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Participating Frequently
October 26, 2009
Question

RoboHelp 8 freezes when compiling WebHelp

  • October 26, 2009
  • 1 reply
  • 2539 views

I'm working with a project in RoboHelp 8. The project was created in RH5, but has been updated and run successfully on RH8. The project is about 35 MB.

I am able to open the project and edit topics. But when I try to compile the help RoboHelp freezes, and I have to use Windows Task Manager to close RoboHelp.

I have tried to rename the CPD and use the existing XPJ to open the project, but that didn't work. I also tried to use the HHP file to open it, but I keep getting a message that the CPD is corrupt and that the project can't be opened.

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1 reply

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 26, 2009

Try creating a new layout, not a duplicate.

Right click the SSL layouts in Project Manager.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

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gschoberAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 26, 2009

No, that's not helpful.

I tried to create a new layout, but the freeze obviously extended to that feature.

I had changed a few topics, but decided to delete the folder and start with the last version before I made changes last week. When I opened the new-old project I was ablt to generate a new help file. But as soon as I made changes to one topic and saved it I was back to the frozen help. I tried to generate--no luck. I tried to create a new layout--no luck.

gschoberAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 26, 2009

OK. If you have the Output View displayed (View > Pod > Output View) when you generate the output is any error displayed before the freeze.


Read the RoboColum(n) for a tips, tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.


The precipitating event seems to be editing a topic. As soon as I've edited a topic I'm unable to generate or create a new layout.

I've just experimented a little, and that blanket staement isn't entirely accurate:

As I mentioned a couple of e-mails ago, earlier today I replaced the problem help with the original files (which had been zipped and archived). I just now deleted the problem folder and replaced it a second time. It generated properly. Then I chose a random file, made a small change, and saved it. It generated properly. Then I selected the default topic, changed something in its title (which needed to be changed), and saved it. That time it froze. It seems to be changing and saving the default file that precipitates the freeze.

It gets stranger--once it's frozen, I have to use task manager to exit. But the files save, and this time I've been able to reopen the project (after Task Managering it closed) and generate it. The changes appear in the generated help.

Could it have something to do with memory usage? At the moment, the TM shows that it's using 108,000 K. Does it freeze when a certain level of memory is exceeded? (The PC has a 1.86 GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM, and there's plenty of hard disk space.)