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Question

Downloads folder in frameless output

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
August 10, 2022
10 replies
277 views

RoboHelp 2020.7.46, Frameless output, Studio skin

Here's the short description: In my recent frameless output, I noticed that there is a \downloads subfolder that seems to contain a copy of my project's contents. Where did that come from and why is it there?

More details: I have one project and generate two sets of output files from it; one is a small subset of the other. In the smaller project, my output contains an \assets folder with two subfolders, \css and \images.

In the larger project, the \assets folder contains these subfolders, but it also contains another subfolder called \downloads. Under \downloads, there's a \contents subfolder and then more subfolders that seem to be copies of my topics plus an \assets subfolder with all the images, css, masterpages, etc. I hope the attached images illustrate this well enough.

I looked at some earlier backups and I don't see a \downloads subfolder in the output. Why am I now getting all these files that would seem to be extras? (There are 795 files and 83 folders under \downloads.)

I have a separate Frameless preset for each of the outputs I need to produce. The fact that only the larger project has a \downloads folder makes me think it's something in the preset. How do I prevent all these files and folders from being generated? The output functions as expected, but that's a lot of extra output.

I hope there's an easy solution. Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

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louellen_20210224Author

Known Participant

Since my problem seems to be solved (fingers crossed), I deleted the offending preset so I can't test this any more unless I go through my backups and see when it started.

I did have a bad day a couple weeks ago when I thought my project was seriously messed up (but instead, I had just stumbled across the "Manage Tiles from TOC" bug described in this post). But before I found that post, I created many copies of the skin and the presets to try to figure out what was going on. I'm sure something went astray with all the duplicate copies I made.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Deleting the .rh folder does no harm other than losing the user's preferences.

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I did enter just a folder but nothing got added to the folder.

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A

Amebr

Community Expert

@Peter Grainge Another thought. Would it be worth trying to delete that cache folder - is it the .rh folder or a sub folder that Adobe has suggested in the past?

A

Amebr

Community Expert

It might be worth checking if there is a bug where specifying something in the PDF field remembers "something" when you clear the field.

@Peter Grainge you can't select a folder but you can definitely type one (or delete just the file name part of the reference) and Robohelp will happily add everything in that folder to the downloads folder in the output.

L

louellen_20210224Author

Known Participant

I appreciate you both testing this out!

Yes, the /downloads subfolder comes back when I generate to a new output folder. I am not publishing to a server and source control is not a factor. The output still seems to work just fine if I delete the /downloads subfolder from the output.

I don't have anything specified in the "PDF to Download" field of the preset. I have played around with that in the past, but that was a couple months (and many copies of the skin) ago. I can't find any field where /downloads is in the path.

Since the /downloads subfolder isn't in the output of my smaller project, I made a duplicate of that skin and made the necessary changes for the larger project. Now there's no /downloads subfolder in the output. So that would seem to indicate that there is something in the preset I was using for the larger project that's creating that subfolder.

So possibly my problem is solved by using a new preset? But I still don't know why it happened or how to prevent it from happening again.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Yes it does seem likely there was something wrong/corrupt in the PC. Glad it is all sorted.

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My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

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

L

louellen_20210224Author

Known Participant

Yep, with luck will stay fixed! (I meant "preset" up there where I said "skin". I am using the same skin for both outputs but different presets.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I just tested that and browsed to an external PDF. RoboHelp put the PDF into assets/docs. I wasn't able to specify a folder only. However, the key point is no downloads folder was created.

Like @Amebr I have never seen RoboHelp create such a folder or seen anyone else report it.

My inclination would be to create a backup and trash it, then check everything works. Also check regularly for the folder returning so you can identify when it happens.

Could source control be an issue?

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

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

(I wonder what the button in the output does if you specify a folder containing several pdf files? Download only the first? All? Give up in disgust? I can imagine it could be useful if someone wanted to provide their manual in several parts, but not sure that was the original intention of the feature. Possibly a bug with potential benefits...)

(EDIT: I'm switching between different computers on different networks, so forgive the random replies. Just tested with the files, and the Download PDF button opens a directory listing page for the "contents' files, so I assume it will do the same for multiple pdfs.)

A

Amebr

Community Expert

Oohhh. For lols, I specified "../contents/" in the PDF to download field in the output preset. It copied a bunch of stuff into the downloads folder (intended for a pdf file). Check what your field says. 🙂

A

Amebr

Community Expert

This isn't something I've seen before. Does that duplication appear in your source as well or only the output? Is this folder where you generate to or where you publish to? If you generate to a new folder, does the downloads folder still appear?

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