RoboHelp for Word 7 is not saving the rtf and won't compile .hlp

[DShahraki]

I use RoboHelp for Word 7 to produce WinHelp files. It's been working fine for several months on this computer.

Just in the past week, I had an issue with my Word 2007 when trying to open a .doc file. I got the message that the converter nswrd632.wpc wasn't found. After searching on the Microsoft forums, I edited the registry and registered that converter.

But now (and this may be unconnected to the Word converter message) RH won't save the .docx or .rtf file. Whenever I click Save All, nothing happens. When I click Exit Project, the message comes up about needing to save the files, and I click Yes to All. Nothing happens except the message closing. No files are saved and RH does not exit. The only way I can exit RH is to click No, which of course means my changes aren't saved. I can't save the .docx file through the Word menu, either.

I also cannot compile the file. Again, no error message, just doesn't compile.

I have searched the forums for RH for Word, with the result that I've reinstalled RH, made sure the RH add-ins are enabled, and deleted all the .dot files. Nothing is working. I went to Peter Grainge's Snippet 112 and followed the directions there--no change.

I have found that after making my edits in the Word document, if I manually save the RTF file by going to the Word Save As directory, the edits will be saved and RH will compile the .hlp file - one time.

Any ideas?

[ShannonMooney · Accepted solution]

Hi, I have a nearly identical problem, except my project uses .doc files instead of .rtf files. I was able to solve the "cannot save" problem by following the information below. I still have not resolved the "cannot compile" problem.

I'm using Windows XP, RH7 Build 100, Office 2007. My project was created using Office 2003 and I did not experience any of these issues until I recently upgraded to Office 2007.

This fix was sent to me by my group's "tech" guy.

A number of Adobe RoboHelp for Word 7 users have reported that they cannot save changes or generate an output. The cause has been isolated to the RHComAdd.DLL being disabled.

Check for that in Word:

• For versions up to 2003 go to Help | About | Disabled Items. If RHComAdd.DLL appears, re-enable it.
• For Word 2007, go to the Office Button | Word Options | Add-ins. Under "Manage" select Disabled Items and click Go. If RHComAdd.DLL appears, highlight it and re-enable it. (THIS IS WHAT I DID)

Alternatively, you can re-register the DLL. Go to Start | Run and type in the following line, assuming you have installed RoboHelp to the default location.

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 7\RoboHELP\RHComAdd.dll"

How does this DLL get disabled? The cause has been identified as a Word document being opened in Internet Explorer rather than in Word.

This problem was fixed in Build 7.0.2.

Hope this helps you. I'm still working on the compile error.

-Shannon Mooney

[Peter Grainge]

That looks just like the wording on my site!

You may be working on DOC files but RH is creating RTF files from those. It is a pretty standard trick when things go wrong to delete those RTFs (after the statutory backups have been made) so that RH recreates them.

Sorry I missed the original question and thanks to Shannon for picking this one up.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[ShannonMooney]

Hi Peter,

I'm pretty sure that he got the information from your site, but he

didn't give me a source, else I would've been sure to credit you!

Thanks for all the work and research you provide to our community.

Regards,

Shannon Mooney

[Peter Grainge]

No need for a credit, it just made me smile.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[DShahraki]

Hi Shannon,

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I was in a really tight spot on a project and had to clear out all the dust before I could come back here. All the info Peter Grainge posted was very helpful, but the real key to my issue was that I'd changed computers several times and forgotten to download the updates to Version 7 the last change. It still worked for a couple of months, but the issue that I posted was solved when you reminded me to download those updates.

Thanks for your help.