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Hello All,
Note, I tried posting this question over on the Adobe PDF forum, however, I kept receiving an "m5" error. At any rate, I have searched the WWW and could not find a simple answer/resolution to my exact inquiry; hope you all can help.
TECH STUFF
HISTORY
There was always a problem since I started with the company. Resources did not know why and accepted the PDF output. However, the issue was brought up by a new QA employee, hence, I figure I will investigate if anyone else had the same/similar issue, and what they did to resolve the problem.
PROBLEM
Converting (e.g., File>SaveAs.pdf, Save as PDF, or Print>SaveAs PDF) a Word document to a PDF, there are BLANK pages between Chapters. Why?
Thank you all for your time,
~PM
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So you create a Word file from RH and then create a PDF from the Word file? Is that correct? Is there a page break in the Word file also?
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Hi RC!
File generated from Rh 11 to my Word template. All is good (NO blank pages). It is after I convert the Word doc to PDF, there is blank pages between "chapters".
Thanks for chiming in.
~PM
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Have you actually printed the Word document? I suspect it might be hiding the blank page on screen.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
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Hi Peter,
Yes, blank pages from Word; I never thought to print out the Word doc. Da. OK, what's the resolution, please
Thanks,
~PM
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The resolution is to get rid of the white spaces in Word.
First thing is to get Word to show that white space. In Word, go to File > Options > Display and there is a check box to Show White Space. I would expect that to be unticked on your machine. Tick it so that you can see the blank pages in future.
The most likely cause is that the following page or section is set to be on an odd page and the blank page is an even page. If you don't want any blank pages the easiest solution would be to deselect Start Chapters on Odd Pages in Rh.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
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Hi Peter,
a. In Word, go to File > Options > Display, the check box to Show white space is already ticked. Creepy...
b. I deselect 'Start Chapters on Odd Pages' in Rh, regenerated to my Word template, reviewed in in Word Print View and it looks Good! However, I converted it to PDF, the same problem exists (blank pages).
c. A clue perhaps, the blank pages are occurring been the Heading 1 (Chapter numbers).
~PM
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Maybe your Heading 1 is set up with Page break before selected?
Double-click the stylesheet.
Navigate to Paragraph > Heading 1
Select Format > Paragraph.
(Don't forget to check both the "none" and "Print" stylesheets.)
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Thank you for responding.
In my Rh project, the "Page break before" is already unticked. I did untick my Heading 1 Style in my Word template. With Peter's suggestion and yours, I am still unsuccessful. I have blank pages showing in the Word 'Print View' as well showing in the converted PDF file. Note: I am not using any "print stylesheets", only CSS mapped to my Word template.
Note, I also tried your solution not running my macro that I have in Word (did I say macro); however, without running it made no difference either.
Very puzzling which leads me to believe why the previous authors given up. Nevertheless, I do not want to give up. Any other suggestions you may have (this includes the community), please shoot them out.
Thanks again for responding,
~PM
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You say you reviewed in Word Print Preview which suggests you didn't print again. PDF will produce whatever you get in the printed version and, as you know, that's not the same as the preview.
Try using a Word template as with that you know what its settings are. With CSS you don't have the same control.
Also try in a new test project.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
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Hi Peter,
Thanks (including others) sticking along with me.
How about these apples:
In closing, it has something to do with my Word Temp doc. At this time, I am dependent on that Word template (Which has been a pain).
Peter, recall, you have a copy of my _RHT.dot (my Word template) concerning the other issue (on the page number on the cover page footer section - - when you get a chance, I know..), perhaps you may see something in your investigation.
As Always,
Thank you for your support and commitment to educating this forum, and me(new to this tool).
~PM
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Save a copy of Normal.dot in your Rh project. Just as an exercise generate from Rh to that template. Ignore mapping and just see if you get the blank pages in the document. Make sure the options are correctly set so that they do not create blank pages by starting on odd pages.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
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Hello Peter:
Per your direction,myTests Results are as follows:
Starting to build Printed Documentation...
Printed Documentation processor 11.0.4.291
Building X:\doc_4x\html\apps\output\ct\flexi\userguides\ControlUsersGuide.doc...
Preparing to create Printed Documentation...
Clearing output folder...
Preparing files for Print Document...
Copying files...
Updating files...
Finished preparing in 7 seconds.
Preparing environment...
Cleaning up temporary files...
Internal error encountered, Failed to generate Printed Documentation.
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You appear to be generating to a network drive. Generate to the same drive as the project.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
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Hi Peter,
So, I copied one of my projects to my local drive, and used Word's Normal.dot (I named it "TestNormal.dot"). My results, same error mentioned in my Mar 23, 2015 8:54 AM post.
~PM
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There's something going on here that is hiding itself.
Create a brand new project with just a few garbage topics. Generate a printed output from that using the supplied Rh Style Mapping template. Do not run the Word macro you have.
If that works OK then, as you say, the problem is something to do with your Word template, which is the one that I assume has the macro that you run in the steps in your post dated 18th March.
In that same post, I'm not clear what settings you had applied during those steps. Please clarify your NOTE.
If Page Break Before is ticked, then any white space in the topic before a heading can result in a blank page. Make sure there is no white space after then content of any topic.
What is it that is so special about your template and what does the macro do?
Please undertake all work locally when testing these issues.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
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Hi Peter,
Thanks again for responding. I may need a couple days to do more testing you suggest; I'm backed-up a bit.
PS - Any luck with the page number anomaly?
Since I have been using this tool (Rh), it seems I spend more troubleshooting and tweaking, rather than writing good content. Adobe needs to incorporate your help files.
Thanks,
~PM
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I'm more inclined to think the problem is something you have inherited or
Word related. That will become clearer in time.
Post back when you have done the testing.
The page numbering thing will be very time consuming so really it's a bit
beyond normal forum support. I'm not suggesting contract support as even
large sums of money would not give me the time I need. It's simply a matter
of not having the time because of other commitments, personal matters. The
simple solution is already available to you, use the new printed output
options and you have total control.