ClickHelp User Manual

Release Notes: November 2022 — Wave


The Wave release brings refreshing changes and additions to ClickHelp: Swagger/OpenAPI import functionality, extended ClickHelp API, ability to export and import ClickHelp project backups, convenient Reader Preview for authors, enhanced Tables functionality, and numerous improvements across the board.


Breaking Changes

  • IE11 support discontinued. We no longer accept issue reports about behavior specific to any of Internet Explorer versions. We can also no longer guarantee that ClickHelp will function properly or at all in any of IE versions.

Features & Improvements

Import

  • It is now possible to import Swagger/OpenAPI files into your documentation – either as parts of your existing projects or as new separate projects. The imported topics can be styled, published, navigated, and searched in a familiar UI as regular ClickHelp topics. You can run an automatic refresh procedure to sync your docs with a new version of the source OpenAPI definition.
  • It is now possible to import and export ClickHelp project backups. This feature introduces workflow for self-hosted backups/archives that supports the TOC, snippets, conditional blocks, variables, and other ClickHelp-specific elements.
  • It is now possible to cleanup styles when importing WebHelp/HTML files, allowing easier content styling/maintenance.
  • The original HTML markup is now preserved when importing HTML files in the "split by headings mode" with the "Keep precise styles" option enabled. No styles, attributes, or tags are changed/removed in this mode. This allows splitting imported files by headings while keeping all the scripts, styles, and markup intact.
  • It is now possible to import files to the currently opened project right from the topic editor screen.
  • Imported file size limit increased to 1 GB.

ClickHelp API

  • It’s now possible to create, update and delete topics via the API.
  • It is now possible to obtain the assignee, owner, and status of topics via the API.
  • It is now possible to retrieve, create, update, reorder, move and delete TOC nodes via the API.
  • It is now possible to retrieve, create/upload, update and delete files/folders in ClickHelp Storage via the API. The feature also allows you to check for file existence easily without downloading the file with HEAD requests and search for files in subfolders recursively with a mask.
  • It is now possible to publish projects via the API.
  • It is now possible to download a ClickHelp project backup via the API. Note that automatic daily portal-wide data backups are a part of our cloud infrastructure and this feature is not a replacement, but an addition.
  • It is now possible to retrieve search query report data for specific publications via the API.
  • The term “URL” used for some of the project/topic API property names is now deprecated. The old properties are still available for backward compatibility purposes; however, new properties using a more precise concept of "ID" have been introduced and we recommend that you use them instead.

Export

  • Added the capability to download ClickHelp projects as .zip archives.
  • It is now possible to export ClickHelp topics in a simple HTML + JSON format where HTML files are the topics’ content, and JSON files are their relevant TOC and index keywords data in a simple format.
  • The "Use Heading 1 elements in topic content" setting has been renamed to "Use the first heading from topic content" to reflect its purpose better.

Reader UI

  • Reader preview mode is implemented for authors. It is now possible to switch to the new mode when working on a project when it's necessary to check how the content will look for readers. All publications are now opened inside a reader UI by default for authors (you no longer have to log out or open your browser in the Incognito mode to see the reader UI) while keeping the capability to switch to the authoring mode and update the publication directly if needed.
  • Updated the default look and feel of the system pages (article not found, project not found, restore password, etc.).

Topic Editor

  • Automatic horizontal scrollbars have been introduced for tables that do not fit the screen width.
  • Content now fits into table cells better and no longer blocks table columns resize operations: text content wrapping behavior improved, and wide images are now automatically resized when table column width is decreased.
  • An author can mark tables as sortable when editing, allowing readers to sort the tables in the reader UI.
  • It is now possible to make table headers sticky.
  • Changed the default content alignment in tables to "top" (was "middle" before) – this change does not affect your existing projects, only the new projects.
  • The Insert Table dialog has been reorganized to fit screen height better and make table header options always visible.
  • All new tables are now created with headers by default.
  • A minimum width of 50px has been introduced for tables.
  • Editor now automatically switches to the Table context tab containing table-specific actions after a table is inserted.

Full-Text Search

  • Search result snippet precision improved: if a precise search phrase is met in the topic, the snippet now includes the first occurrence of the phrase rather than the first occurrence of its separate keywords.

Security

  • The permission to create and use API keys has been added to all author roles (Corrector, Writer, Translator, ProjectLeader, ProjectsManager). You no longer have to be an Administrator to use the ClickHelp API. The permissions provided by an API key are equal to the user's permissions (i.e., a Corrector user cannot use the API to create new topics since Corrector users are not allowed to create new topics).

Author UI

  • Introduced a number of UI improvements in order to make the application look better on macOS.
  • Introduced a number of the small screen/mobile view improvements.

Bug Fixes

Topic Editor

  • Unwrapping popup now works correctly.
  • Recently Viewed section is now back in the topic selection dropdown list in the Insert Link dialog.
  • Variables are no longer misplaced in certain situations.
  • Styles dropdown list can now be filtered again.
  • Quick Parts list is updated without refreshing the page now.

Reader UI

  • Feedback widget doesn't appear on 404 page anymore.
  • Topic doesn't scroll to top after tapping on screens on iOS devices.
  • Scroll now works correctly on iPhones.
  • Navigation doesn't disappear after clicking the "Change Password" button.
  • Reader UI settings are now correctly saved when Branding module is disabled.

Full-Text Search

  • Search now functions correctly for authors where it didn't under certain circumstances.
  • Certain UI elements are now covered by the overlay correctly when Quick Search is open.
  • Fixed various issues occuring when clicking on search results.
  • Spacing in search results adjusted.
  • Quick Search doesn't return results from the entire portal when it shouldn't.
  • Suggested searches do not feature search queries with special characters anymore.
  • Projects are now considered more relevant for authors in search results.
  • Added filtering by publications to Qucik Search on the Projects page.

Import

  • HTML files from the same folder are now correctly placed under a single TOC node.
  • Import Wizard for WebHelp shows only appropriate import options.
  • Hidden Atlassian Confluence import option from where it shouldn't have appeared in the Import Wizard.
  • HTML files with # in their filenames are now imported correctly.
  • Fixed Word "The given path's format is not supported" import error.
  • Various Confluence import errors have been fixed.
  • Various Word import errors have been fixed.

Table of Contents

  • ToDo item/Review comment indicators in TOC are now displayed correctly in some situations they weren't.

Publishing

  • "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" doesn't occur while publishing in certain scenarios.

Export

  • Now it's possible to change publication ID for WebHelp.

Translation

  • Translation unit states are now updated corretly in accordance with what has been changed in the base topic.
  • Clicking on the TOC node of a translation topic that had its ID changed doesn't return 404 anymore.
  • XLIFF files now import correctly in situations they weren't previously.
  • Entering a very long name for translation projects doen't cause issues anymore.
  • Translation projects with the same name are now displayed correctly on the Translator Dashboard.
  • Translation project name updates properly where it wasn't under certain conditions.

Reporting

  • Report range doesn't change anymore when switching projects.
  • Report graphs start date now corresponds to the date selected in the filter.
  • Chart lines gained back their colors and are no longer all gray.
  • User Count report doesn't show two records for the same user in certain scenarios.

Other

  • Projects page is now more mobile-friendly.
Release Notes: April 2023 — Blossom Release Notes: July 2022 — Echo
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