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Question

Word has not been started on this computer

Forum|Forum|17 years ago
May 7, 2008
9 replies
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I have the Adobe Technical Communication Suite and Microsoft Office 2007 installed on my office computer. My operating system is Windows Vista. In RoboHelp HTML, I have been trying to generate printed documentation through the Single Source Layouts, but I receive the following error message every time: "Microsoft Word has not been started on this computer. Launch Word and click the 'Start using Microsoft Word' option before generating Printed Documentation again."

I have indeed opened Word--many times in fact--and I don't see an option for "Start using Microsoft Word," so I'm stumped.

I am an administrator on the computer, and I installed both Office 2007 and TCS, in that order, on my system.

In attempting to resolve the problem, I have
- Tried to generate printed documentation for both old and new projects
- Tried generating .doc, .docx, and .pdf files.
- Uninstalled TCS and Office 2007 and reinstalled them, with Office 2007 first and then TCS.
- Enabled all macros in Word 2007.
- Removed PDFMaker.dot, according to the suggestion on in the Print Issues section of Peter Grainge's Web site.

None of these attempts has corrected the problem. Interestingly, though, I can import a Word file into my RoboHelp
HTML project just fine.

If anyone has any suggestions for how to resolve this problem, I would be most grateful.

Documentation

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A

allanpsand

Participant

Here's the solution I've pieced together from the other responses.

Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 7\RoboHELP

(or whatever root directory path you have) and start "robohelp.exe".

Open a sample project, then close the robohelp window (File > Exit).

You should be able to run the printed documentation feature now.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Welcome to the forum Allanpsand

There's another thread running in this so I will copy your reply there and hope it works. Thanks.

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Realised a bit late that solution is starting RH for Word. That's already in the other thread.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?forumid=65&catid=454&threadid=1363595&enterthread=y

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Interesting and thanks for posting the solution.

There was an entirely different problem described in Snippet 40 on my site and opening RH for Word fixed that.

The elves at play again.

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Can you install on another PC in trial mode with My Documents in the default location?

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H

houghstr

Participant

I have encountered the same error message and after quite a bit of investigation, the error message is not even associated with RoboHelp for HTML. It originates from RoboHelp for Word. I'm only guessing, but could it be that there is a conflict with a shared DLL...?

The installation that I am having problems with is on a client desktop with the following configuration: RoboHelp 7, MS Office 2003, Windows XP Pro SP2. My business laptop (I'm a consultant) has the same configuration and the print documentation process works fine. I am able to get the output I need, but because my client uses version control (VSS) with RoboHelp, I don't like the idea of having to move projects back and forth.

Several other tech writers at the client site have suggested that because the machines are running a CAT client that there may be some conflict (my business laptop is not running any such client), but unfortunately, I haven't had much time to investigate further.

Hope I haven't muddied the waters...

A

Anonymous

I has the same frustrating problem. I even called Adobe support, and they couldn't help. I then found that opening a sample project in Robohelp for Word resolved it. I was then able to generate printed documentation in RH HTML. While in RH for Word, I generated some help and some printed documentation. Then I closed it and openbed RH HTLM, and all was well. Apparently, using RH for Word helped RH HTML to recognize Word. Perhaps it did something to the registry.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

There's another thread running on this problem and Colum has reminded me of one possibility I had overlooked. Do you have Open Office installed on your PC?

If so, the answer is in Snippets on my site.

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M

mastwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Peter, it's a good thought, but I don't have Open Office installed on my computer.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

mastw

I am sorry but I have not been able to find any further information. Have you managed to resolve the Word has not been started problem?

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M

mastwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks, Peter, for trying to track down an answer. Last Wednesday I attempted to access your Web site to follow the troubleshooter, but your site was down, so I still haven't tried that approach yet.

I did, however, try moving the Documents directory back to its original location to no avail. I also checked again to make sure Word 2007 is pointing to the correct directory, and it is. Next, I uninstalled the Technical Communication Suite, deleted all the Adobe folders located on the drive, and deleted all Adobe registry entries. I then ran a registry cleaner to try to remove any leftovers and restarted the machine. Finally, I reinstalled the TCS, using the run as an administrator option.

Alas, nothing has worked, and I'm still receiving the error message when trying to create printed documentation.

As much as I dread the thought of doing so, I may just reformat the drive, and then reinstall Vista and my apps. Of course, if the problem exists even after that option, I may have to resort to uncontrollable sobbing or swearing or both.

Again, thanks for making suggestions and checking into possible solutions. I'm grateful for your help.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Making some enquiries.

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I think particular folder is OK as it is a Word setting in Tools | Options | Files. That worked OK under XP with RH as I always kept My Documents on the D Drive.

What I was concerned about was that Documents was moved before Word was installed so did it pick that change up. Depends how Documents was moved. I suspect that like My Documents under XP there was a right and a wrong way.

All that said, I'll be surprised if this is the issue.What you have prompted me to ask though Leon is whether both Word and TCS were installed to the C drive?

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M

mastwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Sorry for not clarifying. Yes, I installed Word and the Technical Communication Suite to the C drive.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I can't say that Run As Administrator will work. Quite simply your problem is one I haven't seen and there is no logical answer that I can think of. Thus it is going to be trial and error.

Does Word default to the Documents directory given that it was moved before Word was installed?

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MergeThis

Inspiring

There might be some clue to the problem in this: "I did, however, move my Documents directory to a different partition, but I did so before installing either Word or the Technical Communication Suite."

I don't think the Registry entries required by RH can be accessed across partitions, can they?

Good luck,
Leon

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Welcome to the forum.

I think the only time I saw that, it was a true message!

The combo you have is what I have here so that is not it.

I think when you install there is a right click option Run As Administrator. Have you tried that? I don't think that is it but might be worth a try.

Source and target are local? Again, doubt that is it.

In the Using RH7 article on my site, there is a link to Adobe's troubleshooting guide. For this problem, that might be worth a look.

Wrong message but do you have Open Office installed? Anything unusual about the Word installation? Where does Normal.dot reside?

All installed with the same logon as when you run RH? Shouldn't be necessary with RH7 but who knows with this one.

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M

mastwAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the reply, Peter.

I didn't try the right-click option to run as Administrator since I am the administrator on the machine and since I have User Account Control turned off, which should give me full privileges. But I'm willing to try installing again using this method if you think it might help.

Source and target are local.

I haven't run through the troubleshooting guide yet, but I will do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

I don't have Open Office installed. I don't believe there is anything unusual about the Word installation. The Normal.dotm file is located at user/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Templates. I did, however, move my Documents directory to a different partition, but I did so before installing either Word or the Technical Communication Suite. I think that's the only anomaly.

Yes, all software was installed from the same login. I'm the sole user and account on the system.

Thanks again for the advice. I'll report back when I've tried running through the troubleshooting steps on your Web site.

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