User Guide Cancel

Work with images and multimedia

  1. RoboHelp User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. Get to know RoboHelp workspace
    2. What's new in RoboHelp 2022 release
      1. What's new in Update 5
      2. What's new in Update 4
      3. What's new in Update 3
      4. What's new in Update 2
      5. What's new in Update 1
    3. Fixed Issues in RoboHelp
    4. RoboHelp System Requirements
    5. Download RoboHelp on Windows and macOS
    6. Download and install Adobe app
    7. RoboHelp FAQs
    8. What's new in RoboHelp 2020 release
      1. What's new in Update 8
      2. What's new in Update 7
      3. What's new in Update 6
      4. What's new in Update 5
      5. What's new in Update 4
      6. What's new in Update 3
      7. What's new in Update 2
      8. What's new in Update 1
  3. Projects
    1. Plan your RoboHelp project
    2. Create a project
    3. Manage projects
    4. Work with topics and folders
    5. Generate reports
    6. Work with context-sensitive help
    7. Manage References
    8. Set preferences in RoboHelp
  4. Collaborate with authors
    1. Collaborate using Git
    2. Collaborate using SharePoint Online
    3. Collaborate using Azure DevOps (Team Foundation Server)
  5. PDF Layout
    1. PDF templates
    2. Design a page layout
    3. Publish PDF output
    4. Work with the common content styles
    5. Components of a PDF template
    6. Support for language variables
    7. Customize PDFs
  6. Editing and formatting
    1. Format your content
    2. Create and manage cross-references
    3. Create and manage links
    4. Single-source with snippets
    5. Work with images and multimedia
    6. Create and use variables for easy updates
    7. Work with Variable Sets
    8. Use Find and Replace
    9. Auto save your content
    10. Side-by-side editing in Split View
    11. Use the Spell Check feature
    12. Create and Edit Bookmarks
    13. Insert and update fields
    14. Switch between multiple views
    15. Autonumbering in CSS
  7. Import and linking
    1. Import Markdown files into a project
    2. Import Word documents into a project
    3. Import FrameMaker documents into a project
  8. TOCs, indexes, glossaries, and citations
    1. Create and manage a Table of Contents
    2. Create and manage an index
    3. Create and manage a glossary
    4. Create and manage citations
    5. Create and manage browse sequences
    6. Work with See Also and Related Topics
  9. Conditional content
    1. What is conditional content
    2. Create and apply condition tags
    3. Configure output presets for conditional content
    4. Optimize and manage conditional content
  10. Microcontent
    1. Microcontent
  11. Review and Collaboration
    1. Review and Collaboration
  12. Translation
    1. Translating content to multiple languages
    2. Configure a translation framework for a service provider
  13. Generating output
    1. Generate output
    2. Generate Frameless output
    3. Generate Knowledge Base output
    4. Generate PDF output
    5. Generate Responsive HTML5 output
    6. Generate Word Document output
    7. Generate Content Only output
    8. Generate eBook output
    9. Generate Microsoft HTML Help output
    10. Generate Mobile App output
  14. Publish output
    1. Publish to a RoboHelp Server
    2. Publish to an FTP server, a Secure FTP server, or a File System
    3. Publish to SharePoint Online
    4. Publish to Zendesk Help Center
    5. Publish to Salesforce Knowledge Base
    6. Publish to ServiceNow Knowledge Base
    7. Publish to Zoho Knowledge Base
    8. Publish to Adobe Experience Manager
    9. Publish to Atlassian Confluence Knowledge Base
  15. Appendix
    1. Adobe RoboHelp Scripting Reference
    2. RoboHelp keyboard shortcuts

Learn how to enrich your content using images, YouTube and Adobe Captivate videos, and more in RoboHelp.

Use RoboHelp's powerful workspace to easily add images and multimedia to your topics. Insert images in various formats, videos from your computer, YouTube, and Vimeo, and audio clips. With the latest RoboHelp interface, you can insert and preview YouTube videos in a click. You can also add image thumbnails that can be zoomed when clicked in the output. Publish rich and creative content with images and multimedia while you experience the smoothest workflows of authoring, publishing, and viewing your project output.

Note:

If an image or video is available in the Contents panel, you can drag-and-drop it to the desired location in your open topic.

