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Components of a PDF template

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  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

Components of a PDF template

A PDF template has four components: Page Layouts, Stylesheets, Resources, and Settings. You can create a template by customizing these individual components and associating the template with an output preset while generating a PDF output.

The following sections cover these components and their customization process in detail.

Create and customize page layouts

Settings in the Page Layouts component allow you to design the structure of a page by defining the header, footer, and content area on a page. Using the WYSIWYG page layout editor, you can create a page layout for different sections in a PDF, such as the front and back cover pages, chapter, Table of Contents (TOC), index, blank page, Front Matter Pages, Back Matter Pages, List of Figures (LOF), List of Tables (LOT), glossary, or create a layout for a custom page. In the PDF template Settings, you can assign a page layout with different sections within a PDF, which are then used to generate the PDF output.

Create a page layout

Note:

There are sample page layouts that are shipped out of the box. You can customize these or create new page layouts.

  1. Select the Output tab and then select Templates.

  2. Open the template that you want to work with.

    Alternatively, you can open a template by double-clicking on its name or clicking the > icon next to its name.

  3. To create a new page layout, do one of the following:

    • Hover over Page Layouts, select options icon   , and choose New Page Layout.
    • In the Templates panel, select add icon   next to Templates and choose Page Layout from the context menu.

    This opens the Add Layout dialog.

    add layout

  4. Specify a name for the new page layout.

    Note:

    Avoid using any special characters when naming a page layout. A space in the name is replaced with an underscore "_".

  5. Click Done.

    The new layout is created and added under Page Layouts.

Duplicate a page layout

  1. In the Templates section of the template that you want to duplicate, double-click on Page Layouts or click the > icon before Page Layouts. This displays the list of page layouts within the template.

    page layout

  2. Hover over the page layout you want to duplicate, select options icon   , and select Duplicate from the context menu.

  3. In the Duplicate dialog, enter a name for the page layout.

  4. Click Done.

    A copy of the selected page layout is created and added under Page Layouts.

Customize a page layout

  1. In the Templates section of the template that you want to edit, double-click on Page Layouts or select the > icon before Page Layouts.

    This displays the list of page layouts within the template.

  2. To customize any page layout, do one of the following:

    • Double-click on any page layout.
    • Hover over any page layout and select options icon  , and select Edit from the context menu.

    This opens the page layout editor for customization.

  3. Once you've made the desired changes, select Save All (or Crl+S ). For more information on defining layout elements like header, footer, page number, title, and more, view Design a page layout.

Use Stylesheets to customize PDF

The Stylesheets component allow you to style the page layout components and other content using the WYSIWYG editor or directly work with the CSS file. You can create your own styles or customize the default style properties. The WYSIWYG editor gives you the access to most of the properties that you would need to style your page layout or content. For advanced customizations, you can work directly in the Source view.

Create a new stylesheet

While CSS files are provided for content and layout, you can create a new stylesheet to apply multiple customizations to a specific style type that can then be applied to a target component. By default, sample CSS files are bundled within the product. These CSS files are meant to help you organize your styling information across content and layouts.

You can merge these styles in a single CSS file or multiple files. By default, whenever you create a new page layout, the layout.css file is included within the new page layout. If you want the page layout to contain styles from a different CSS file, you can drag and drop the desired CSS file on the new page layout’s content editing area. To validate if the CSS file has been embedded within the page layout, switch to the Source view, and you'll find a link to the CSS file in the <head> element.

To create a stylesheet, follow the below steps:

  1. In the Templates panel, do one of the following:

    • Hover over the Stylesheets tab, select the options icon  , and choose New Stylesheet.
    • Click the add icon   next to Templates and choose Stylesheet from the context menu.

    This opens the Add Stylesheet dialog.

  2. Specify a name for the new stylesheet.

  3. Click Done.

    A new stylesheet is created and added under the Stylesheets section.

Create a style

By default, the CSS files contain styles for heading, paragraph, character, hyperlink, image, table, div, page, and other styles. You can override the default styling format or create a new style. Typically, you will create a new style when you want to associate a custom style for any element.

For such custom styles to work, you must ensure that you are associating the style’s class name with the element’s outputclass attribute.

To create a style, follow the below steps:

  1. Right click on any style and choose New Style from the context menu. This opens the Add Style dialog.

  2. In the Tag field, choose a tag you want to create a new style.

  3. Specify a Class name.

    This class name must be associated with the tag’s outputclass attribute in your source content.

  4. Select a Pseudo Class for enhanced styling of the element. Select Done.

  5. Click Done.

    A new style is created and added under the base style.

Customize a predefined or new style

Once you have created a new CSS file with default styles or want to customize styles in an existing CSS file, you can use the styles editor to do so.

To customize a style, follow the below steps:

  1. Double-click on Stylesheets or select the > icon before Stylesheets.

    This displays the default (Content and Layout) and custom CSS files.

