Adobe RoboHelp is a help authoring application for Windows and macOS. Technical writers use it to create online help, user guides, policy manuals, and knowledge bases from a project of linked topics. The same source material can become a searchable help website, a PDF manual, or content for a support platform, with different selections and layouts for each output.
Topic authoring
A RoboHelp project stores its content in topics organized into folders. Each topic can contain text, images, audio, video, and links, so a procedure can include its explanation and supporting media together. Authors can add expanding or drop-down text for details that readers reveal when needed, and a miniature table of contents for navigating within a longer topic.
The editor supports HTML5 content and CSS3 styling. Adobe RoboHelp also imports Word documents and converts HTML or Markdown material into HTML topics. Linked files have a separate relationship with their originals: RoboHelp indicates when the project copy and source are out of sync and lets the author choose the direction of synchronization.
Snippets and variables
Snippets hold reusable content such as a paragraph, code sample, image, or an entire topic. An author inserts the snippet where it belongs in other topics, then edits the shared original when the information changes. RoboHelp updates the topics that include it. A recurring instruction can therefore remain one maintained piece of content even when several procedures need it.
Snippets retain formatting and can contain conditional text and variables. Variables hold plain text that may need replacing throughout the project.
Conditional content for different audiences
Adobe RoboHelp uses condition tags to mark a topic, paragraph, or individual word for different audiences or outputs. Authors combine these tags into expressions using AND, OR, and NOT rules. An output preset then includes or excludes the corresponding material during generation. For example, a project could keep customer instructions and internal support notes together while omitting the internal notes from the customer guide.
Dynamic content filters act later, in the published help. The author defines groups of tags and exposes them as reader selections, allowing readers to narrow the visible information. Unlike content excluded during generation, filtered content travels with the output and is hidden or displayed according to the selected tags.
RoboHelp output presets and publishing targets
Output presets define how a RoboHelp project becomes a deliverable. They store settings for the format, selected table of contents, content conditions, and layout. The chosen table of contents determines which topics and their referenced files enter the output; merely storing a topic in the project does not include it everywhere. Multiple presets can produce different help systems from the same project.
Frameless and Responsive HTML5 outputs provide browser-based help with navigation and search. The skin editor controls the help interface, including elements such as the table of contents and glossary. PDF output supports chapter-based manuals and layout templates edited visually. Other targets include Word, eBook, and Microsoft HTML Help files, although CHM generation is unavailable on macOS.
For knowledge bases, Adobe RoboHelp provides publishing connections to Adobe Experience Manager, Salesforce Knowledge, Zendesk, and ServiceNow.
Microcontent
Microcontent pairs an intent, such as a question, with a response. Authors can write the response directly or take a relevant portion from an existing topic. Alternative phrases and keywords associate several ways of asking with the same answer. Responses can contain rich content, including links, images, snippets, and variables.
RoboHelp can use these pairs for FAQ pages and concise answers in help search. Its chatbot output includes a Google Dialogflow connector. Microhelp output serves another use: it exports small pieces of help as HTML, JSON, XML, or text for developers to incorporate into an application, with optional links back to the full help.
Web review
Reviewers and subject specialists can comment through a web-based review process. The author imports those comments back into a RoboHelp topic or project as tracked changes, bringing the feedback into the material being edited. Git, SharePoint Online, and Azure DevOps connections support collaboration on the project files themselves.
Translation
Adobe RoboHelp exports content as XLIFF files for translation and imports the translated material back into the project. Authors can send only modified files through this process when maintaining existing translations. Integrated machine translation offers a separate route for translating content within the application.
