Upgrading to Adobe RoboHelp 2019

There are big changes to the code in Adobe RoboHelp 2019 as it is HTML5 and CSS3 based. Projects created in earlier versions will not be truly upgraded in the normal sense, instead your old project is left untouched and a copy is made on the fly. It is that copy that is upgraded. That means that you retain your project in its old format by way of a backup.

You are nonetheless recommended to retain a backup copy in either source control and/or a zipped copy.
A zipped copy prevents you opening it accidentally and working on it before you realise it was the backup. Also you always have a clean backup that can be used to create a new clean copy time after time. Prefixing the zip file with the date is good practice. YYMMDD_MyProject.zip.

Converting the Project to Adobe RoboHelp 2019 Format

When you are ready to convert your project created in any earlier version of RoboHelp, then on the Starter Page click Upgrade Project or Click File > Upgrade RoboHelp Classic Project and browse to the main folder of your existing project.

Click Open to display the New Project dialog.

Complete as required and click Create.

When you upgrade, all the image, media and CSS files will be moved from their existing locations into the "assets" folder you see below. The folder structure of your project will be retained for folders containing such files.
For example, if you had all your images in a folder named Images and your media files in a folder named Media, in Adobe RoboHelp 2019 you will see Assets > Images and Assets > Media. Wherever they are pre-upgrade, the structure will be mirrored within Assets.

The Upgrade

In Adobe RoboHelp 2019 your project will look like this, "project_files" being the name of the folder that was created in the earlier version.

You can, of course, change your folder and file names in Adobe RoboHelp 2019 but there's something new. Change the folder name in Windows Explorer and it will be immediately reflected here. No longer does changing folder or file names in File Explorer break RoboHelp. If you change the name in Windows Explorer, note that as soon as you put focus back on RoboHelp, the change will be shown.