---
title: "Single Sourcing and Redundancy"
date: 2013-02-02
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2013/02/02/single-sourcing-and-redundancy/
---
# Single Sourcing and Redundancy
Let's assume that you have all your content in a help authoring tool. You have two outputs configured: an online help and a PDF manual. Should the two formats contain about the same content?

This question isn't as relevant with some platforms, such as wiki-based platforms. With MindTouch, for example, users can choose to create their own table of contents and render it into a PDF on the fly. Other browser-based platforms, like Mediawiki, may keep all of the content in online formats only.

However, if you're using a help authoring tool, such as Flare, Robohelp, Author-it, Doc-to-Help, or some other tool (such as DITA Open Toolkit), you're often presented with a variety outputs to choose from. Generally you store your help content in the help authoring tool and publish selectively and strategically to the outputs you want. But the strategy about *what* should you publish to each output tends to be something that gets overlooked.

You can publish to both outputs with varying degrees of redundancy. I'll explore four basic options.

## Option 1: Full Redundancy

One option is to keep the online help and printed guide pretty much the same. Sure, the PDF has a title page, table of contents, and maybe an index. But there's not a whole lot of difference between the printed guide and the online help. The content is redundant between the two mediums. Users choose the medium they prefer.

![Full Redundancy](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/singlesourcing-012.png)

## Option 2: Partial Redundancy

Another option is to publish a subset of the topics to one output, usually the PDF manual. Your online help might be a giant repository of all kinds of content, as you write for the long tail. But the PDF manual would only be a fraction of the total information. The printed guide just contains the mainstream tasks and concepts.

![Partial Redundancy](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/singlesourcing-022.png)

## Option 3: No Redundancy

A third option is to make the PDF manual substantially different from the online help. Proponents of this camp believe the scenarios for which people access the online help versus the PDF vary significantly. Because of the different scenarios, the formats warrant entirely different content.

For example, I've heard people say, "If it's in the online help, why would users want to view the same content in a PDF? Wouldn't users want to see the information presented in a different way? Otherwise, if the content is the same, what's the point of having a different format?"