Another PDF Fail - RH 2020

[#1]

I thought my questions were at an end. LOL

I am having no problem generating Responsive HTML for my large project, but the PDF output has not yet been successful. I've poured over my project to try to figure out why it keeps failing, but I'm at a loss. Here is what I've checked so far.

• Java SE Runtime 8u261 is installed to its default installation path 64-bit machine, 64-bit version.
• Adobe Robohelp is installed to its default installation path
• My RoboHelp project is built on my local D drive, but it is synched with a folder on Dropbox for backup and distribution to the company I am doing the docs for
• There are no broken links (close to 800 topics total in two manuals)
• One mystery file was listed in the RoboHelp log. I kept getting one message in the log that it failed to copy D:/Dropbox/ ....... (project path) ...../contents/assets/masterpages/_rhdefault.css. So I manually created a copy of that file and pasted it into that location.  The error went away. The big puzzle is what is calling for that file. I did a style sheets report and there is nothing using it. 
• I set up my publishing profile. The build log shows it found Java. It then goes through updating all of the HTML topics. Then it goes through merging all the topics. All these done without any errors listed.
• And then ... at the end of the log ... Error. Failed to generate Reference Manual.
• I also tried making a copy of the project on another hard drive without the Dropbox connection to test if it might be a Dropbox lag or something. That copy also failed.

I did try to build a PDF of the About RoboHelp project sample, and that generated fine. I guess I will have to take a deeper look at that to see if I might be missing something, but so far things seem pretty straightforward.

I've checked and double-checked my project settings, css references, links, used and unused files. Given what I explain above, is there anything else I should look for?  

[#2]

I thought my questions were at an end. LOL

I am having no problem generating Responsive HTML for my large project, but the PDF output has not yet been successful. I've poured over my project to try to figure out why it keeps failing, but I'm at a loss. Here is what I've checked so far.

• Java SE Runtime 8u261 is installed to its default installation path 64-bit machine, 64-bit version.
• Adobe Robohelp is installed to its default installation path
• My RoboHelp project is built on my local D drive, but it is synched with a folder on Dropbox for backup and distribution to the company I am doing the docs for
• There are no broken links (close to 800 topics total in two manuals)
• One mystery file was listed in the RoboHelp log. I kept getting one message in the log that it failed to copy D:/Dropbox/ ....... (project path) ...../contents/assets/masterpages/_rhdefault.css. So I manually created a copy of that file and pasted it into that location.  The error went away. The big puzzle is what is calling for that file. I did a style sheets report and there is nothing using it. 
• I set up my publishing profile. The build log shows it found Java. It then goes through updating all of the HTML topics. Then it goes through merging all the topics. All these done without any errors listed.
• And then ... at the end of the log ... Error. Failed to generate Reference Manual.
• I also tried making a copy of the project on another hard drive without the Dropbox connection to test if it might be a Dropbox lag or something. That copy also failed.

I did try to build a PDF of the About RoboHelp project sample, and that generated fine. I guess I will have to take a deeper look at that to see if I might be missing something, but so far things seem pretty straightforward.

I've checked and double-checked my project settings, css references, links, used and unused files. Given what I explain above, is there anything else I should look for?  

[#3]

given that the "failed to copy" message references the masterpages folder, have you checked the stylesheet attached to the master page used for the pdf output preset?

[#4]

That was actually a good suggestion, but no reference in that stylesheet to that mystery _rhdefault.css. It's a real puzzle where it's coming from. LOL

[#5]

Are you doing anything like importing Word files through the Link functionality? If so, perhaps the import settings are referencing it?

[#6]

It was initially imported from a Word file, but then broken apart into individual HTML topics. The only external references in the project are external URLs. 

There are a lot of topics, but other than that it's pretty straightforward HTML and CSS.

[#7]

Use the Find and Replace to search for  _rhdefault.css. In Settings, select Find in Source View.