Line breaks automatically being deleted in RH2022.4 output

[sprite253]

I use RH 2022. After the most recent upgrade to version 2022.4.179, my responsive HTML output automatically removes all line breaks from the content. So, all the white space I used in the content to increase readability disappears, and everything is just scrunched up. Adobe responded by saying it's a bug in 2022.4 and suggesting I use the   element as a workaround. However, it only temporarily changes the output and automatically gets deleted whenever I close and reopen the topic. Does anyone have any suggestions until Adobe resolves this issue? Also, this happens to all output formats - PDF, Word, Frameless, etc.

[Peter Grainge]

I can repeat it so it definitely looks like a bug. I have raised this with a contact and will post back when I know more. 

________________________________________________________

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

[dvrvb]

Unfortunately I have the same experience with the automatic removal of the line breaks. Luckely I always make a backup of the projects before upgrading to a next version, because the same day I installed the update 2022.4, I deinstalled it and went back to the previous version. Hopefully there will be a fix soon so that we don't have to wait for 2022.5

[sprite253]

Thank you, that's a great suggestion. I'll do the same.

[Peter Grainge]

The first step is that Adobe have been able to reproduce the problem. I hope to know more tomorrow.

________________________________________________________

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

[sprite253]

Thank you, Peter! 

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

Adobe have provided a fix for this problem.  You need to apply a simple change to your CSS file(s).

p:empty {
/*Enter desired values.*/
padding-top: 0.0pt;
padding-bottom: 16pt;
}

The values can be expressed in your preferred unit of measure. Here I have used points to help explain. In the CSS I tested with the normal <p> style font is 10 points with padding below of 6 points. Thus padding in the CSS of 16 points gives the same depth as a blank line.

Please post here if you find problems with any output using this solution.

________________________________________________________

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

[dvrvb]

Thanks for the quick fix! (I will post a confirmation after I have really tested it on my projects.)

[dvrvb]

On the project I've tested, it works fine! So, many thanks Peter for this solution.

[dvrvb]

In case it would help for the issue of "sprite".

Before the fix (of adding the padding in de CSS): for all the topics I left untouched, the result was fine (as in 2022.3, with the empty lines). But in 2022.4, as soon I did some edit on a  particular page, than all the empty lines were missing (on that page). All the other pages were still fine. Now with the padding fix, the "touched" pages are fine. I did try a new topic, but in my case that is also going fine.

[Peter Grainge]

@dvrvb Are you saying if you edit a page after the CSS change, the empty lines go missing still? I can't break anything once that CSS fix has been applied.

________________________________________________________

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

[dvrvb]

Hi Peter,

No, after the fix of the CSS all is going fine in my case. // The only thing I would bring under attention was that before the fix, all the untouched topics were going fine, except the topcis were I did an edit. So my surprise was (before the fix) that not all the pages were missing the empty lines, only the pages were an edit was done.

[Peter Grainge]

The elves at play!

________________________________________________________

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

[dvrvb]

Sounds that is something kept in cache. I will do a test (without the fix) where I remove the cache in the folder .rh

[dvrvb]

Nope, it isn't the cache. I deleted the complete content of .rh and it made no difference.

Without the fix: all the untouched pages still were OK, but as soon as I edited a page, then the empty lines disappeared, but only in that particular page that was edited.

[sprite253]

Thank you again, Peter. I've tested it in one project so far, and it works well. I'll post again when I test it thoroughly and publish the output to see the change. It's definitely easier and faster than inserting &nbsp in the source code throughout the page. 

[sprite253]

After changing the CSS, I copied text from a preexisting topic that I documented before the update into a new topic within the same project, and it did not retain the spacing.  However, when I typed content from scratch, the change in the CSS applied as expected. 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

That's a head-scratcher - did you check that you didn't also bring over some other CSS with the content you copied?

[sprite253]

It sure is! I use the same CSS stylesheet across all of my projects, though. I've attached an example of the output. 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, but take a look at the HTML of the "working" one and the "not working" one - is there a different CSS referenced in there or present in the HTML itself?

[sprite253]

No, only one CSS is referenced. This is fine, as I rarely copy and paste content, but it is just something I noticed.

[Peter Grainge]

I tried to emulate the issue in a new topic and couldn't break it.

When I created the new topic it did not apply the CSS that I had fixed. That was because I had not changed the default CSS in File > Project Settings. As a result the problem was still there. When I deleted the old CSS and applied the fixed one, all was correct.

If you go to Assets > CSS is there more than one CSS?

If you go to Reports > Topic List and select the Stylesheets option, does that give any clues?

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

@dvrvb Are we talking about preview, generated output or published output?

________________________________________________________

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

[dvrvb]

Sorry for my incompleteness: I'm talking about the (locally) generated output, and viewed in FireFox.

[Peter Grainge]

Anyone who is still having issues will need to go to Support. I simply cannot break it in anything I have tried. See https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. The email link tcssup@adobe.com is recommended as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.

________________________________________________________

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