Inspiring

Question

File Path Too Long - error on folders that no longer exist

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
April 13, 2021
8 replies
2021 views

Hi all,

I just took over a nighmare RH project using RH2020. I have not used RH in a long time, and I'm stumped.

This project has 5-6 nested levels in some places... so the paths can be very long. We are getting errors when trying to extract the source files. I ended up having to download the project to my C: root. This path length issue apparently prevents all of the output from compiling (as per previous writer).

I decided the best place to start was just to go thru the project and shorten the folder and file names. I did this from within RH, NOT via Explorer. However, when I try to then copy the revised project up to my Documents>My RoboHelp Projects folder, I'm getting the same errors for path length - on folders that I have definitely renamed (from within RH itself). These folders show up when I search in Explorer, but no where to be found if I search in RH (please see attached image).

I suppose I could delete them via Explorer, but my memory is that RH doesn't like having its files edited outside the project.

I feel like there's some element of the old name of the folder still remaining someplace within the project, but I have no idea how to find it.... What the heck am I missing?

L

Lisa Copland

Participant

Try using LongPathTool it’s simple and really helps with long file path issues.

E

elly_1075

Participant

I fix the problem using longpathtool program

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Post in wrong thread.

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Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Wrong thread @Peter Grainge ?

A

Amebr

Community Expert

Your third annotated image shows the corrected folder name. So the incorrect one must be a different location.

Are you trying to copy the shortened project over the top of the unshortened project? I imagine that might not work (although I haven't tried it, obviously), and you'd need to delete the unshortened project first. Although if that's your only backup copy, you might not want to do that before you've checked your shortened project works.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

As Jeff said, even with your renaming you're going to hit the long path error if you move it back to the Documents folder, especially if your IT has moved that folder to OneDrive behind the scenes (dear lord how I hate onedrive...)

I keep everything on my c: drive, and back up regularly using a zip file. I zip the project folder and copy the zip file to a network drive. If you have source control, especially if you have more than one writer, I'd recommend that, as, assuming changes are checked in correctly, backups are then taken care of.

Regarding the folder name. If you see one thing in File Explorer and something different in RH2020, then I think you might be looking at two different locations. The Contents panel in RH2020 shows exactly the same info as File Explorer - I can't think of a way to show a different folder name. The best way to make sure you're looking at the correct location in File Explorer is to right-click on a topic or folder in the root of your project, then select Show in Explorer.

If you could use the Insert Photo icon to add screenshots, that will help too. It'll show the image inline with the text, and makes it much easier to respond.

K

ktbFLAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks... There is no source control for these files. Simply a zip file on the network.

My apologies about lack of images. I thought I had attached them, but I don't see them showing up here so I will try again. (I have just attached them again and am seeing them in this post - so hopefully, they will remain so you can see).

I'm definitely looking in the same location in both the project and the explorer - I can of have to as there's no other copies of the project unzipped, and I'm using Explorer to map where I go inside the project - the new folder name appears, but when copying the old name shows as too long - even tho it technically doesn't appear any more.

If it were just an issue of the path file too long, that would be one thing, but the fact that the folder is now renamed and still showing up as an error under the old name bothers me a lot. I feel like that could come back to bite us... as it were.

Thanks to everyone trying to help!

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

When you unzip using WinZip you get an option to Unzip to Here or to a path. Logically Unzip to here should be the same path length as when the project was zipped and be OK with one exception that I can think of. That is WinZip or whatever you used threw a warning at the time and that was ignored.

Are you using Unzip to Here or its equivalent in the zip tool you are using? If you are then combined with the fact that the previous author has told you they couldn't generate an ouput rather suggests a warning may have been given and ignored.

Is this zip file the only backup you have?

Is the previous author's device still available or a backup of the hard drive?

It might be worth googling how to fix zip files throwing that error.

Picking up on Jeff's comment, does the project work if you don't move it to My RoboHelp Projects?

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See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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K

ktbFLAuthor

Inspiring

There is a single backup file out on the network. Previous writer's device is not available.

I copied the zip to my local device and unzipped from there... Ending up having to extract direct to C root.

I could leave it on the C root... But not sure how practical that makes backing up the files each day... I haven't explored that aspect.

Mainly I don't like to perpetuate a project containing errors. Sounds like there's no way to clean up the file issue since names them didn't work

Thanks tho.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Don't waste your time moving to your My Documents > My Robohelp Projects - you'll just make the path too long again. Stick with a location like c:\projects\project_name\

K

ktbFLAuthor

Inspiring

btw, to add to the above, I'm attaching the actual error that comes up when trying to copy the revised project over to My RoboHelp Projects folder. I have about 5 of these that come up for different folders that have now been renamed, but the old name is still showing as an error. If I click Skip, it goes thru all of the errors and starts over and repeats them.

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