RoboAuthor

RoboAuthor is a lightweight software application whose purpose is to help developers create professional-looking and personalized CHM and HLR help manuals.

User interface

The layout may seem a bit crowded and overwhelming at a first glance but this only because the program comes packed with many dedicated parameters. It also offer support for a help manual which provides extra information about the built-in parameters.

Editing operations

RoboAuthor gives you the possibility to type in the text directly in the primary panel or paste it from other third-party tools. Plus, you may import data from RTF or HTML file format and choose between several built-in templates.The utility lets you customize the text in terms of font, font style, and alignment, insert bulleted lists, perform basic editing operations (cut, copy, paste, delete), search for words, as well as insert symbols, images, tables, Flash animations, annotations.What’s more, you can add page keywords, go to the previous or next page, delete pages, preview data via your default web browser, and burn the help manual on CD/DVD.Last but not least, you are allowed to print or export data to HTML, RTF, or TXT file format, save the current project as a template for applying future editing operations, and use hotkeys for triggering actions on the fly.

Bottom line

To sum things up, RoboAuthor comes bundled with a handy suite of features for helping you design personalized CHM and HLR help manuals. However, the layout is not quite intuitive, so you may spend some time configuring the dedicated parameters. A different approach to improve the program’s overall functionality and easy access to several features are welcomed.