Adobe RoboHelp

Adobe RoboHelp
Developer(s) Adobe Systems (formerly Macromedia)
Stable release 11 / January 14, 2014
Operating system
Type Technical documentation editor
License Proprietary software
Website www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/

RoboHelp is a help authoring tool (HAT) created circa 1991 by Gen Kiyooka of Blue Sky Software for the Microsoft Windows operating system.[1]

Blue Sky Software reformed as eHelp Corporation, then entered a merger agreement with Macromedia in October 2003.[2] Macromedia was, in turn, acquired by Adobe Systems in December 2005.[3]

Features

RoboHelp can generate help files in the following file formats:

Revision history

Version Release date Changes
1.0 1991 First general availability release. Developed by Gen Kiyooka of Blue Sky Software.
5.0 ? Marketed by eHelp Corporation—and, later, Macromedia—as RoboHelp X5 Office. This was the current version of the program when Adobe completed its acquisition of Macromedia on 3 December 2005.
6.0 2007 Adobe announced RoboHelp 6 on 16 January 2007. Enhancements include:
  • Command-line compilation
  • User-defined variables
  • Conditional build tags[4]
  • Build-tag usage reports
  • RoboSource Control 3
  • Microsoft Word import/export improvements
  • Includes Adobe Acrobat Elements
7.0 October 2007 Adobe announced RoboHelp 7 on 25 September 2007. Enhancements include:
  • Unicode support
  • Vista and Office 2007 support
  • More flexible user interface
  • More refined editor
8.0 2009 Adobe announced RoboHelp 8 on 20 January 2009, and bundled it with v2.0 of their Technical Communication Suite. Enhancements include:
  • Export a help system as an Adobe AIR application
9.0 11 January 2011 Adobe bundled RoboHelp 9 with v3.0 of Adobe Technical Communication Suite.[5] Enhancements include:
  • Support of shared and linked resources
  • Enhanced user defined variables and snippets pods
  • Automated CSH authoring
  • Web output preview in multiple browsers
10.0 24 July 2012 Adobe bundled RoboHelp 10 with v4.0 of Adobe Technical Communication Suite. Enhancements include:
  • Multi-screen HTML5 content
  • Export to Amazon Kindle (KF8) and Mobipocket (.mobi) file formats
  • Customizable screen layouts
  • Integration with Microsoft SharePoint
11.0 14 January 2014 Adobe announced RoboHelp 11 on 14 January 2014.[6] It is bundled with v5.0 of Adobe Technical Communication Suite.[7] Enhancements include:
  • Single-click responsive HTML5 publishing
  • Responsive HTML5 layout editor
  • Customized headers and footers in printed documentation
  • Context-sensitive help for mobile apps
  • Managing shared resources on the cloud
  • Online and offline Help viewers

References

  1. ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2011/01/celebrating-20-glorious-years-of-robohelp.html
  2. ↑ http://www.actionscript.org/resources/articles/327/1/Macromedia-to-acquire-eHelp/Page1.html
  3. ↑ "Adobe RoboHelp Gets Long-Awaited Update". InternetNews.com. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  4. ↑ Using the Conditional Build Tags feature in RoboHelp
  5. ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2011/01/unveiling-robohelp-9.html
  6. ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2014/01/robohelp-11-launch-blog.html
  7. ↑ http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2014/01/technical-communication-suite-5-is-here.html

External links

Further reading