  2. Open a stylesheet for editing.

    To open stylesheet for editing, do one of the following:

    • Double-click on the stylesheet name.
    • Hover over the stylesheet name, select the options icon  , and choose Edit.

    This opens the stylesheet for editing and displays the list of styles in the Styles panel.

    page layout stylesheet

  3. To customize a style, double-click on a style or click the > icon before a style to view and customize it using the Styles editor.

For details about working with the most common styles, view Work with the common content styles.

Work with resources

This is a container for all assets used to design a template. You can think of it as a folder, which contains assets such as background images, custom fonts, logos, and more. Whenever you add an asset in your template, it is upload or check in to the asset folder. You can then use these assets to customize or design your PDF templates.

To add an asset file to the Resources folder, follow the below steps:

  1. Hover over the Resources folder tab, select the options icon  , and select Import.

  2. Browse and upload the asset file from your local machine.

Advanced PDF Settings

Use the Settings section to configure the advanced settings for PDF’s page layout, starting PDF from odd or even page, formats for the cross-references, and enabling printing marks in the final PDF that’s generated using the template.

To configure, select Settings in the Templates panel to view the following options:

General

Set the basic configuration settings for starting a chapter from odd or even page, the TOC structure, and define the leader line format for the TOC entries. You can define the following setting:

  • Start any new chapter from: Allows you to define how each chapter is published in the final PDF. You can choose from a New Page, Odd Page, Even Page, or Current Page  options. If you choose to start a new chapter from an odd page, then a blank page is inserted after a chapter that ends on an odd page. For example, if your chapter ends on page number 15, then the publishing process will insert a blank 16th page so that the new chapter can start from the 17th page. If you choose the Current Page option, then all chapters are published in continuation without any page breaks. For example, if a chapter ends in the middle of page 15, then the next chapter is also started from the 15th page itself.

  • Start each topic from a new page: If you want each topic within your chapter to start from a new page, then select Start each topic from a new page option. If you want to continue your topics without page gaps, deselect this option.
  • TOC Structure: Allows you to customize the hierarchy of the Table of Contents. It uses the following additional settings:
    • Use Headings up to Level: It allows you to adjust the number of heading levels to be displayed in the TOC structure of your PDF. This option adjusts the heading levels in the output.
    • Readjust heading levels as in the source TOC hierarchy: Select this checkbox if you want the heading levels in the source TOC to be maintained.
    • Do not show page number for the first level in the TOC: If checked, then the page number does not appear for H1s in the TOC for the output PDF.
Advanced TOC example 1

In the above example, Advanced PDF Settings, Appendix, and Legal are the first-level topic headings or chapter titles. A page number is assigned to all of these headings.

Now, if you select this option and generate the output, then you will get the following TOC:

Advanced TOC example 2

Here you can notice that the first chapter, Advanced PDF settings, isn't given any page number, as it has nested or child topics. Whereas a page number is assigned to Appendix and Legal because they are standalone topics without any child topic.

  • Do not show chapter autonumber in the TOC: Select this option to display the chapter names without the chapter autonumbers in the TOC. By default, the chapter numbers are displayed in the TOC of the PDF output.
disable chapter autonumber

For example, if you do not select the option Do not show chapter number in the TOC the TOC of your PDF output displays the chapters along with chapter numbers.

with chapter numbers

If you select the option Do not show chapter autonumber in the TOC the TOC of your PDF output displays the chapters without chapter numbers.

without chapter autonumbers

  • Leader format: Use the drop-down to select Dotted, Solid, or Space leader lines to connect heading levels to their corresponding page numbers.
Note:

If you are a CSS developer, then you can define the leader format directly in the CSS file as well.

  • Use table continuation marker: Select this option to define markers for long tables that spread across multiple pages.
  • Link glossary terms to the glossary page: Select this option to get any term hyperlinked to the Glossary page in the PDF output.
hyperlink glossary term to glossary page

Page Layouts

The Page Layouts settings give you complete control over specifying which page layout is to be used for a specific section of your document. For example, to select a layout for the Table of Contents, click the dropdown menu under the TOC field and select the layout you have designed to generate the TOC.

It's important to note that the bookmap settings precede over the page layout settings.

The following settings are available under the Page Layout section:

Default Page Layout: Select a page layout that acts as the default layout for all pages in your PDF. This base page layout is applied to those sections or topics where you've not created a dedicated page layout.

Page layout for different sections: You can map a page layout with the following sections of your PDF output. If you've designed a page layout for the related section, select it from the drop-down list. If no page layouts have been created for a specific section, then the default page layout is applied.

  • Chapters & Topics: You can specify the page layout for the Chapter and Topics. The selected layout will be applied to all the Chapters and Topics.

