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How to Import Content into ProProfs Knowledge Base

 

In ProProfs Knowledge Base, you can import Word and HTML files directly to create your new help site. The import feature allows you to add files from your local storage into the Knowledge Base.

 

 

 

 

The import feature becomes helpful in the following:

 

• Migrating from a different platform to ProProfs Knowledge Base

• Allowing you to leverage additional functionalities available in the ProProfs product that were missing from your help-authoring tools

 

How to Import Content into ProProfs Knowledge Base

 

You need to follow these steps to import content:

 

Step 1: Before Importing

Step 2: Preparing the Files

Step 3: The Import Process

• Uploading the ZIP file
• Directories to Exclude
• Select Specific Content (HTML Tags)
• Other Options
• Conflicts

Ready to Import

CSS

• Conflicts
• Multiple Imports and Duplicate CSS
• Inline CSS and formatting

Cleaning Up

Deleting an Import

 

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 Step 1: Before Importing

Importing can be tricky as you transfer complex data from one application to another. Hence, we recommend you conduct a test run, i.e., import 5-10 pages for a start before importing the complete content.

 

 Step 2: Preparing the Files

The import function will allow you to upload a zip (.zip) file of HTML files, images, and CSS into ProProfs. You can export the HTML pages from a website or a help-authoring tool such as RoboHelp or FrameMaker.

 

The importer will only import HTML pages (.html, .htm), images (.jpg, .png, .gif), and CSS (.css). It will ignore all other files (such as JavaScript, PHP, and server-side).

 

 

Let’s prepare the files to import:

 

1. Locate the files you wish to zip on your system.

 

2. Select all the files you wish to zip. Right-click on any file (ensure all files are selected) and click Compress to ZIP file.

 

A new folder with a zipper image will appear in the same area (i.e., the desktop or folder in which you saved the original item). It is your new zip file/folder.

 

 

 

Now that you have zipped your files, you can begin the import process.

 

 Step 3: The Import Process

 

To import the zip file into ProProfs Knowledge Base, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your ProProfs Knowledge Base account (as administrator) and click Settings in the header menu.

2. Select the site you wish to import the files into from the dropdown.

 

 

3. Go to Import Sites > Import Files.

 

 

The import screen will appear, as shown below.

 

 

 Step 3.1: Uploading the ZIP file

The next step is to upload the zip file you have prepared in Step 2.

 

1. Click Browse. Remember, you can upload a max file size of 50 MB at once.

 

 

2. Select the ZIP file to import from your system and click Open. The file will appear as shown below.

 

 

 

 Step 3.2: Directories to Exclude

 

• You can enter the names of folders (or “directories”) that will not be scanned for files to import.

• Paths to specific directories will not work, such as folders/images.

• To exclude a folder, enter that directory’s name into this list. This way, if you have multiple directories called “images” at various levels in your directory hierarchy, you can skip them.

• If you have several directories that share a name, like “media,” and you need to skip some but import one or two, rename the directories you want to keep while you run the import.

• Enter the directory names without slashes and separate them by commas, such as “images, skin, SSL.”

 

 Step 3.3: Select Specific Content (HTML Tags)

 

Many times, the HTML pages you want to import already have a header, navigation, and footer. Instead of importing the entire webpage, you can target specific content using HTML tags. For example, let’s say this is your webpage below. Since ProProfs already has navigation and a header, you wouldn’t want to import these elements. Instead, you can choose only to import specific content areas.

 

 

• To select the part of the page you want to import, specify either the HTML Tag or DreamWeaver template region.

• If your pages are based on Dreamweaver templates, select the Dreamweaver template option and enter the name of the content area (e.g., “Main Content”) into the template region field.

• For HTML tags, if you’re using a tag without attributes or attributes that don’t matter, enter the tag (without brackets) in the Tag field, and leave the Attribute and Value fields blank. For example, if you need to import the entire <body> tag, your fields would look like this:

 

 

• If your tag has an attribute that makes it unique, enter the attribute name (like class or id) in the Attribute field and the value in the Value field. For example, if your content is contained in the <div id=” content”> tag, your import setting would look like this:

 

 

• Table cells will work, too, even if they don’t have a class or ID, as long as they do have a width attribute with a unique value. For example, Tag- table, Attribute- width, and Value- 730 will work fine.

• You can find the correct tag through this: Right-click on a page > Go to Inspect > Hover your cursor over the code to highlight the part you want to import and select the tag.

 

 

 Step 3.4: Other Options

 

Import Linked Images

• With this option checked, the importer will attempt to copy the images to your Image Library.

• It will only import images that are sourced in the HTML code. It will be ignored if an image is not used in your HTML files.

• It will replace all your image tags’ src=”” paths with the new path.

• It will check for duplicates to import images used on several pages in one go.

• The importer will import the linked images no matter where they are located. Leaving images in your excluded directories is OK since that setting tells the importer where to look for HTML files, not images.

 

Update Internal Links

• With this option checked, the importer would attempt to update all the links between pages.

