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T
Tim D Morris
Inspiring
February 3, 2012
Answered

Unable to generate .PDF in RH8

  • February 3, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 3857 views

I'm using RH8.  I have a printed documentation layout containing a default title page, a TOC, and 7 topics.  If I choose the option to generate a .pdf, the .pdf fails.  If I choose the options to generate both a .pdf and a .doc, I receive messages that both failed but the .doc is generated.  If I choose the option to print only the .doc, I get the option to View Result; the .doc option used alone does not fail.  In addition to RH8, I have MS Word 2007 on my PC, and I can generate a .pdf from the generated .doc file and it works fine.  Any thoughts on getting the .pdf to work through RH8?  If it matters, I do see the Adobe PDF as a printer when I view my available printer options.  Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Peter Grainge

Didn't read your first post today closely enough.  Tried generating a .pdf file from the "Features" sample project.  Same results:

Starting to build Printed Documentation...
Printed Documentation processor 8.0.1.204

Building C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHELP\Samples\Features\HTMLHelp\!SSL!\Printed_Documentation\Printed_Documentation.doc ...

Preparing to create Printed Documentation...
Clearing output folder...
Preparing files for Print Document...
Copying files...
Updating files...
Finished preparing in 1 second.
Preparing environment...
Printed Document Generator Environment: Word 12.0.6545,  OS 5.2.3790, RAM 3963 M Bytes
Building Printed Documentation 'Printed Documentation'...
Building Single Document 'Printed_Documentation.doc'...
Building 'Title Page'...
Building 'Table of Contents'...
Preparing to build chapters...
Building 'About this sample project'...
Building 'Topics'...
Processing 'About topics'...
Processing 'Overview topics'...
Processing 'Procedure topics'...
Processing 'Definition topics'...
Processing 'Reference topics'...
Processing 'Context-sensitive Help topics'...
Building 'Hotspot appearance'...
Processing 'Changing the appearance of hotspots'...
Processing 'Green hotspot without an underline'...
Processing 'Hotspot that doesn't appear "hot"'...
Processing 'Hotspot with different color'...
Building 'Images'...
Processing 'Using images'...
Processing '256-color graphics'...
Processing 'Default bitmaps'...
Processing 'Transparent bitmaps'...
Building 'Buttons'...
Processing 'About buttons'...
Processing 'Authorable button examples'...
Processing 'Mini button example'...
Processing 'Shortcut button example'...
Building 'HTML features'...
Processing 'About HTML features'...
Processing 'Standard commands using shortcuts'...
Processing 'Animated GIF Graphics'...
Processing 'GIF Graphics'...
Processing 'Time Java Applet'...
Processing 'Standard HTML'...
Processing 'ActiveX start'...
Processing 'HTML Table'...
Completed building chapters...
Building 'Glossary'...
Building 'Index'...
Updating list paragraphs...
Updating images...
Updating page numbers...
Updating page headers...
Updating Table of Contents...
Updating Index...
Saving 'Printed_Documentation.doc'...
Generating 'Printed_Documentation.pdf'...
Failed the generate PDF file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHELP\Samples\Features\HTMLHelp\!SSL!\Printed_Documentation\Printed_Documentation.pdf'...
Failed to save 'Printed_Documentation.doc'...
Cleaning up temporary files...

Internal error encountered,  Failed to generate Printed Documentation.

Also, yes, I am using the html view to look for the "span:specialbold" tag.  I was surprised to see the message in the output after I removed the only instance I could find from the seven topics, and--not seeing any other "specialbold" references--I searched each "span" tag.  There are no "specialbold" span tags in any of the seven topics.


I just spotted Program Files (x86) in your last post. That implies you have a 64 bit machine. RoboHelp 8 wasn't supported on 64 bit machines. I believe it did work for a number of people but maybe this is one of the areas where it doesn't work.

Two options.

1] Uniinstall RoboHelp 8, check the PDF writer is removed as well and then reinstall. Maybe to find it has made no difference and maybe to find something more fundamental has gone wrong.

2] Live with the two step process. Generate to Word and then to PDF.

I would be sticking with 2.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

1 reply

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 3, 2012

If I choose the option to generate a .pdf, the .pdf fails. 

How does it fail? Is there an error message, does it just hang?

Is there anything that helps in the Output View pod?

We have seen some cases in the forum where people have had to live with generating the Word document and then creating the PDF.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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T
Tim D MorrisAuthor
Inspiring
February 3, 2012

With both of the "Generate Adobe PDF" and "Generate Word DOC" boxes checked, I get an error message, "Results: Failed to generate Printed Documentation"

"Failed to generate Printed Documentation (ServiceCallFields).  Please see

compilation message for details.

Click OK to Return."

The output info is:

"Starting to build Printed Documentation...
Printed Documentation processor 8.0.1.204

Building C:\[PROJECT_NAME]\!SSL!\WebHelp\LinkedDocs\Service_Call_Fields.doc ...

Preparing to create Printed Documentation...
Clearing output folder...
Preparing files for Print Document...
Copying files...
Updating files...
Finished preparing in 44 seconds.
Preparing environment...
Printed Document Generator Environment: Word 12.0.6545,  OS 5.2.3790, RAM 3963 M Bytes
Building Printed Documentation 'Service Call Fields'...
Building Single Document 'Service_Call_Fields.doc'...
Building 'Title Page'...
Building 'Contents'...
Preparing to build chapters...
Building 'Work with Service'...
Warning: style (span.specialbold) is not defined and will be removed.
Building 'Add Service Call'...
Building 'Service Call Entry'...
Building 'Call Message'...
Building 'Machine Information'...
Building 'Customer Information'...
Building 'Call Information'...
Completed building chapters...
Updating list paragraphs...
Updating images...
Updating page numbers...
Updating page headers...
Updating Table of Contents...
Saving 'Service_Call_Fields.doc'...
Generating 'Service_Call_Fields.pdf'...
Failed the generate PDF file 'C:\[PROJECT_NAME]\!SSL!\WebHelp\LinkedDocs\Service_Call_Fields.pdf'...
Failed to save 'Service_Call_Fields.doc'...
Cleaning up temporary files...

Internal error encountered,  Failed to generate Printed Documentation."

(Where [PROJECT_NAME] is the name of my project)

T
Tim D MorrisAuthor
Inspiring
February 6, 2012

I take it the lines starting Building cover all the content.

Try one of the sample projects and see if you get the same problem. That will tell us whether this is a general problem or a project problem.

Click Open on the RoboHelp Starter page and then click Samples in the ribbon on the left.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge


Yes, all seven topics are listed.  Not sure if this matters, but I did locate in--and remove from--the "Work with Service" topic an instance of the "span:specialbold" style.  I regenerated the printed documentation.  The output view still indicates this style is being removed.  I checked all seven topics used for this document.  That style is not being used in any of the seven topics.  I saved all pages, closed the project, re-opened it, and regenerated the printed documentation.  The same warning is still being displayed even though that style does not appear to be in use in any of the topics. Regarding results, I still get the same errors and still get the correct MS Word document.

Just checking, too.  I've seen references in some of the other forum posts to a plug-in RoboHelp requires for generating the .pdf files. If I am seeing the Adobe PDF printer in my list of available printers, can generate PDF files from an MS Word document, and the option in RoboHelp to generate Adobe .pdf documents in the "Output format" group box on the Printed Documentation General screen is enabled, is it still possible that I am missing the plug-in or some other part of the setup for printing .pdf documents?  Does the Adobe PDF printer option need to be selected as my default printer when generating the printed documentation?  Thanks!

Also, noticed the 2:42 AM post.  Hope you got some sleep .

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