RoboHelp Multilevel lists

Submitted by Willam van Weelden on

RoboHelp 8 introduced the RoboHelp Multilevel list. With these lists you easily create multilevel lists in a few clicks. Setting up a multilevel list may however cause some confusion.

Pros and cons of RoboHelp Multilevel lists

Before you start using RH Multilevel lists, you have to decide whether you rather want to use regular multilevel lists. The main downside of the RH Multilevel lists is that they are not lists at all, technically speaking. RoboHelp uses paragraphs and font tags to position text so that it looks like a list. You may not care at all about this though.

PRO CON
  • Easy to use.
  • Easy to maintain once set up.
  • You can set any character or characters as the list style.
  • List style and markup can be separated by linking a paragraph to a list level.
  • Not a real list.
  • You cannot use an image as the list style.
  • Takes some time and planning to set up.

Setting up a RoboHelp Multilevel list

In the Styles dialog, go to Multilevel List and create a new list. With Apply formatting to you select the list level you are now formatting. Notice the difference between the Styles area and the Formatting area. The Formatting area is use to define the font and style of the list, but you can only use this when you don't apply a paragraph to the list level. I'd recommend that you only use the Styles area.

In the Styles area, there are only three fields. In the field Paragraph style, you select the paragraph you use for the list level. The easiest is to create a paragraph style solely for the list and apply it in the field Paragraph style. All the styling, such as font and colour, will be used by this list level.

In the field List style, you select the sequence for your multilevel list. Select one from the list or create your own. If you create your own sequence, remember that all the characters you add to the sequence will be your list style, exactly how you add them. Don't bother entering HTML code, for RoboHelp will interpret it as text, so you get a HTML code as your sequence. Try RoboHelp's help for instructions on how to create a sequence. Just remember that you have to enter multiple sequences if you want your list to have some order, if you only have one sequence, the list level will keep using that character, like an unordered list.

The last field is the field Edit style. Here you define what characters should follow your sequence. The characters (x) are the variable for the sequence and you can add characters before or after the sequence. Note: If you remove (x) from the field, your list will no longer have a sequence, since there's no position where the sequence has to be inserted. You list will then only use the characters in the field Edit style.

Using a RoboHelp Multilevel list

Using the list is very simple. Click the Create a Multilevel list button (). Then select a custom list or a list template, set the level you want to start the list and click OK. To make a your list multilevel, click the Create a Multilevel list button so the list is removed and then click the button again to start the Multilevel list and select the correct level in the field Start List at level.

Note: You can limit the maximum number of levels a user can use in a multilevel list. See the thread How do I limit levels in a multilevel list style? on the RoboHelp forum for more information.