Removing orphaned aliases

An orphaned alias is an alias that no longer has a map number.

How does an alias become an orphan? Usually, aliases are automatically updated when you make changes to them in the program. For example, you remove or rename a window-level Help topic.

Aliases are not updated under the following circumstances:

As far as your Help system is concerned, these aliases still exist. In reality, they are now orphans.

To remove an orphaned alias:

  1. Click the Project tab.

  2. From the File menu, select Aliases. The Edit Map IDs dialog opens.

  3. From Map File, click and select <Aliases>.

  1. Select the invalid topic ID. (Notice how the Topic ID field displays the alias, but the map # field is dimmed and blank.)

  2. Click Unassign. The orphaned alias is removed from the alias file.

  3. Repeat steps 4 – 5 until all of the orphaned aliases are removed from your project.

  4. Compile your project to update the .CHM file.

WARNING! If you plan to replace the map file with a new copy that uses the original map numbers and matching topic IDs, do not remove orphaned aliases. After you update the map file and save your project, all of the aliases will work.