RoboHelp 2019 – Update 3 (November 2018)
This blog post was co-authored with Amitoj Singh, Product Manager for Adobe Technical Communication tools at Adobe.
Just about six weeks ago we have rolled out Update 2 for RoboHelp 2019. We’re excited to announce Update 3, available today. Let us guide you through the what’s new and what has become better in RoboHelp 2019 with Update 4 in this blog post. But before we go into it, here is a list of our previous blogs and fixed issues for the previous three updates for RoboHelp 2019.
Please continue to send us your feedback. We’re listening and will continue to improve Adobe RoboHelp as we go along at a fast pace.
The detailed release notes are available here.
In this post:
- What’s new and better
- Other enhancements/bug fixes
- How to get the update
- Report a bug, file in a feature request
What’s new and better
New: JavaScript Editor
When you want to implement interactive functionalities into your online help, with JavaScript you can do really a lot. There is barely any website out there that does not have one JavaScript or the other implemented.
Now with Update 3 for RoboHelp 2019, you can develop and edit your JavaScript files without even leaving RoboHelp. The new source editor comes with full syntax highlighting for JavaScript. RoboHelp also validates your code and gives you warnings when you have made an error. But not only that: It also gives you helpful insights on where the error is and how you can fix it.
New: User-defined variables in topic titles
Easily add user-defined variables in the title of a topic using the properties panel. These are carried forward in the output being generated. To add these simply type {YourVariableName} in the title of the topic as shown below.
For more information, see the Adobe RoboHelp 2019 online help: Insert a variable.
New: Layers in Image Map Editor
Last month, with Update 2, we had introduced a new image map editor. With Update 3 this month, we have further improved the image map editor and made it even more easy to insert and edit image maps. Now you can simply select any image in your topic (even SVG graphics) and click on the new
New: Skin “Coffee”
We have added a new skin named “Coffee”, which is based on the “Indigo” layout. This Help Center-style skin provides a modern user experience with predictive search, is fully responsive HTML5, fully customizable, and users can even favorite topics for easy access.
Enhanced: CSS Editor
In Update 3 one major focus was to enhance your experience with the visual CSS editor. The CSS editor now provides an easy way to remove list styles from the content. We have also added new context menu options in many places. And we group “pseudo-classes” now to reduce clutter and get your styles better organized. Hyperlink states such as :hover and :visited are added now by default.
We have also enhanced the styling of unordered lists to make creating multi-level lists much easier.
And last but not least, we have enhanced the table editor so that you can handle the editing of upgraded tables from RoboHelp Classic projects easier.
Enhanced: Insert images
We have re-arranged the order in the dialog box with Recently Used section moved below the contents tab. And we have added a keyboard shortcut: You can now use ctrl + g to open the image insertion dialog box. That makes inserting images even faster and easier.
For more information, see the Adobe RoboHelp 2019 online help: Add Images.
Enhanced: Topic Properties Panel
In the Topic Properties panel, RoboHelp now remembers master page usage information for subsequent use. The default options for Language, Status, and Master Pages are streamlined. All drop-down sections are closed by default and their previous state is remembered.
For more information, see the Adobe RoboHelp 2019 online help: Workspace > Properties Panel.
Enhanced: Work faster with keyboard shortcuts
You can now toggle between Author, Source, and Preview modes using ctrl + e, ctrl + r, and ctrl + w keys. You can also switch tabs in Author and Output views using ctrl + Page Up and ctrl + Page Down keys.
For more information, see the Adobe RoboHelp 2019 online help: Keyboard shortcuts.
Other enhancements/bug fixes
Apart from the above enhancements, there have been numerous other enhancements such as:
- Topic Table of Contents styling enhancements
- Enhancements in Browse sequences with new options to move up or move down and make changes.
And if all of the above would be not enough for a free update just a month after we have released Update 2, we have also closed 30+ bug fixes across RoboHelp 2019 and RoboHelp 2019 Classic application with Update 3. Some of the bug fixes reported on the forums that have been addressed are mentioned below.
- Deletion of an empty folder requires restarting RoboHelp.
- Topic TOC entry shows truncated text.
- Missing table styles when upgrading a project from Classic.
- Text selected in Author mode displays incorrectly in Source code view.
- [RoboHelp 2019 Classic] Search results are not highlighted.
- [RoboHelp 2019 Classic] multi-level list is corrupted.
How to get Update 3 of RoboHelp 2019 release
The best way to update Adobe RoboHelp 2019 is to click on Help → Updates to download and install the latest patch. You can also download the installer directly from the RoboHelp Service Releases page.
Found a bug? Want to suggest an improvement? Let us know!
There’s a channel for that: We call it “Adobe Tracker.” Adobe Tracker is your place to go when you find a bug and want to report it to us so that we can fix it in the next update/release. You can also file in your feature requests, ideas, requests for improvements. It’s very easy to do, and the reports go directly into our system, and our product managers, engineers, and support people have direct access to it.
You can report a bug here.