Snippets in RoboHelp 7: A new way to work smarter

Why use snippets?

Reusable content, or snippets, is one of those curious items in the life of a technical writer. If you've never used it, you may have thought there ought to be something like it available. If you've used it—even once—you'll wonder how or why you ever got along without it. A couple of common scenarios in the life of a technical writer help illustrate where this feature will fit in a professional workflow.

Scenario #1: Text for re-use

You're preparing documentation for a marvelous new product that promises to be better than sliced bread. It has just one or two little glitches, and it's terribly important that users follow all the instructions in every step.

You've written the standard warning once. Then, you realize you can use the same warning again and again, in all the steps where it's needed. You create a snippet with the warning text, and then insert it as often as you need it.

Scenario #2: Image of a changing UI

You're working on a standard product, but the software engineers are constantly changing the dialog boxes. You're supposed to have documentation ready to go as soon as the product goes into production (for packaging). You want to include screen shots of two important dialog boxes in a number of different places—but the dialog boxes are still changing, and you don't want to have to update each of those references at the last minute, and maybe miss one or two instances.

You've taken screen shots of the current version of these dialog boxes. You can create snippets of each image, then update all the images from one place, even at the last minute.

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