Whether you need to create printed documents to ship to your clients or digital files for offline viewing, ClickHelp supports a wide variety of export formats:
- HTML5 Web Help (host on your server or ship with your product)
- HTML files (topic content without user interface)
- MD (Markdown files archive with a separate TOC file)
- CHM (Compiled HTML Help)
- PDF (Portable Document Format)
- DOCX (OpenXML, Microsoft Word)
- DOC (Microsoft Word 97-2003)
- RTF (Rich Text Format)
- EPUB (electronic books and other digital publications)
- ODT (OpenDocument, OpenOffice.org file format)
- MHT (web archive in a single file)
Here are links to guides on some of the most popular formats:
- Create a PDF Manual
- Create a Markdown Manual
- Create a CHM Manual
- Create a Web Help Manual
- Create an HTML Manual
Moreover, you can publish your documentation instantly on your portal - it can be public, restricted or private. To learn more, refer to this topic: Online publications.
After you create a downloadable version of your project or a publication, the system will save it in File Storage. From there, you can either download it — ClickHelp provides a download link and button on the final page of the publishing wizard — or leave it in File Storage to provide your readers with a direct link.
| You can generate a downloadable version from both a project and a publication. |
Among the downloadable options, PDF, DOC/DOCX, and RTF are considered printed formats. They are different — vastly so — from other downloadable formats since they don't operate with HTML and CSS but have other underlying technologies and, consequently, their limitations. So, when generating them, ClickHelp makes specific conversions. That's why there may be differences between the content in the Topic Editor and the printed document. You can learn more about printed format creation specifics here.
Outputs, including printed ones, can be configured. For example, you can style the automatic Table of Contents, add page numbers, set the paper size, etc. You can manage all of this using your familiar Microsoft Word environment by setting up a Word Template. Alternatively, if using MS Word is not an option, you can save a specific set of options by creating an Export Preset with Manual Setup.
In certain cases, you might need to get your ClickHelp documentation in a "pure" HTML format so that your HTML files contain only the content of the topics — without the TOC and reader UI. Such a need may appear, for example, if you want to create the documentation in ClickHelp, but publish it in another system. ClickHelp allows you to do it; you can create such a "pure" HTML output following the steps provided in Create an HTML Manual.