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Insert and update fields

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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

Learn how to create, edit, and manage a field and insert a field in a topic in RoboHelp.

Fields are the unique variables, which display information based on their type. For example, they can display the current date, time, or current file name, etc. You can insert fields in topics and snippets. Various categories of fields allow you to display system, file, or project variables in your output.

Insert a field in the file

You can insert fields, such as date, time, title, and more, in topics.

  1. Open the topic. Place your cursor where you want to insert the field.

  2. In the Author toolbar, click the Insert Variables/Snippets/Fields icon , and then click Field. The Fields dialog box opens. Alternatively, press CTRL+3 to open the Fields dialog box.

  3. In the Fields dialog box, select field type in the left list and then select its format in the right list. For example, if you select the Field as Date, then select the format as DD-MM-YYYY, or MM/DD/YY, etc.

  4. Navigate to the field that you want to insert and select it. 

  5. Click Insert. The field is inserted into your topic.

  6. Click  to save your work.

Edit a field in the topic

You can edit fields that you have inserted into a topic. To do so, follow the below steps:

  1. Open the topic that contains the field.
  2. Double-click on the field that you want to edit.
  3. In the Fields dialog, make the necessary changes.
  4. Click Insert. The updated field gets inserted.

Remove a field from the file

You can delete fields that you have inserted into a topic. To do so, follow the below steps:

  1. Open the topic containing the field.

  2. Right-click the field that you want to delete.

  3. From the context menu, select Remove Field. The field is removed from the topic.

  4. Click  to save your work.

Work with Fields

There are various field options to work with, such as Date, Time, File, Title, Project Title, and more:

Date Allows users to enter a date, including day, month, year, or combinations of the day, month, and year.

Time Allows users to enter a time of day, including hours, minutes, and seconds using any custom time field. The time displays in a 24-hour notation with AM or PM. 

For example, you can select a time value in hh:mm:ss A, 14:40:10 PM, or M/D/YY H:mm, 3/30/20 14:40.

File: Displays the file name of a topic.

Title: Displays the title of a topic.

Project Title: Displays the title of the project.

Chapter Title: Displays the title of the chapter. It is relevant only for the PDF and Word output formats where content is organized in the chapter structure as per the TOC.

Field values
Field values

Add a new format to a particular field

You can add a new format to a specific field following the below steps:

  1. In the Author toolbar, click the Insert Variables/Snippets/Fields icon , and then click Field. The Fields dialog box opens. Alternatively, press CTRL+3 to open the Fields dialog box.

  2. In the Fields dialog box, click  to create a Field. The new format dialog box opens.

  3. In the field, you can specify a format for how the specified field is displayed. As you do this, the example is displayed below the field in that format. 

  4. Click Ok. 

    The new format for the specific selected field is created.

Delete a format from a particular field

  1. In the Author toolbar, click the Insert Variables/Snippets/Fields icon , and then click Field. The Fields dialog box opens. Alternatively, press CTRL+3 to open the Fields dialog box.

  2. Select a particular Field type and then hover on the format that you want to delete. Click to delete the selected format. 

  3. The selected format is deleted.

Edit a format of a particular field

  1. In the Author toolbar, click the Insert Variables/Snippets/Fields icon , and then click Field. The Fields dialog box opens. Alternatively, press CTRL+3 to open the Fields dialog box.

  2. Select a particular Field type and then hover on the format that you want to edit. Click  to edit the selected format. 

  3. The selected format is edited.

Reset to Default

You can use the Reset to Default option to restore the list of field formats back to RoboHelp's default set. 

Click the Reset to Default icon in the upper-right corner of the Fields dialog box.

Auto-update fields

With the "Auto-update this field" option selected, RoboHelp will keep the inserted field up-to-date based on its most recent value. For example, select this option while adding a File Title field to use the latest file title in the File Title field or Unselect it to use the file title value at the time of insertion.

  1. Open the Fields dialog box and choose the field format you want to auto-update.

  2. Check "Auto-update this field" at the bottom of the Fields dialog box. The respective field format would be automatically updated on a given topic.

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