Missing topic Failed to process Printed Documentation

[deniseh47762385]

I have one RoboHelp 9 Project that is now failing to print the Printed Documentation (doc/docx file). It worked 2 months ago. The generated chm is fine. There could have been some Word copy/pastes but I've removed any "mso" html. It's failing at the same point each time so I've reviewed the html tab in that topic and the ones above it but don't see any issues. I've even removed the topic/file that seems to be the problem and it wasn't fixed. Afterwards, all the other topics are missing and fail to process too.

Here's some Output View text:

Processing 'DWSTIRSignature'...

Processing 'DWSTAirFormation'...

Processing 'DWSTGroundFormation'...

Processing 'DWSTMaritimeFormation'...

Missing topic '..\PrintDoc\!doc_tmp_folder_0\DWSTMaritimeFormation.htm'.

Failed to process 'DWSTMaritimeFormation'...

Failed to build 'Attributes'...

Building 'Communication Devices'...

Processing 'Communication Devices Overview'...

Missing topic '..\PrintDoc\!doc_tmp_folder_0\Communication_Devices_Overview.htm'.

I looked at the temp folder and that htm file was in there at the time.

Any assistance would be appreciated. I've spent way too much time on this. Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

In the second page of the print layout do any topics show with a red X against them?

Are you generating to the same drive as the project?

Is the project on your local drive?

Beyond that and what is on my site under Print Issues it's difficult to help without seeing the project. 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.

I no longer have RoboHelp 9 but a later version will likely show the same problem.

---

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

@petergrainge

[deniseh47762385]

Hi Peter,

No, there are no red Xs on the 2nd page as I always use << then >> to get all the current topics and the updated TOC.

The project is being generated and exists on my local C drive. It is under TortoiseSVN (repository) but the updated files are local and on my drive vs a network drive.

I have uploaded the files to my Dropbox and have sent you an email with the link including the link to this thread.

Thanks! Denise

[Peter Grainge]

The problem is something to do with your images but I haven't identified what yet.

1. Create a new TOC in your project and add just Equipment Class Hierarchy to it.
2. Create a copy of your print output and select the new TOC so only that topic is showing.
3. Generate the output and if Word recovers the document as it does in my version, the image will be missing.
4. Next delete your image and grab a new image from outside your project. Preferably something you haven't created.
5. With a new image only in the output, it then generated OK for me.

Are your images the same ones as the last time you generated?

What version of Word are you using as the modern ones are not compatible with RoboHelp 9?

I'm trying to identify what is "wrong" with your images but no joy so far.

---

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

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

I think the issue is simply the size of the image in the above topic.

Resize it to 50% so that it fits the page, then regenerate with your original layout. Working for me.

---

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

@petergrainge

[deniseh47762385]

Great! I reduced it to 70%, the PrintDoc generated, and it fits on the .doc page. That was a new topic/graphic recently. I didn't think that topic the issue since the Output View shows a different topic. How did you figure out it was a graphic size issue?

[deniseh47762385]

FYI, I also have Word 2003 on my computer so I can generate the .doc files.

[Peter Grainge]

Because I was using Word 2016 with a later version of RoboHelp, Word created a document for recovery. In that I could see placeholders for images rather than the images.

I tried applying a different CSS as I have seen that cause problems too. No joy.

I tried deleting some images from topics and adding them back in. No joy

Then it was a case of creating a new TOC and adding topics in one by one. The offending image was in a topic at the beginning of your TOC so I soon found a topic that alone created the problem.

My first thought was PNGs used to cause problems with imports so perhaps it was also causing this problem. I think it had something to do with how the PNGs were created so I saved one as a JPG but no change. Then I shrunk it thinking that maybe Word didn't like an image so far outside its page size. That worked so then I shrunk the PNG image and it still worked. Then I generated again using the full TOC and again it still worked.

If you hit problems that can't be resolved, there's what is known as the divide and conquer approach.

1. Zip up the project so you have a copy that cannot accidentally be opened and worked on. That gives you a copy that you can safely revert to later if needed. Save the zip file somewhere safe.
2. Then create another copy of the project so that you have two copies that can be worked on.
3. Open Copy 1 and delete half the topics. Ignore any broken links reported. Generate the help from that copy.
4. Open Copy 2 and delete the other half of the topics. Generate the help from that copy.
5. It should be the case that one copy is now OK and one still has the problem.
6. Trash the good copy and then create a second copy of the copy with the problem.
7. Repeat the process until you have located the topic that is causing the problem.

In the case of printed outputs it's easier. You just create a copy of the TOC that is used and either do the same thing or, as I did this time, you add topics in on a drip feed basis. My plan was to add the books in one by one but I didn't need to get that far. The first few topics were enough.

---

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

@petergrainge