RH 2019 New DOCX output not working with some projects

Report · Sep 12, 2019

Hi all,

I was very happy to detect the new option to generate a docx-output in the current update. However, this is not working for any of my projects. I tried with the sample project, there it works fine. I tried with 3 projects of different size, there, it doesn't work. After a couple of lines of updated files, I get the error message:

Error:

Unhandled

Should not have a unit with more than one term

Error: See log for details

Error: Failed to generate Word

In another project (more complex) I get this error message very shortly after starting the output when trying to update the first file:

Error:

Unhandled

System.NullReference

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I checked this directory for more details, but it is empty: AppData\Roaming\Adobe RoboHelp 2019\logs

Any ideas where I should start looking for the cause of the problem?

Thanks and best regards

Karin

Report · Sep 12, 2019

Oh lord, I hate that object reference error from when I used Flare. It basically translates to "A thing happened". :S

It's probably not the issue, but I think I remember seeing an issue for pdf generation in Update 8 where some files necessary for the output weren't correctly copied to existing projects. Perhaps trying creating a new project and checking what files are automatically added, such as master pages and css, specifically for Word output.

Report · Sep 13, 2019

Thanks for your suggestion. I could not directly see any difference in the files. However, I made some progress nevertheless.

Report · Sep 13, 2019

Thanks for your suggestion. I could not detect any difference between the automatically generated files. However, I made some progress with the other error "Should not have a unit with more than one term". The problem seems to be an invisible table style. I have no idea why this should be the case, but no table style works, a table style with frames work, both of my invisible styles cause this error. I will update any further results I may find.

Report · Sep 13, 2019

Found the problem \o/. There was line in my table css saying "border-spacing: 0pt 0pt;" which caused the problem. Still don't understand it, but it works if I remove this line from my css.

Report · Sep 13, 2019

Even found the cause of the object reference error: I don't know how my styles got messed up like this, I have no idea about css at all, but: this line in the source code causes the error:

The actual problem seems to be the inline style "border-color:rgba(0,0,0,0)

If I delete this part, the output works.

As my other answer regarding the error Should not have a unit with more than one term is a bit hidden, I copied it here again:

Found the problem \o/. There was line in my table css saying "border-spacing: 0pt 0pt;" which caused the problem. Still don't understand it, but it works if I remove this line from my css.

Report · Sep 13, 2019

Last update on this issue for today: After removing the respective lines from all my topics, I was able to create the Word file. However, it cannot be opened in Word, Word states, the file is broken. Even using the draft modus of Word didn't help. I could open the file in Libre Office though, save a copy of it and then open this copy in Word.

Over and out for the weekend

Karin

Report · Sep 13, 2019

You don't mention what version of RH2019 you're running - make sure you've applied all the current updates.

Report · Sep 13, 2019

Sorry, I thought it was clear that I am running update 9, as the Word output is only available since then. So, running RH 2019 new UI update 9.