News for March 2008

Announcing a new (and free) Flare to RoboHelp converter

A migration path for Flare authors who want to return to RoboHelp
Last year at WritersUA and STC in Minneapolis, several folks asked me if there is such a thing as a converter for taking a MadCap Flare™ project and converting it to an Adobe® RoboHelp® 7 project. Now there is a Flare replacement for those who want to return their familiar favorite, RoboHelp..  Read more and download the Flare to RoboHelp Converter for free

Public Beta of RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR announced

You can download the free public beta here!

The RoboHelp Packager for Adobe® AIR™ allows you to convert your existing WebHelp files generated using Adobe RoboHelp® to an Adobe AIR application. Help and knowledge bases delivered as Adobe AIR application will have a consistent look and feel across all platforms.

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR packages WebHelp files generated using Adobe RoboHelp 6 and Adobe RoboHelp 7 and transforms them into an Adobe AIR file. A single Adobe AIR Application file is generated which is easier to distribute and deploy. The generated Adobe AIR file based help will have a customizable look and feel chosen during the packaging. More information is available regarding the output of this tool.

Adobe RoboHelp 7 and the Adobe Technical Communications Suite are posted on the Adobe Website for download!

The long-awaited Adobe RoboHelp 7 and the Adobe Technical Communications Suite have just been posted on the Adobe website. There are 30-day Trial versions that can be downloaded here:

Follow the link that says "Download the trial". After you sign in, you can download either the RoboHelp 7 standalone release, or the Technical Communications Suite which contains these integrated products: RoboHelp 7, FrameMaker 8, Adobe Captivate 3 and Acrobat 3D.

If you or members of your team use both RoboHelp and FrameMaker, I'd strongly advise you take a look at the Adobe Technical Communications Suite. It's more than simply a "bundle:" of products. There is real integration among the apps. Here are details:

For some screenshots and information, check out Peter Grainge's RoboHelp 7 website

You can also read more on the Adobe Tech Comm Blog

These are exciting times. Two releases in one year! I don't think there's any doubt about Adobe's commitment to RoboHelp now:

The screenshot above shows off the new Multiple Document Interface (MDI). Two topics are open side by side allowing for quick copy/cut/paste across topics. The new "pods" are drag and droppable and if you want to have a less cluttered view, you can close the pods and save your Environment for different workflows. 

• Cleaner code (die <kadov> die!) and more robust HTML Editor

• Unicode support for 35 languages

• Snippets and improved User Defined Variables for easy reuse of content

• Windows Vista and Office 2007 support

• Synonym Search, Search Highlighting and Breadcrumb Navigation

• Much greater integration with FrameMaker and Adobe Captivate

Stay tuned in the coming days for many more screenshots and Adobe Captivate movies!

• Adobe RoboHelp 7 available! - $79 upgrade price! Read more on the Adobe website. I'll be posting screenshots and Adobe Captivate movies of the new features soon.

• Adobe Technical Communications Suite announced - Read more

• Adobe RoboHelp 7 features unveiled at STC. Sneak peeks of were done for the next versions of RoboHelp, Adobe Captivate and Framemaker at the STC Convention in Minneapolis, May 13-16. Adobe's 14-member team met with hundreds of STC members to get their thoughts on the next version of RoboHelp, Framemaker and Adobe Captivate. More details here: Read more in my post on the Adobe Forums. 

• New versions of Adobe Captivate and Framemaker released! 

• Adobe RoboHelp 6 costars with Adobe Captivate 2 - My new article on the Adobe Developer Center

Classes Scheduled:

• November 10 - New York City - Adobe RoboHelp class

• November 28 - San Francisco - Adobe Robohelp 7 class

• December - to be announced

• More Breaking News: 

• From TEKOM conference: We learn of a great new forum for RoboHelp users in Germany - Check out http://www.robo-user.de/ the Forum is sponsored by Comet Communication and the site is available in many languages including English.

• See Silke Fleischer's Adobe Captivate blog.

• Rob Houser - has a new website. Check it out.

• Flash Video Interview with Silke Fleischer at MAX 2006 View (Flash Player 8)

• The Content Wrangler has a great interview with RJ Jacquez, Senior Adobe Framemaker and RoboHelp evangelist.

• Adobe RoboHelp 6 - released! Full details here

• Adobe Technical Communications FAQ - The synergy of RoboHelp, Framemaker, Captivate and Acrobat into a full tool suite for technical writers and eLearning designers. Read more
  Upcoming Training Classes:

  • April 27 - RoboHelp 1 Day workshop for STC New York City chapter

  • May 13 to 16 - STC National Convention - Minneapolis . I'll present at two sessions 

• My new website is www.showmethedemo.com . The site will show demos on how to use Adobe Captivate, RoboHelp and Acrobat Connect (Breeze)

• Adobe Captivate 2 is officially released Read more

• Macromedia Breeze Meeting is now Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional Read more

• Rob Houser - Adobe Community Expert announces User Assistance Group and new website

Must Read: New Adobe Tech Comm FAQ posted for RoboHelp, Framemaker, Captivate and Acrobat. A new Adobe Technical Communications FAQ was posted on the Adobe website which addresses questions regarding the Technical Communications products.

Adobe Certified Training in: Adobe RoboHelp  Adobe Captivate  Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional (formerly Breeze)  for technical writers and instructional designers email John Daigle for special training class dates or arrange for your own onsite custom training.