Key Information

If you save in single-file compressed mode (.hmxz) all your  topic files are stored inside your compressed project file and can only be viewed in the Project Explorer. The Basic version of Help & Manual can only save in compressed mode.

By default, topics with TOC entries are created in the Topics folder in the Topic Files section. It is advisable to create additional folders for topic files without TOC entries to keep them separate. Follow the instructions below to create folders for your topic files.

1.Select Topic Files in the Project Files section of the Project Explorer, then select the folder where you want to create your new topic file.

2.Select Add File > Add New File in Project > Manage Topics.

3.This displays the Insert New Topic dialog in file mode:

4.You can create multiple topic files with this dialog. Type one or more names for the topic files you want to create, one name per line. See Insert New Topic for details of topic options (template, class etc).

5.Click on OK to create the new topic file(s).

The file names and topic IDs for the new files will be generated automatically from the names you enter. Spaces in your names will be converted to underscore characters.

All your topic files are stored in the Topic Files section of your project, including the topic files with TOC entries that you create in the TOC (which is really a list of links to the files). By default, files with TOC entries are stored in a folder called Topics. It is advisable to create additional folders for your files without TOC entries to keep them separate from the TOC topic files.

1.Select Topic Files in the Project Files section of the Project Explorer.

2.Select Add File > Add New Folder in Project > Manage Topics.

3.Enter a name for the new folder and click on OK.

You can also access the Add File/Folder options by right-clicking in the Topic Files section.

You can use conditional output include options for topic files in the same way that you can for TOC entries to include or exclude the topic files from your output when you publish. For more details on using include options see Conditions and Customized Output.

•Select the file you want to apply include options to in the Explorer and select Change > Include in Builds in Project > Manage Topics, then select the options you want to apply.

•Alternatively you can also right-click on the file to edit its include options.

Excluding the source files of snippets:

You should always exclude the source files for snippets (both linked and pasted) from your output using include options. Since the snippets are just copied from the source files you don't want to include the source files themselves in your published output – if you did the user would be able to find them with search, which is not what you want.

Sometimes you may decide that you would like to add a TOC entry to a topic file that does not yet have one. To do this you just need to create a new entry in the TOC and specify the Topic ID of the topic file.

1.Select the topic file you want to create a TOC item for and open the tab behind the editor.

2.Copy the Topic ID to the Windows clipboard.

3.Move to the Table of Contents section in the Project Explorer, click where you want to insert the new TOC item and select Add Topic in Project > Manage Topics.

4.Select Topic/Chapter on the left and enter a heading for the topic.

5.Paste the topic ID you copied in step 2 In the Topic ID: field and then click on OK.

You will be asked if you want to create a new item for an existing topic. Confirm to create the new TOC item.

You can delete a topic's TOC entry without deleting the topic file. This turns a TOC topic into a topic without a TOC entry.

1.Select the topic in the TOC (you can also use Ctrl+Click and Shift+Click to select multiple topics).

2.Press DEL or right-click and select Delete Topic.

3.In the dialog displayed deselect the Also delete referred topic files option and click on Delete Topics.

If your programmer can generate a "map" file containing a list of the topic IDs and context numbers you can automatically generate any missing topics with the Context Tool in the Project tab. See Auto-generating topic files for details.