Output Generation Warning: Skipped Copying External File

First of all the two issues are not connected. I generated before fixing the issue and only got the external file warning.

As to how you are getting blank lines, no way of knowing.

________________________________________________________

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

You found it! I deleted that, the warning went away, and so did the error about the inline styling for Bullet. That was a weird one.

Now, a new question: how are blank lines appearing in my browse sequence? That is not the first time that has happened, and the other times I noticed it were happenstance. I am never in the code for a browse seqence. I always use the UI to add/delete/move topics. 

I'm out of ideas as everything looks fine from what you've shown. 🙂

If there's no errors identified in the code view of the css file (little icons on the left side of the page) and the output looks fine, then I think I'd ignore it until some problem turns up.

If the output isn't right, or you are determined to find the root cause and you have access to source control then maybe using a comparison tool such as BeyondCompare on a known good version vs the current version would show where the differences are and perhaps lead to a solution.

I'm including two pictures of the initial source view for each topic around the Warning. 

This is the one that does not have Bullet in it anywhere:

This is the one that does have Bullet: 

Hmm, I'd normally think the error was in the file immediately before the error. But the word doesn't appear there. The :1:1 part of the error I think means the application thinks the error is in the first line, at the first character. Is there anything wierd looking at the top of either file? Or around the body tag (I'm not sure exactly where RH will count from, given the head sectio of the source topic doesn't really count in the output)

Here you go: 

Updating InformaCast/InformaCast_Management/Configure_Messages_and_Broadcasts/Manage_the_Bell_Scheduler/Add_a_Ring_List.htm...

Warning: Error occurred while parsing inline style :1:1: Unknown word: "Bullet"

Updating InformaCast/Virtual_Appliance_Management/Trust_Certificates/Regenerate_Trust_Certificates.htm...

I already checked the first HTM file and "Bullet" doesn't appear there. It does appear in the second, but that's the code snippet I posted above and I didn't see any errors.

All that looks fine. It looks like new way of doing nested lists using the Level field. (The only "Classic" bit is the class name "Bullet".) I was thinking the problem might have been from a property in classic not upgrading properly, for example I've see the semi-colon at the end of a line deleted which will cause errors. But all that code looks correct. 

Looking at the error again, it says "inline style". Perhaps there is a style tag in a topic somewhere that hasn't been upgraded correctly. What does the log say just before you get the parsing error? (Perhaps post a snippet that includes text from both sides of the error.)

I think that @Amebr will confirm that looks like some old code upgraded to the new UI. Lists are more complex in the new UI.

Working with the code in source view is not for the feint hearted. Maybe duplicate the project and trash the lists styles in source view in the CSS editor and then recreate them through the UI. That way you have nothing to lose. Otherwise it's Adobe Support unless @Amebr has any further thoughts.

________________________________________________________

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

Searching through my CSS, it seems to appear several times. This is a very old project (updated several times over the years) and upgraded from RH Classic. 

First instance:

ul.Bullet {
  margin-top: 0px;
  margin-bottom: 0px;
  --prefix-size: 40px;
  --prefix-fixed-size: false;
  --prefix-gap: 12px;
  --list-indent: 40px;
  --vertical-spacing: 0px;
  counter-reset: item1;
  list-style: none;
  padding-left: var(--prefix-size);
  margin-left: calc(var(--list-indent) - var(--prefix-size));
}

Second instance:

ul.Bullet>li>ul {
  --prefix-size: 40px;
  --prefix-fixed-size: false;
  --prefix-gap: 12px;
  --list-indent: 24px;
  --vertical-spacing: 0px;
  counter-reset: item2;
  list-style: none;
  padding-left: var(--prefix-size);
  margin-left: calc(var(--list-indent) - var(--prefix-size));
}

Third instance:

ul.Bullet>li>ul>li {
  --prefix-size: 40px;
  --prefix-fixed-size: false;
  --prefix-gap: 12px;
  --list-indent: 24px;
  --vertical-spacing: 0px;
  position: relative;
  margin-top: calc(var(--vertical-spacing) / 2);
  margin-bottom: calc(var(--vertical-spacing) / 2);
}

Fourth instance:

ul.Bullet>li>ul>li:before {
  counter-increment: item2;
  content: "–";
  text-align: right;
  position: absolute;
  left: calc(-1 * var(--prefix-size) - var(--prefix-gap));
  margin-right: var(--prefix-gap);
  width: var(--prefix-size);
  overflow: hidden;
}

Fifth instance:

ul.Bullet>li>ul>li>ul {
  list-style: none;
  --prefix-size: 40px;
  --prefix-fixed-size: false;
  --prefix-gap: 12px;
  --list-indent: 20px;
  --vertical-spacing: 0px;
  counter-reset: item3;
  padding-left: var(--prefix-size);
  margin-left: calc(var(--list-indent) - var(--prefix-size));
}

Sixth instance:

ul.Bullet>li>ul>li>ul>li:before {
  counter-increment: item3;
  content: counter(item3, disc);
  text-align: right;
  position: absolute;
  left: calc(-1 * var(--prefix-size) - var(--prefix-gap));
  margin-right: var(--prefix-gap);
  width: var(--prefix-size);
  overflow: hidden;
}

Seventh instance:

ul.Bullet>li>ul>li>ul>li {
  --prefix-size: 40px;
  --prefix-fixed-size: false;
  --prefix-gap: 12px;
  --list-indent: 20px;
  --vertical-spacing: 0px;
  position: relative;
  margin-top: calc(var(--vertical-spacing) / 2);
  margin-bottom: calc(var(--vertical-spacing) / 2);
}

Eighth instance:

ul.Bullet>li {
  --prefix-size: 40px;
  --prefix-fixed-size: false;
  --prefix-gap: 12px;
  --list-indent: 40px;
  --vertical-spacing: 0px;
  position: relative;
  margin-top: calc(var(--vertical-spacing) / 2);
  margin-bottom: calc(var(--vertical-spacing) / 2);
}

Ninth instance:

ul.Bullet>li:before {
  counter-increment: item1;
  content: counter(item1, disc);
  text-align: right;
  position: absolute;
  left: calc(-1 * var(--prefix-size) - var(--prefix-gap));
  margin-right: var(--prefix-gap);
  width: var(--prefix-size);
  overflow: hidden;
  font-style: normal;
}

I'm (clearly) no CSS wiz, but it's probably not normal it's in there so often?

However, we've stayed current with our upgrades,and I've made no CSS changes in between our last one and this latest one, so it's a little weird it's generating errors now.