Managing your project

The Project Manager is a gateway for viewing and working with the files in your project. It displays an expandable/collapsible hierarchy of folders that organize topics, images, style sheets, and other project files into manageable groups. You can create, remove, and move both folders and files in the Project Manager.

Track topic development

Keep up-to-date on the progress of your project with topic properties. "To Do" lists for each topic help you stay current on every task you need to handle. You can even change the status of topics after major milestones — in progress, ready for review, complete.

Make use of build tags

Need to create different versions of the same Help project? If you need to deliver Help systems in various stages of the development cycle, you can leave out topics that are under construction and decide which topics to include. Build tags enable you to design and create several different online projects from a single set of source files. They give you control over which topics are included in a project. You create the build tags, then mark the topics you want to use with them. You can use build tags to both exclude and include topics in projects.

Use reports

Want to find out how many topics use a certain image? Want to test all references to Web links to make sure they're still "live"? Want to get rid of clutter in your project folder by removing unused files? You can do all this and a whole lot more by using different reports. There are numerous reports for tracking the progress of your project and helping you isolate problems so you can easily resolve them. You can customize these reports to suit your needs and view them online or from printed hard copies. What's more, you can send them to other authors, export them into different file formats, and copy the content into other files.

View links and topics

Graphically view the structure of your project with Link View. It works like a navigation map and displays all topic references. What's more, you don't have to waste time chasing after links because Link View moves from one topic to the next and shows the link flow as you navigate.

Topic Preview lets you experience your topics in much the same way your end users will view them. It shows you how your topics will look and behave and you don't even have to generate your Help system to try them out. It's a convenient way to test the topics in your project. You can preview the topics in a separate window or view them directly below a topic list. The right-click menu provides Help functionality when you are using Topic Preview so you can move backward and forward or print topics.

Drag and drop

One of the best ways to work with your project is by dragging and dropping. Drag and drop functionality provide a simple way to add links, images, create pages in the table of contents, keywords for indexes, add shortcuts to your favorite programs (in Tools), rearrange TOC and index items, move files in and out of folders, and graphically view topic links.

Right-click

You have extensive right-click support at your fingertips. From any component, you have a shortcut for accessing numerous menu options to get your work done. You can even get help about the item you're using from right-click menus.