic RoboHelp migrate to the reimagined version as expected.
  

What if some files are missing after the upgrade 

Here’s what you must perform if some files are missing: 

• Check the upgrade log for errors and warnings. For example, if the CSS files fail to upgrade, check for syntax errors in the classic version. 
  
• Check the .fpj file of your classic project. Any project upgrade is based on the fpj file, which is in the root. In addition, all project folders in classic RoboHelp have this file. If the file is corrupt, fix the file before upgrading.
  

What content changes are expected after upgrade

• Topics and CSS files become compliant to HTML5 and CSS3 standards respectively. The custom tags from the previous project are replaced by data-attributes in the source HTML. 
  
• Lists are upgraded as HTML lists or paragraph autonumbers. The Styles panel displays the list styles. 
  
• CSS files are upgraded as CSS3 files. The new files contain classes and pseudo classes. The attributes from the classic CSS, such as, x-list-class, remain unchanged. 
  
• Tables are upgraded as HTML5-compliant tables. The appearance of the table, however, should not change.  
  
• Images are upgraded without any change. The topics must contain the images without any issues. Only the paths to the images change after upgrade. 

Known issue 

• While upgrading from Classic RoboHelp to RoboHelp (2020 release), the Output Presets tab appears blank, and you are unable to add a new preset. As a workaround, navigate to the project folder > publish > presets, and delete all the .preset files manually. Restart RoboHelp 2020, reopen the project, and then add the presets. 
  

Upgrade from reimagined RoboHelp (2019 release) and above 

If you upgrade a project from the reimagined 2019 release of RoboHelp, the project folder gets modified. Before upgrading, take a backup of the project folder. Once the project is upgraded, we recommend not using the project in the previous version. Doing so produces a warning message. 

After upgrading the project, check for broken or unresolved links, or any changes to files or topics. 

Also, ensure that all RoboHelp authors are on the same update.