  • TOC: If you've designed the TOC page layout, select TOC in the drop-down list, and all TOC pages in your document will have the TOC page layout.

  • List of Figures and List of Tables: You can also specify the page layout for figures and tables. The selected layout will be applied to all the Figures and Tables.

  • Index and Glossary: If you've designed an Index page layout, map it to the Index option. If you've a Glossary page layout, then map it to the Glossary option.

  • Front Matter Pages and Back Matter Pages: These page layouts define the styling for front or back matter pages in your PDF. If you've designed the front matter layout, map it to the Front Matter Pages option in settings tab. When you select the front matter layout from the dropdown, the front matter layout is applied to all topics present in the front matter.

    If you've designed the back matter layout, map it to the Back Matter Pages option. When you select the back matter layout from the dropdown, the back matter layout is applied to all topics present in the back matter.

    Front Matter Pages are also used as a fallback layout for the TOC, List of Figures, and List of Tables. Similarly, Back Matter Pages are also used as a fallback layout for the Index, Glossary, and Citations layouts. If you've not selected the layout for these, the selected Front or Back Matter Pages layout is applied. If you've not selected the Front or Back Matter Pages layout, the default page layout is applied to them.

  • Page Layout for Empty Pages: You can also specify the page layout for the empty pages. The selected layout will be applied to all empty pages. For example, if you've designed a Blank page layout for all empty pages, select Blank in the drop-down list, and all empty pages in your document will have the Blank page layout.

  • Cover Page and Back Page: If you've designed a cover page layout, then map it to the Cover Page option. Similarly, if you've a back page layout, then map it to the Back Page option. If no cover or back page layouts have been created, the default layout is applied.

For more information on page layouts, view Design a page layout.

Page Organization

Page Organization feature enables you to adjust the sequence of pages within the PDF document. For example, you can arrange a multi-page document properly to resemble a booklet by specifying options such as page order, number of rows and columns per sheet, sheet size, orientation, and defining suitable margin and padding.

page organization and page order

The following settings are available under the Page Organization section:

Page order

Select a page order that determines the sequence of the pages in your PDF document. You can choose the following options from the dropdown:

  • Default: The default order of the pages as per the source file.

  • Odd pages only: Only the odd pages.

  • Even pages only: Only the even pages.

  • Reverse: Last page first.

  • Booklet: All pages are ordered as in a booklet. By collating, folding and stapling the sheets you can create a single book with pages in the correct sequence. So that you can read the assembled booklet as you read a tradtional book.

  • Right to Left Booklet: All pages are in right-to-left booklet order.

  • Custom: Define a custom order of pages instead of a predefined order. So, for example, you can give a custom order like:
    • " 1 " - Only page 1 is printed.
    • " 1-5 " - All the consequetive pages from page 1 to page 5 is printed.
    • " 1*3 " - Page number 1 is repeated 3 times.
    • " -1 " - Only the last page is printed.
      So, for example, you can give a custom order like "2,3,5*2,7-10,-1,-2". The given page order results in a PDF having the following page numbers from the original document, assuming it has 25 pages total: 2, 3, 5, 5,7, 8, 9, 10, 25, 24.

Configure more than one page per sheet

If selected, this option allows you to publish multiple pages on a single sheet of paper. You can select the number of rows and columns and publish the pages like a grid on a single sheet. For example, you can publish the pages as a grid of 2 rows and 4 columns.

You can also define the target sheet size and the orientation in which you want to publish the sheet. You can also specify the margin and the padding properties of the sheet.

Print

Configure the print production settings to assign printer marks, select color models, and specify properties related to printing of your PDF output.

Printer Marks: When you prepare a document for print production, printer marks are added to the page boundaries to assist in proper alignment, trimming, and color selection during printing. By selecting a printer mark, the page boundary is extended to accommodate the mark, which are trimmed during print. You can choose to display the following printer marks in your PDF output:

  • Trim Marks: Select the option to place a mark at each corner of the trim area to indicate where the paper needs to be trimmed after printing.
  • Bleed Marks: Select to place a mark at each corner of the bleed box to indicate the trim area for the extended image.
  • Registration Marks: Select to place a mark outside the crop area for aligning the different separations in a color document.
  • Color Bars: Select to add a strip of colors outside the trim area to maintain color consistency and adjust ink density when printing.

Set dimensions for the selected printer marks using the Line Width, Line Color, and Bleed Box Width options.

  • Media Box size: This is the overall page size, including the extended area occupied by printer marks. Use the drop-down option to select the page size for your PDF output or create your own custom size.
  • Color Space: You are given an option to choose from RGB or CMYK color spaces to print your PDF document. Choose RGB to display the generated PDF digitally and CMYK for physical printing. Colors defined in the document are converted to the chosen color space.
  • ICC Profile: Select the ICC color profile from your computer. For more information on ICC, view ICC Profile Format Specification.

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