Import Word documents into a project

You can quickly import a Microsoft Word document into RoboHelp as one or multiple topics and work with it. While importing you can also configure several settings that RoboHelp provides to import and customize the topics based on your needs.

To import the HTML version of a Word document in your open project, follow these steps:

Word import settings

When you choose File > Import > Word Document, you can view the Word Import Settings dialog box. Use the following tabs in this dialog box to configure the various settings:

General

The General tab is selected by default In the Word Import Settings dialog box. In this tab you can specify the following settings:

• Word Document Specify the Word document you want to import. To do this, click the  icon, select your Word document, and click Open.
  
• Load Settings Select a file with predefined settings for the content you are importing. Click   to do this.
• CSS file for style mapping Select the style sheet that RoboHelp can use to map styles in the Word document to RoboHelp styles. Click   to do this. By default, RoboHelp uses the style sheet specified in project settings.
• Start new topic from style Use the following settings to create multiple topics from the content imported from the Word document:
  • Word Style Use the drop-down list to specify the style in the Word document that RoboHelp can use to create new topics. For example, to create a topic for every first level heading, select Heading1.
  • Topic Name Pattern Specify the naming pattern for the new topics. You can choose from the following options:
    • <$filename_no_ext><n> Creates the file names without extension (.docx) and includes a number in sequential order. For example: if the file is ABC.docx, the file names of the new topics will be ABC1, ABC2, and so on.
    • <$filename_no_ext>-<$paratext> Creates the file names without the extension (.docx) and includes the initial text of the first paragraph
    • <$paratext> (Default) Creates the file names with the initial text of the first paragraph
  • Use only ASCII characters in the generated file names Select this field to use ASCII characters for the file names.

Paragraph

Select the Paragraph tab to specify paragraph styles for your imported content. In this tab you can view the following columns:

• Word Style The style in the selected Word document.
• In RoboHelp The style in the imported content. This style is automatically mapped to match its corresponding Word Style. This mapping is based on the css file that you have specified.

For each mapped style, you can click  next to it and select a style from the Map to Style section. If there is no style to match with the corresponding Word Style, RoboHelp provides the following default style options:

• Import Word style imports the content with the applied styles. 
• Discard style imports the content without the applied styles. In this case, the default style of RoboHelp is applied.
• Discard content removes the content with the applied styles.
• Map to HTML tag Specify the pre tag from this section for the content with the applied style.

You can preview the selected Word style and mapped style in Word Preview and RoboHelp Preview, respectively.

Character

Select the Character tab to specify character styles for your imported content. In this tab you can view the following columns:

• Word Style The style in the selected Word document.
• In RoboHelp The style in the imported content. This style is automatically mapped to match its corresponding Word Style. This mapping is based on the css file that you have specified.

For each mapped style, you can click  next to it and select a style from the Map to Style section. If there is no style to match with the corresponding Word Style, RoboHelp provides the following default style options:

• Import Word style imports the content with the applied styles. 
• Discard style imports the content without the applied styles. In this case, the default style of RoboHelp is applied.
• Discard content removes the content with the applied styles.

You can preview the selected Word style and mapped style in Word Preview and RoboHelp Preview, respectively.

Hyperlink

Select the Hyperlink tab to specify hyperlink styles for your imported content. In this tab you can view the following columns:

• Word Style The style in the selected Word document.
• In RoboHelp The style in the imported content. This style is automatically mapped to match its corresponding Word Style. This mapping is based on the css file that you have specified.

For each mapped style, you can click  next to it and select a style from the Map to Style section. If there is no style to match with the corresponding Word Style, RoboHelp provides the following default style options:

• Import style imports the content with the applied styles. 
• Discard style imports the content without the applied styles. In this case, the default style of RoboHelp is applied.
• Discard content removes the content with the applied styles.

You can preview the selected Word style and mapped style in Word Preview and RoboHelp Preview, respectively.

Table

Select the Table tab to specify table styles for your imported content. In this tab you can view the following columns:

• Word Style The style in the selected Word document.
• In RoboHelp The style in the imported content. This style is automatically mapped to match its corresponding Word Style. This mapping is based on the css file that you have specified.

For each mapped style, you can click  next to it and select a style from the Map to Style section. If there is no style to match with the corresponding Word Style, RoboHelp provides the following default style options:

• Import Word style imports the content with the applied styles. 
• Discard style imports the content without the applied styles. In this case, the default style of RoboHelp is applied.
• Discard content removes the content with the applied styles.

You can preview the selected Word style and mapped style in Word Preview and RoboHelp Preview, respectively.

Advanced

Select the Advanced tab in the Word Import Settings dialog box. In this tab you can specify the following:

• Convert Word Lists to HTML Lists Select this field to import numbered or bulleted lists in the Word document as HTML lists in your topic. If you don't select this setting, the look and feel of the Word lists are maintained in the imported content but they don't remain as lists.
• Import inline styles Select this field to import the inline styles applied to the content in the Word document.
• Add generated topics to Table of Contents Select this field to add topics generated from Word documents to a Table of Contents. From the drop-down list, select <New TOC> to create a Table of Contents or choose an existing Table of Contents from your project. By default, all the topics are at the same level. However, you can select the below checkbox to map styles for the TOC hierarchy.
  • Map Word styles to TOC hierarchy While importing a Microsoft Word document into RoboHelp, you can map styles used in Word to a corresponding TOC level in RoboHelp. The Word Style(s) shown on the left are the ones defined in the General settings to split the document. On the right, under the TOC level, you can select the TOC level for that Word style. By doing so, the split sections, as defined by the user in the General settings, are mapped to the specified TOC level.
    Note - Make sure no heading level is out of order. You would not have a Heading 4 come directly after Heading 1. If that happens, the TOC level would automatically move from Heading 4 to Heading 2.

• Post Import Script From the drop-down list, you can select a script to be run on document import.