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Question

Can't produce a .chm from a .book file

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
July 14, 2021
6 replies
409 views

Hi, I am unable to produce a .chm from a .book file. I can make a .chm from each individual chapter (except the auto-created files, of course). I can create a .chm from other, similair, .book files. I recreated the .book file and added the existing files to it, but it still will not produce the .chm file. I can produce pdf and Responsive HTML5 files from the .book file In each case, I've used the same settings file and the same .css.

I have looked at the log file that is produced, in each case, it says it compiled normally. I deleted the temp files, which produced no change.

I am on 2019, 15.0.8.979.

It seems to fail at the "Generating HTML Help system" step. I get an error: "An internal error has occurred. This program will now close.".

Any suggestions?

Error

This topic has been closed for replies.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

OK, then I think your next option is to contact the FM folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#framemaker for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including FrameMaker.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Have you tried it with a trial copy of FM2020?

Z

Zasio DocumentationAuthor

Participating Frequently

Yes, we tried with FM2020, no change.

Z

Zasio DocumentationAuthor

Participating Frequently

I have tried mif-washing the book, saving individual files as .mifs then .fms, I have rebuilt the offending file, both from the template andd using ile > import> file, I have rebuilt the file directly before the offending file, nothing works .Are there any other possible solutions?

Matt-Tech Comm Tools

Community Expert

Try stripping the images out of the offending file. If that works, then narrow it down to the image that causes the failure.

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

Z

Zasio DocumentationAuthor

Participating Frequently

Took all the images out, still can't produce a .chm file.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

You might try MIF-washing all the files - that may remove any crud that's in them. The other thing to do is look at the content - are you using anything not found in the other "good" files?

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Sorry, I completely missed that bit about being able to create a CHM with another book file, but not this one - in that case, there's got to be something in the non-functioning .book file that's messing up. As an experiment, I woud create a new .book file and add .fm docs to it one by one - test updating & compiling each time until you discover the "bad" doc - then you can zero in on it to figure it out further.

Z

Zasio DocumentationAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, I found the bad file. I rebuilt it. It will produce a .chm in the .book unless the two chapters directly before it are present. The bad file is chapter 9, if chapters 7 and 8 are present, the .chm fails. If chapters 7 and 8 are not present, but chapters 1-6 are present (and chapters 10-13) the .chm is fine. All the chapter files are created from the same template. I have gone through all three to see if there is anything different, and other than content, I can find nothing.

Matt-Tech Comm Tools

Community Expert

If Jeff's recommendation to MIF the files and reopen doesn't work, you might also use File>Import>File to bring the content into a new file, or use the 30-day download to see if it also happens with Fm 2020.

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

IIRC that had something to do with your machine missing the MS HTML Help Workshop tools?

Z

Zasio DocumentationAuthor

Participating Frequently

It appears that this tool cannot be downloaded from Microsoft, at least every link to the .exe was dead. Is there something unique about the one .book file that requires this tool, but other files don't require it? Can I fix the file instead?

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