Add images

To add an image:

  1. In the Author toolbar, select Contents. The Contents panel opens.

  2. Double-click a topic in the Contents panel to open it. Place the cursor at the location in which you want to insert an image.

  3. In the standard toolbar at the top of the screen, click the Insert Image icon  to add an image.

  4. In the Insert Image dialog box, select an image using one of the following options:

    • Project Files Browse through the project files in the Contents or the Recently Used drop-down section.
    • Local Files Browse through your computer or specify the path of the image file.
    • Web Link Specify the URL of the image.

    You can preview the selected image in the preview area of all three insert image options.

  5. (Optional) You can also add Figure Caption to provide a title to your image.

  6. Click Insert. The selected image is added in the topic.

Edit image properties

To edit the properties of an image:

  1. In an open topic, click the desired image.

  2. On the right side of the screen, in the Properties panel > General tab, the Type field shows Img. Other fields in the panel display the properties of the image.

  3. Use the following fields to modify the properties of the image:

    • Source Displays the path of the folder from which the image was uploaded.
    • Alternate Text Specify an alternate text for the image. Terms used in this field improve the searchability of the image.
    • Image Title Specify a title for the image, which is displayed when you hover over the image.
    • Width Specify the width of the image.
    • Maintain aspect ratio icon By default, RoboHelp maintains the aspect ratio of an image. If you change one component (width/height) of the image, the other component (height/width) is automatically changed according to aspect ratio. To disable maintain aspect ratio, click the icon. 
    • Height Specify the height of the image. 
    • Reset to default icon Click to reset to the original height and width of the image.
    • Figure caption Specify the caption to provide a title to an image. Figure caption is optional to use and can be added at the top or bottom of the image. Use the following icons to select the positioning of the figure caption:
      Displays the caption above the image.
      Displays the caption below the image.
       Removes the caption from the image.
    • Text wrapping Click the Left or Right icons to choose the direction of alignment of the image with respect to text. The default is None.
    • Use Thumbnail Select to use the image as a thumbnail in the output and specify its width and height.

    For information about the drop-down sections in the General tab, see General tab in Properties panel.

You can link an image to internal content, such as a topic in your project, and to external content such as websites and documents. To link an image to a topic, drag the topic from left panel to the image in editor. It automatically creates a link to the topic. To learn more about alternate ways of linking an image to a topic or to external content, see Insert a link.

Work with image maps

An image with clickable areas that link to topics or web pages is called an image map. To create an image map, add a clickable area by drawing a shape (rectangle, circle, or polygon) over an image. To each area, add a link.

Image maps are not supported in PDF output.

To work with an image map, do the following:

  1. In a topic, click the image on which you want to create an image map.

    RoboHelp displays the Insert/Edit Image Map icon  in the standard toolbar. Click .

    Alternatively, right-click the image and click Insert Image Map.

    The Image Map dialog box appears displaying the selected image.

  2. In the Image Map dialog box, click the icon corresponding to your preferred shape— for rectangle,  for circle, or  for polygon. 

  3. Add a clickable area by drawing the shape on the image. RoboHelp displays the number and points (small white squares) for each area.

  4. To further define the area, resize the shape by dragging-and-dropping a point or move the shape as required.

    Note:

    While updating the images, sometimes, you need to move and resize the map areas due to change in the graphics. In RoboHelp, you can select the image map by cursor, and then move or resize using the arrow keys (left, right, up, down) to move the map in the right direction.

  5. To insert a link against the area, click . The Link To dialog box opens with the Project Files option selected by default.

  6. In the Link To dialog box, select the topic or specify the web page address to which you want to link the area. For information about the dialog box, see Step 3 in Insert a link.

    In the Image Map dialog box, you can draw multiple areas by inserting multiple shapes. To verify the linked topic or web page, hover the cursor over an area. The shape is highlighted, and a tooltip displays the path.

  7. If areas overlap, click a shape and then click one of the following icons to arrange its layering:

    • To bring to the front of all shapes, click .
    • To bring forward by one shape, click .
    • To send backward by one shape, click .
    • To send to the back of all shapes, click .
  8. To delete an area, select the shape and click .

