Creating Projects

You can easily create a new project.

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  1. In Word, select File > Doc-To-Help. The Open/Create submenu is displayed by default.

  2. Click the New Project button. The New Project Wizard opens.

  3. In the Project Name field, type a name for your project.
  4. By default, a path to the Documents\My Doc-To-Help Projects folder on your hard drive is entered in the Location field. (Doc-To-Help creates the My Doc-To-Help Projects folder when you install the program.) All subfolders and files related to the project will be placed in this folder as you work on the project. Continue with the next step, unless you want to have your project files placed in a different folder. If so, do the following:
    1. Click . The Browse For Folder dialog opens.
    2. Navigate to the folder you want, select it, and click OK.
  5. Click Next.
  6. (Optional) If you have an older Doc-To-Help project and want to import settings (e.g., attributes, windows, styles, templates) from it into the new project, click Import settings from this project. Then click and select that older project. See Importing and Exporting Project Settings.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Select the language that you want to use for the project.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Select a Microsoft Word template to attach to your project. You can always change the template later. Also, you can select Add my own set of styles from the drop-down if you want to select your own template. For more about templates, see About Templates and Styles. For more about editing Doc-To-Help's built-in templates to create your own templates, see Editing a Template.
  11. Click Next.
  12. Select a default target (i.e., output type) for your project. You can select and build any target once your project is created. Your default choice is effective only until you choose another. See About Targets.
  13. Click Next.
  14. Select one of the following:
    • Microsoft Word The new project will include a new Word document.
    • Import existing files Select this if you have Word files that you want to import into the new project.
  15. Click Next.
  16. Click Finish.

  17. If you selected "Microsoft Word" in step 14, the Save New Document As dialog opens. Provide a name for the new document and click Save.

    If you selected "Import existing files" in step 14, the Document Import Wizard opens. Select either Local or SharePoint (depending on the location of the files to be imported). Then click Next and complete one of the following sets of steps.

    1. Click Add file(s).
    2. Find and select the Word files to import, then click Open.
    3. Complete any of the other fields as necessary, then click Import.
    1. Enter the document's SharePoint URL.
    2. (Optional) Select the first check box if you want to specify a custom location for auxiliary file storage (e.g., linked files such as graphics), then use the field below to choose the location.
    3. (Optional) If you wish to import the document(s) without retaining their connection to SharePoint, clear the Retain SharePoint Connection check box.
    4. Click Next.
    5. Choose the document(s) you would like to import using the check boxes. The documents will automatically be copied to the Documents folder in your project by default. You can change the folder location using the Copy files to field.
    6. Click Next.
    7. Confirm your choices and click Next. The document(s) will then be imported.
    8. Click Finish.

  1. In Word, select File > Doc-To-Help. The Open/Create submenu is displayed by default.

  2. Click the Open Project button. The Open Doc-To-Help Project dialog opens.
  3. Choose your project (.d2h file) and click Open.

Note If you choose a project created in an earlier version of Doc-To-Help, a message box will inform you that the project will be updated to the current version. Click OK.

When you save a copy of your project, Doc-To-Help will append the name of the project folder with "Copy" unless you rename it.

  1. Select File > Doc-To-Help.
  2. Click the Common Tasks link under the Project submenu on the Doc-To-Help window.

  3. Click the Save As button. The Save Project As dialog opens.

  4. Enter the Project Name; the folder location will update accordingly. If you would like to change the directory, click .
  5. (Optional) If you would like your Target folders to be copied also, select the Copy target folders check box. If you have renamed the project, or if your Target folders are very large, you may not want to copy them.
  6. Click the Save button.
  • Select File > Close.

When you create a new project, Doc-To-Help stores your source documents and templates in the following locations.

By default, Doc-To-Help will store your projects in the My Doc-To-Help Projects folder. This folder can be found at C:\Users\[username]\Documents\My Doc-To-Help Projects.

To change the default location for Doc-To-Help projects, use the Options dialog (File > Tools > Options). Select Files and change the default locations. See Options Dialog.

Within your Doc-To-Help project folder:

  • Word source documents are located by default in the Documents folder.
  • Graphics (images, movies, etc.) should be stored in the Media folder.

These locations can be confirmed in the Project Settings dialog (to do this, at the bottom of the Project ribbon, click ).

Doc-To-Help source and target templates are stored at:

C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates.

If you uninstall Doc-To-Help and reinstall a newer version, the templates will remain in that folder. However, if  one of your customized templates uses the same name as one of Doc-To-Help's default templates, and there is a newer version of that template in the installation, Doc-To-Help will save your version of the template to the C:\Program Files (x86)\MadCap Software\MadCap DocToHelp 6\Backup\Templates folder.

The Application Data or App Data folder is a hidden folder. To show hidden folders, open the Folder Options dialog in your operating system (Control Panel > Folder Options). Click the View tab, under Advanced Settings > Files and folders > Hidden files and folders, select the Show hidden files and folders radio button. Click OK.

Note When you create a new project, a glossary document is automatically created. You can delete this document if you wish. If you’d like to flag a different document as your glossary, add it to the project and right-click on it in the Documents window pane in Doc-To-Help. From the menu choose Glossary. See Adding Terms to the Glossary.