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Create and manage browse sequences

Learn how to customize and publish browse sequences in RoboHelp to provide an impactful browsing experience in the output generated.

What is a browse sequence

A browse sequence is a linear list of topics that helps your users to logically and easily move through a series of topics in the output. Use browse sequences to provide a path for your users to navigate to the previous or the next relevant topic.

When working with browse sequences, keep in mind the following:

  • You cannot include topics from other projects in browse sequences.
  • You can include a single topic in multiple browse sequences. 

Add a browse sequence

To add a browse sequence:

  1. Click the Author tab at the left side of the Standard toolbar.

    The Author view opens.

  2. In the Author toolbar, click Browse Sequences. The Browse Sequence panel opens.

  3. Click  in the upper-right corner of the panel. The New Browse Sequence dialog box opens.

  4. In the New Browse Sequence dialog box, specify the name of the browse sequence and click Create.

    The new browse sequence is added to the Browse Sequence panel and placed in alphabetical order. 

  5. Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.

Edit a browse sequence

You can easily customize a browse sequence to suit your requirements. To edit a browse sequence:

  1. Click the Author tab at the left side of the Standard toolbar.

    The Author view opens.

  2. In the Author toolbar, click Browse Sequences. The Browse Sequence panel opens.

  3. In the Browse Sequence panel, against the browse sequence you want to customize, choose Options () > Edit

    The browse sequence editor opens. Use drag-and-drop to add topics or TOCs to the browse sequence editor. You can add a topic or a TOC before, in between, or after existing topics.

  4. To add topics from the Contents panel:

    1. In the Author toolbar, click Contents.
    2. From the Contents panel, drag a topic and drop it in the browse sequence editor.
      To add a group of topics from a folder, drag-and-drop the folder. All the topics inside the folder, including subfolders, are inserted as a linear list.

    To add topics from a TOC:

    1. In the Author toolbar, click Table of Contents
    2. From the Table of Contents panel, drag a TOC and drop it in the browse sequence editor. Topics from the TOC are inserted as a linear list.
      You can also expand a TOC from the Table of Contents panel, and drag-and-drop individual books or pages.
  5. Manage topics in the browse sequence editor:

    • To change the sequence of topics, use drag-and-drop.
    • To delete a topic, click  against it or right-click the topic, and click Delete.
    • To delete all topics in the browse sequence, right-click a topic and click Delete All.
  6. Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.

Rename a browse sequence

To rename a browse sequence:

  1. Click the Author tab at the left side of the Standard toolbar.

    The Author view opens.

  2. In the Author toolbar, click Browse Sequences. The Browse Sequence panel opens.

  3. In the Browse Sequence panel, against the browse sequence you want to customize, choose Options () > Rename

  4. In the Rename Browse Sequence dialog box, edit the name of the browse sequence and click Done.

  5. Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.

Delete a browse sequence

To delete a browse sequence:

  1. Click the Author tab at the left side of the Standard toolbar.

    The Author view opens.

  2. In the Author toolbar, click Browse Sequences. The Browse Sequence panel opens.

  3. In the Browse Sequence panel, against the browse sequence you want to delete, choose Options () > Delete

  4. In the Confirm dialog box, click Yes to confirm deletion.

  5. Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.

Include browse sequences in output

While defining an output preset, you can select multiple browse sequences. If several browse sequences have a common topic, RoboHelp gives precedence to browse sequences according to the alphabetical order of their names. So the topics before and after the common topic are picked from the browse sequence name with the highest alphabetical order.

For example, the topic Random is included in browse sequences AB, and C. In this case, RoboHelp gives precedence to the order of topics in browse sequence A. In the output, RoboHelp shows the topics before and after Random from browse sequence A

Note:
  • Browse sequences are supported in Responsive HTML5, Frameless, and Microsoft HTML Help output types.
  • You can include one or more browse sequences in Responsive HTML5 and Frameless output presets. 
  • Microsoft HTML Help output presets automatically include all browse sequences available in a project. So in the output, from the list of browse sequences, you can select the one you want to use.
Microsoft HTML Help output: From multiple browse sequences, select one to use it.

To include browse sequences in your output:

  1. Click the Output tab at the left side of the Standard toolbar.

    The Output view opens. In the Output toolbar, Output Presets is the default selection.

  2. In the Output Presets panel, double-click a preset to edit it, or choose Options () > Edit.

  3. In the siderail of the output preset, click the Content tab.

  4. From the Browse Sequence drop-down list, select the browse sequence you want to add. 

    The selected browse sequence is placed below the Browse Sequence drop-down list. To remove a selected browse sequence, click  on it.

  5. Generate output.

    The output contains navigation buttons according to the skin selected. Clicking these buttons navigate to the topics in the sequence defined in the selected browse sequences.

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