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Andy38108926n5yf
Known Participant
September 27, 2024
Question

images shown as gray boxes in ditamap -> book with FM component -> publish to PDF

  • September 27, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 626 views

I've just picked up FM again between projects, and after a small progress I noticed the logo I've put on the book cover and header/footer sometimes printed as gray boxes in the final PDF.

 

At worst, every images (.PNG) would become gray boxes. Sometimes, it happens only on some of the chapters.

 

The workflow was:

1. create a blank DITA bookmap, then adding a couple of conrefs from the book tree menu.

2. save as book with FM component, in order to modify the TOC.

3. at this point, the images (cover logo, header/footer) would be shown correctly on every page.

4. Publish the FM book to PDF, then the error occured.

 

I have modified the DITA/outputTemplates for the intended layout.

 

During the early attempts of these templates creation, I've encountered an error where FM was asking for the image file location (file missing error). I never saw any of those errors after. The image file was always in the same location, though.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Regards,

Andy

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    M
    Community Expert
    mk-willCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 27, 2024

    Hi, @Andy38108926n5yf ,

    it is always a good idea to also write about the used environment: what FM version (x.x.xxx), OS ("win10/11" is not enough), file-paths and any (error)-message.

     

    "The image file was always in the same location, though."

    So what is the path of that location?

    A network share, a cloud share, local path?

    The picture is still shown in FM, correct?

    What do you get as path-information when you click on the image and open the properties of that image?

     

    Regards

    Stephan

    A
    Andy38108926n5yfAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 27, 2024

    Thank you for the quick repsonse, @mk-will 

    FM is 17.0.4.628

    Windows 11 Business 10.0.22631 build 22631

     

    I keep everything on local drive, precisely to avoid any potential network problem.

     

    Documents path is c:\docs\eotg

    Images path is c:\docs\img

    FM templates is in default path, I copy my modified DITA templates into it manually

     

    1.  Images are shown correctly in FM, whether it's the DITA bookmap or the book with FM component.

    2. Single page export to PDF works perfectly.

    3. ESC g o reveals referenced file as c:\docs\img\logo.png.

    4. This issue happens occasionally, I can't always produce the same error. Save (the book with FM comp.) as PDF seems to work better compared to Publish as PDF. But I haven't tested it long enough to be certain.

    5. Current workaround is to just import the image and do copy into document. I would much prefer to have it referenced instead.

     

    Regards,

    Andy

     

     

    M
    Community Expert
    mk-willCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 27, 2024

    @Andy38108926n5yf ,

    your paths are fine as they give relative paths in FM.

     

    If I remember correctly I have read about occasionally occuring problems with PNG files in FM and your desciption sounds familiar.

    So as a test I would change the PNG format to TIF format (I am using only TIF files for graphics in FM), referencing the TIF file in FM and testing what happens with your PDFs.

     

    Regards

    Stephan

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