Using conditional output

Conditional output works in the same way on all the levels where it is supported: You mark a part of your project (text, graphic, topic, chapter etc.) with a condition, referred to as an "include option" or "build option", and then choose whether you want to apply the condition when you publish your project.

Productivity Tip

You can search and replace conditional text tags. Just select "Conditional Texts" in the "Find where:" field when you search. See Searching for details.

Tag a topic or chapter

1.	Select the topic or chapter in the TOC in the Project Explorer.

2.	Select Change > Include in Builds in Project > Manage Topics and select the conditions you want to apply. (You can also access these options by right-clicking on a topic in the Project Explorer.)

If you are excluding a topic right-click on the topic entry in the TOC and select Check Referrers to see whether any other topics link to the topic you want to exclude. If so, you need to use the Conditional Text tool (see below) to exclude any links to the topic and replace them with alternative text when the topic they link to is excluded.

When you tag chapters their sub-topics will not be tagged with the same conditions automatically – you need to use multi-select to tag multiple topics at the same time. See Topic include options for full details.

Tag content in a topic

1.	Select the text you want to tag in the editor.

2.	Select the Conditional Text tool with Write > Insert Object > and choose the options you want to apply.

See Conditional text include options for full details.

When you publish your project select the include options that you want to apply in the Publish dialog, in the Include Options box on the right. You can choose to apply individual options, combinations of options, all options or no options for every compile run.

Include options based on output format are activated automatically when you select that format. For example, when you compile to HTML Help the HTML Help include option is activated.

Remember that include options use OR logic! The content will be included if one or more of the selected include options applies when you publish.

You can use include options to "filter" the display of your topics in the TOC and Topic Files section of the Project Explorer. This makes it possible for you to see only the topics that will be included in a specific build, so that you can preview the results of specific build options without publishing your project.

1.	Apply build options to one or more topics – if you don't do this filtering will not have any effect! See Conditions and Customized Output for details.

2.	Select Explore > Filter in Project > Manage Topics and set the filter options you want to apply. The filter settings are also available from the right-click menu in the Project Explorer (Explore > Filter).

This works both in the TOC and in Topic Files. This only filters entire topics, it does not filter conditional text tagged within your topics.

The current build settings of topics are shown in the Project Explorer. Topics and chapters set to All Builds (the default) will always be included, of course – you cannot hide them.