Creating Microsoft Word Documents

HelpSmith allows you to compile your help project as a Microsoft Word document. An MS Word document created with HelpSmith can have clickable hyperlinks, a Table of Contents, Index, document's header and footer area, and page numbers that can be updated directly in MS Word.

Compile a Microsoft Word Document

1.On the Project tab, in the Project group, click Compile.

2.In the Compile Project dialog, in the Output Format box, select Word Document.

3.If necessary, select build tags and other options that you want to apply to this compilation.

4.Click OK.

Remark: You can also access the Compile Project dialog by pressing F9.

Quick Compilation with the Previous Options

You can skip the Compile Project dialog and apply the previously used options including the build tags that were selected for this output help format:

1.On the Project tab, in the Project group, click the lower half of the Compile button.

2.In the popup menu, under Quick Compilation, click Word Document.

Batch Compilation Mode

If necessary, you can use the batch compilation mode that allows you to compile documentation in multiple output formats or to generate different versions of the same help file (by using build tags) with a single click. You can visit this topic for more details on how to add a new compilation task.

Word Document Output Directory

When you compile a Word document, you can use the default output directory or specify a custom location of your file.

By default, HelpSmith puts the compiled Word document to the same directory where your project file is located. If your help project has never been saved, HelpSmith will use your Windows "My Documents" folder as the default output directory.

Remark: Depending on the specified file extension, the Word document will be saved in one of the following formats: .DOCX (used by modern versions of MS Word), .DOC (Word97-2003), or .RTF (a standard format supported by most word processors). Please note that saving to .DOCX or .DOC formats require MS Word to be installed on your computer.

Updating Page Numbers in a Word Document

When you create an MS Word document, the page numbers in the references in the Table of Contents, Index, or in other document places may not match the actual numbers of the corresponding pages. This may also happen after editing the generated document in MS Word directly.

However, in MS Word you can always update the page numbers to their actual values:

1.Press Ctrl+A to select all the text in the document.

2.Press F9 to update the field values including page numbers.

Distributing a Word Document

The output Word file (.DOCX, .DOC, or .RTF) is the only file that you need in order to distribute the compiled document.

Customizing a Word Document

A Word document is created using the Printed Manual settings for page size, page orientation, and document elements. Also you can specify some Word-specific options.

The following topics describe different categories of the Word format-related options:

•Word Document Options