• So, if you have hyperlinked pages, the importer will fix those links so they work in ProProfs.

 

Convert Special Characters

• If your original files used a character set other than UTF-8, you should check this option to convert special characters.

 

Do not import CSS Style

• Keep this checked if you don’t want any CSS imported into ProProfs. Any linked CSS stylesheets from your HTML files will be appended to the site CSS if unchecked. The latter usually requires manual cleanup, so only style codes that affect the content will be in your site CSS.

• Always check this option if you are importing files into the site multiple times since this would add CSS each time you import, resulting in duplicate CSS entries.

 

Remove all inline styles and formatting

• Keep this checked if you want all style attributes in HTML elements stripped out. It ensures your resulting pages will use the site CSS, which is easier to maintain.

 

Create a new folder for imported pages

• Keep this checked so that new pages from import are kept in an ‘Import’ folder. Unchecking will put all the imported pages at the root of the table of contents.

 

Clean up Bad HTML

• You can have the importer clean up any HTML that is not needed. For example, suppose your files came from Microsoft Word or Frontpage. In that case, they’re probably littered with extraneous tags, smart tags, and class attributes.

• To clean them up, check the Clean up bad (Word, Frontpage) HTML option, then specify the HTML tags and attributes that should be allowed. It will remove any tags and attributes not in these lists. A list of suggested tags and attributes is provided, along with an extra set that you should include if your content contains data tables.

• Note that style and alignment are not among the attributes allowed by default, which might be important to you.

 

 

Import TOC names from RoboHelp

• You can use the importer to replicate TOC names for respective pages from RoboHelp.

 

 Step 3.5: Conflicts

 

At the bottom of the Import page, the Conflict option allows you to choose how the importer will handle HTML files that match existing ProProfs pages. These options are:

 

1. Create a new page if the page already exists

2. Update existing pages with imported pages of the same page title or URL

 

 Ready to Import

 

Once all the settings are filled in, click Start Import to begin the import process.

 

 

If you’re importing a site with many files, this will take a few minutes. Please be patient and do not click anywhere during the process. If the import process times out, you can split the files into two or more zip files and import them separately.

 

When the import has finished, it will display a list of the imported files. Click Done when finished.

 

 

You have successfully imported content into ProProfs Knowledge Base.

 

 CSS

 

If you import the linked CSS, the system will add all external CSS related to the HTML files to your ProProfs site’s CSS. You can quickly review all the new CSS code added to your site by editing a page and then clicking the CSS icon from the toolbar, as shown in the image below:

 

Notice the new items appended at the bottom of the CSS. A comment will indicate the import timestamp and the added CSS code.

 

Here are some potential issues:

 

 Conflicts - Imported CSS may conflict with your site’s CSS styles. For example, if you have a particular heading style, H1, your newly imported CSS may also have an H1 heading style which would then conflict with the site’s CSS. Reviewing your site’s CSS to remove and collate any duplicates or pseudo-classes is best.

 

 Multiple Imports and Duplicate CSS - Each time you import into a site, it will repeat the process above. You might end up with duplicate CSS, mainly if you imported two or more sets of files that reference the same CSS file. Having duplicate CSS is a non-issue at first but may consume your time if you need to change a CSS style referenced in 2 or more places, as that will require you to edit all of them. The best practice will always be to collate all your files and do one import or remove the newly added CSS after you complete the import.

 

 Inline CSS and formatting - Besides external CSS, the imported HTML files may have inline CSS in the HTML tags. Inline CSS code will override any CSS statements you have in the site’s CSS. Suppose you notice a newly imported element is not styled the same as other elements in your site, such as a table. In that case, you can use the "Remove Format" feature in the toolbar, as shown below. All you have to do is highlight the element and click "Remove Format" to remove all inline CSS.

 

 

 Cleaning Up

 

No matter how careful you were with the settings, there’s a good chance you’ll see some errors in your newly imported content. You’ll probably need to change some of the page’s formatting. You can also use the view all pages bulk update feature to change more than one page at a time.

 

Deleting an Import

It is possible to roll back and delete an entire import. The delete last import option permanently deletes the data from your site so that you can import the data again. This is useful in situations when a site is not imported properly and you prefer to import the same site again.

 

 

• Create a new page if the page already exists - Select this option if you want new pages to be created. 
• Update existing pages with imported pages of the same page title or URL - Select this option if you want your imported pages to update your existing pages in ProProfs.
• Match Criteria: 
  • An HTML file matches a ProProfs page if the text within the file's HTML title tag is the same as the ProProfs page's title
  • An HTML file's name is the same as the URL fragment (the text that comes after the mysite.helpdocsonline.com/ in the page's URL).

1. Log in to your account (as an administrator) and click Settings.
2. Click Import Files.
3. Select the site from which you want to delete the last import.
4. Select delete last import.
5. Confirm by selecting Yes.

 

 

That is all about importing content into ProProfs Knowledge Base.