I thought my questions were at an end. LOL I am having no problem generating Responsive HTML for my large project, but the PDF output has not yet been successful. I've poured over my project to try to figure out why it keeps failing, but I'm at a loss. Here is what I've checked so far. Java SE Runtime 8u261 is installed to its default installation path 64-bit machine, 64-bit version.Adobe Robohelp is installed to its default installation pathMy RoboHelp project is built on my local D drive, but it is synched with a folder on Dropbox for backup and distribution to the company I am doing the docs forThere are no broken links (close to 800 topics total in two manuals)One mystery file was listed in the RoboHelp log. I kept getting one message in the log that it failed to copy D:/Dropbox/ ....... (project path) ...../contents/assets/masterpages/_rhdefault.css. So I manually created a copy of that file and pasted it into that location. The error went away. The big puzzle is what is calling for that file. I did a style sheets report and there is nothing using it. I set up my publishing profile. The build log shows it found Java. It then goes through updating all of the HTML topics. Then it goes through merging all the topics. All these done without any errors listed.And then ... at the end of the log ... Error. Failed to generate Reference Manual.I also tried making a copy of the project on another hard drive without the Dropbox connection to test if it might be a Dropbox lag or something. That copy also failed. I did try to build a PDF of the About RoboHelp project sample, and that generated fine. I guess I will have to take a deeper look at that to see if I might be missing something, but so far things seem pretty straightforward. I've checked and double-checked my project settings, css references, links, used and unused files. Given what I explain above, is there anything else I should look for?

Inspiring

Answered

Another PDF Fail - RH 2020

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
October 9, 2020
20 replies
1139 views

I thought my questions were at an end. LOL

I am having no problem generating Responsive HTML for my large project, but the PDF output has not yet been successful. I've poured over my project to try to figure out why it keeps failing, but I'm at a loss. Here is what I've checked so far.

Java SE Runtime 8u261 is installed to its default installation path 64-bit machine, 64-bit version.
Adobe Robohelp is installed to its default installation path
My RoboHelp project is built on my local D drive, but it is synched with a folder on Dropbox for backup and distribution to the company I am doing the docs for
There are no broken links (close to 800 topics total in two manuals)
One mystery file was listed in the RoboHelp log. I kept getting one message in the log that it failed to copy D:/Dropbox/ ....... (project path) ...../contents/assets/masterpages/_rhdefault.css. So I manually created a copy of that file and pasted it into that location. The error went away. The big puzzle is what is calling for that file. I did a style sheets report and there is nothing using it.
I set up my publishing profile. The build log shows it found Java. It then goes through updating all of the HTML topics. Then it goes through merging all the topics. All these done without any errors listed.
And then ... at the end of the log ... Error. Failed to generate Reference Manual.
I also tried making a copy of the project on another hard drive without the Dropbox connection to test if it might be a Dropbox lag or something. That copy also failed.

I did try to build a PDF of the About RoboHelp project sample, and that generated fine. I guess I will have to take a deeper look at that to see if I might be missing something, but so far things seem pretty straightforward.

I've checked and double-checked my project settings, css references, links, used and unused files. Given what I explain above, is there anything else I should look for?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Peter Grainge

The problem was caused by an output topic having been imported into the source files. In Classic they were obvious as there would be red squares indicating the scripts within such topics.

Visually they are not obvious in the new UI. I have filed a ticket suggesting that the PDF generation process should check for such files and throw a warning if any are found.

If anyone thinks this is behind their PDF generation failure, the Find and Replace and search for CDATA. That will identify output files in your source.

D

Deecey52Author

Inspiring

Thank you again for your help with this, Peter. I don't think I would have learned that on my own. Now I know. 8-)

PDF successfully generating, now to fix its style sheets. I am a happy camper.

Peter Grainge

Correct answer

Community Expert

The problem was caused by an output topic having been imported into the source files. In Classic they were obvious as there would be red squares indicating the scripts within such topics.

Visually they are not obvious in the new UI. I have filed a ticket suggesting that the PDF generation process should check for such files and throw a warning if any are found.

If anyone thinks this is behind their PDF generation failure, the Find and Replace and search for CDATA. That will identify output files in your source.

Use the menu (bottom right) to mark the Best Answer or Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

D

Deecey52Author

Inspiring

Thank you so much, Peter. Email sent.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

You have simply pointed your index entries to a bookmark and that's fine.

Can you share the project? If you can, then see the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

Use the menu (bottom right) to mark the Best Answer or Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

It should be easy to test your hypothesis. Take a copy of that topic and create a TOC containing just that topic. Try generating the PDF using that TOC. Does it build? If it doesn't, move all the entries to the top of the topic. Does it build? If not, delete all the index entries. Does it build?

D

Deecey52Author

Inspiring

I made an offering to the gods and wiped out my C drive, reinstalled Windows, and now I'm at least back to the point where I can print PDFs of the About RoboHelp project.

But I'm still at my original issue with the mysterious _rhdefault.css reference and being unable to output to PDFs.

A question for you, and I am not sure if this is related. Rather than having all of the index entries at the top of the page, I have put the index entries at the headings that the index entry points to, so that users can be taken directly to the topic instead of to the top of the page. Like so:

Could this be partly why my PDF output is failing?

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

This really is looking like a machine issue so my next step would be to install RoboHelp on a second machine (trial mode will suffice for this) and put the project there.

RoboHelp must be installed with admin rights.

Then first open the sample projects and check they work. With that established make an offering to the gods and try with your project.

Let us know where that gets you.

Use the menu (bottom right) to mark the Best Answer or Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

D

Deecey52Author

Inspiring

I used to be able to generate a PDF from the About RoboHelp project without issue. However, now even that is failing.

It seems when it's time to generate the PDF file, Robohelp hangs and goes unresponsive. Otherwise the status bar sticks on "merging _glossary.html." If I press Dismiss in the PDF generation status, nothing happens. If I then click the X in the PDF Output Presets tab, nothing happens. The only way to get out of this is to shut RoboHelp down and restart. No log generated.

I have a similar problem if I display a single topic and click "Save As PDF". Initially, the Save As dialog pops up and prompts for a save location. After that, the About Robohelp project screen goes completely white. No output, no log generated.

I've been doing a lot of wading around in the weeds while trying to sort out my PDF issues, and at one point I saw that the Microsoft PDF Output plugin might have been a culprit. So I deleted that, which may be what started this happening. I have since updated Windows, reinstalled Office, Creative Cloud (for Acrobat DC), and RoboHelp 2020. I'm still having the issue. Print to PDF seems to work in everything but RoboHelp.

The more I am trying to figure out why PDFs won't print, the worse it's getting! LOL

D

Deecey52Author

Inspiring

Well I deleted the (project).idx file and restarted RoboHelp. The index entries are now displaying fine while using the default.idx file.

What I've decided to do in regards to the TOC is create book TOC's for the two main PDF manuals (Reference and Python). Then I have a third online TOC that loads both of those TOCs in. That way I don't need to make changes to multiple TOCs when topics are added to either manual.

D

Deecey52Author

Inspiring

Correction. The "Python" condition was added to the Python-related topics. It's the "Reference" condition and index entries that haven't been added yet.

Show more replies

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded