File In Use warning

[webmstir]

I could not find any topics related to this issue. When ever I try to use the Printed Document feature in Robohelp, I get "File In Use" warning. It says the nameofmydocument.doc is locked for editing by Tammie. Do you want to: Open a Read Only Copy, Create a local copy or Recieve notification when the original is available.

I do not have Word 2007 open, I do not have any other programs open except Robohelp. I changed the export setting to PDF and Word, I changed the word option to export .docx instead of a document. I changed the user styles to be default. I have no idea what could be the issue.

Robohelp processes in the Output view all the way up to completed building chapters.. and next to updating list paragraphs, that's when I get the issue. So for one example, I selected create a local copy and at updating page numbers I was prompted with the file in use issue and also at updating page headers.

When the document tried to complete, I rec'd the following message: Failed to generate Printed Doucmentation, please see complitaion message for details. Click OK to return.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Peter Grainge]

Please see the Before You Post topic and let us know which edition and version of RoboHelp you are using. You can access it from the page that lists all topics in this category.

Is it the same in all projects or just one? If necessary open a supplied sample project or create a new one with just one topic.

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[webmstir]

Robohelp 8, upgraded from X5 and running Word 2007.  Thank you for having me test more than one project, it seems to be the only project I am working in. Any suggestions?

Sorry for not posting all the correct information.

[Willam van Weelden]

Hi,

Try <a href="http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/">Unlocker</a> to see if any process is blocking the file. If a process is blocking the file, this program is able to free it up again.

Greet,

Willam

[Peter Grainge]

Webmstr

Did Williams suggestion work? Always helps when people post back what fixed the problem.

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[webmstir]

No, I'm sorry it did not solve the problem. I am still having issues with the project, it will not allow me to complete the print documentation at all. I even removed the option and added it again.

[Peter Grainge]

Did you try my other suggestion of trying to generate from another project, create one if you have to. I'm trying to identify if this is a general issue or a project specific issue.

Are you generating to a local drive from a local drive?

Is Word's macro security set to Low?

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[webmstir]

Hi Peter,

1. Did you try my other suggestion of trying to generate from another project, create one if you have to. I'm trying to identify if this is a general issue or a project specific issue.<  I answered this in post 2.  I did try several projects and the print problem seems to be on only on this project I am working on. I tried removing the Print Documentation folder completely. I tried restarting. I even uninstalled Robohelp and reinstalled thinking it was a Robohelp issue instead of a single project.
2. Are you generating to a local drive from a local drive? <  I am generating from a local hard drive, my D drive. I have C & D. I have had issues in the past running from a network, so I store everything local and move them to a network drive at the end of the day for backup.

3. Is Word's macro security set to Low? < I have Enable all macros selected in Word 2007.

I hope this answers all of the questions you had. I am sorry that I did not clearly answer the first one

[Peter Grainge]

Sorry, it's late here so I missed that.

Is it a project you can let me see? If so, get my address from my site, then zip up the project and send it via http://www.cutesendit.com with a link to this topic.

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[jliechty]

I'm having the same exact issue, using all of the same product versions as the original poster.

It almost appears that there are two different winword processes colliding trying to access the same word doc.

Installed office 2007 sp2 around the same time this started happening - not sure if that's a coincidence or not.

Will post back if I can figure this one out on my own.

The topic is listed as answered, but I didn't spot the answer.  Did I just miss it?

Thanks

[webmstir]

The question has not been answered yet, there is nothing resolved yet. I have to send some files to Peter, which I have not been able to ZIP up yet. Will let you know.

[Peter Grainge]

Hmm, don't know how it got marked as answered but I think that is in the control of the original poster.

Once someone sends some files via http://www.cutesendit.com, I will take a look.

When sending the files please make it clear which poster you are and include a link to this thread. Also repeat the version of RH and Word. It helps to have all the information in one place.

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[lmcgh]

We have finally isolated this problem.  It unfortunatly appears to still be an issue with RoboHelp 8.  In the PDF Generation settings, if you deselect the option to create "Tagged" PDFs, PDF generation will be about 5-6 times faster, but you will ultimately get the "File in Use" warning/error.  If you reselect the create Tagged PDFs option, PDF generation will be slow, and grind away, but it will eventually complete successfully.

[Peter Grainge]

Armed with that nugget, turn off PDF and just generate a Word document, then PDF that. Does that improve performance. Tagging will always be slow, do you really need it?

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[lmcgh]

I dont need/want tagging, but thats the only way PDF generation will work without this error from within Robohelp.  Creating a .DOC instead, and performing the PDF conversion from within Word does work, and the native PDF generation built into word is significantly faster than that in Robohelp (about 10 times faster), I dont know why.  However, this introduces a new manual step in building each document .. something we are trying to avoid.

[Peter Grainge]

I have tagging turned off and it all works fine. Something is wrong or everyone would be reporting this. I think I would be looking at all the PDF settings. What native PDF built into Word are you referring to? I am looking at Word 2007 on Vista and not seeing it. Maybe it is another PDF program you have added. Could that be interferring with the way Acrobat is working from RH? Just an idea.

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[lmcgh]

In order to reproduce the failure, 1) Tagging must be de-selected in the PDF options. and 2) the option to create each chapter as a separate document must be checked.  These two combined cause the problem.

Maybe its rare to do both, which is why the problem is underreported.

[Peter Grainge]

Now nothing surprises me. Whenever I visit a site where the serious Word gurus hang out, they all seem to say that the Master document feature is buggy.

More importantly though, I think this puts some logic into the problem. PDF generation is a two stage process. RH has to create a Word document, as would any application, before it can create a PDF. If you select to also generate a Word document, you get to see that but otherwise it is hidden. Now add in that you are generating multiple documents in one hit and I see where I think things are going bump. My guess is that RH still has a lock on the Word document when Acrobat is kicking in.

Whether or not it can be fixed is one for the developers so please report it here and I suggest you include a link to this post.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Pending it being fixed, I would say your options are single document or generate the PDFs later. Sorry it is not better news.

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