  9. Click Done.

  10. To modify an image map, right-click the image and click Edit Image Map or click  in the standard toolbar.

  11. To remove an image map, right-click the image and click Remove Image Map.

  12. To view the list of areas in the image map, click the image. In the Properties panel > General tab > Image Map drop-down section, the areas are listed. For each area, you can do the following:

    • Modify the linked topic or webpage by clicking  against the area.
    • Delete the area by clicking  against the area.

Add videos

You can add videos in a topic in the following ways:

From your computer, YouTube, or Vimeo

  1. In the Author toolbar, select Contents. The Contents panel opens.

  2. Double-click a topic in the Contents panel to open it. Place the cursor at the location in which you want to insert a video.

  3. In the standard toolbar, select the Insert Multimedia icon  and one of the following options from the drop-down list:

    • Video File To select a video from your computer.
    • YouTube To select a YouTube video.
    • Vimeo To select a Vimeo video.
  4. In the Insert Multimedia dialog box, select a video using one of the following options:

    • Project Files Browse through the project files in the Contents or the Recently Used drop-down section. Or, quickly search for a video by filename. RoboHelp searches for the specified filename in the Contents panel.
    • Local Files Browse through your computer or specify the path of the video.
    • Web Link Specify the URL of the video.

    You can preview the selected video in the preview area of all three insert video options.

  5. Click Insert. The selected video is added in the topic.

Import and insert an Adobe Captivate video

Note:

To be able to insert an Adobe Captivate video in your topic content, you must first import it in your project.

  1. In the Author toolbar, select Contents. The Contents panel opens.

  2. In the Contents panel, do one of the following to import a video in your project:

    • Select the desired folder and choose File > Import > Adobe Captivate Demo.
    • Right-click a folder or click  against it, and choose Import > Adobe Captivate Demo
    Note:

    Support for importing published output from Adobe Captivate 12.0 is available.

  3. In the Open dialog box, select the video you want to import. 

    Adobe Captivate stores video output as a collection of files and folders. To automatically import all the associated files as a zipped file, select index.html or index.htm from the output folder. Or, you can select the .zip or .cpz file of the entire output folder. 

    Click Open.

    RoboHelp places the zipped video in .cpz format in alphabetical order of filenames in the folder.

    Note:

    If you don't select a folder while importing, the video is placed at the root level in the Contents panel. 

  4. To insert the imported video in your content, double-click a topic in the Contents panel. In the open topic, place the cursor at the location in which you want to insert the video.

  5. In the standard toolbar, select the Insert Multimedia icon  and then select Adobe Captivate Demo from the drop-down list. 

  6. In the standard toolbar, select the Insert Multimedia icon  and then select Adobe Captivate Demo from the drop-down list. In the Adobe Captivate Demo dialog box, from the Contents drop-down section, select the imported video. 

    Note:

    If you insert an imported video once, it is listed under the Recently Used drop-down section in the Adobe Captivate Demo dialog box. You can quickly select videos from here as well. 

  7. Before inserting the selected video, you can preview it in the Adobe Captivate Demo dialog box. Click Insert.

    The video is inserted at the location of the cursor in the topic.

    Note:

    In the standard toolbar, click  at the right corner of the toolbar to quickly play the entire video in Preview and check it before you publish your project.

Delete an image or video

To delete an image or video from a topic:

  1. In the Author toolbar, select Contents. The Contents panel opens.

  2. In the Contents panel, open the topic that contains the image or video you want to delete.

  3. Select the desired image or video, and then press Delete.

Supported image file formats

RoboHelp supports the following image file formats:

  • BMP
  • GIF
  • ICO
  • JPE
  • JPEG
  • JPG
  • PNG
  • SVG
  • WEBP

Supported video file formats

RoboHelp supports the following audio and video file formats:

Audio file formats

  • ASF
  • ASX
  • AU
  • MID
  • MP3
  • RA
  • RAM
  • RM
  • RMI
  • WAV
  • WAX
  • WMA

Video file formats

  • AVI
  • CPZ
  • F4V 
  • FLV
  • MOV
  • MP4 
  • MPE
  • MPEG
  • MPG
  • OGG
  • OGV 
  • QT 
  • RPM
  • SWF
  • WEBM
  • WMV 
  • WVX

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