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RoboHelp starts Distiller but cannot find TPS files, which prevents you from generating the project

New Here ,
Sep 30, 2016 Sep 30, 2016

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Windows 10 pro, version 1607, OS Build 14393.187, System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

FrameMaker 11.0.2.384

RoboHelp 10.0.1.292

A FrameMaker book is linked into a project in RoboHelp. The project is set up with Use Distiller to Generate Images checked. Do Not Regenerate Images is left unchecked. Until June this year the project would generate correctly, with Distiller popping up regularly to generate a PDF from a TPS. This week we have several projects to regenerate for a major product release. When I choose Update > Force Update on the book file, generation starts, but as soon as Distiller starts it produces an error message saying 'C:\...\Pdf000002.tps Cannot open this file. Please check that the correct path and filename are given.' The generation stops unless you click OK, and if you do click OK immediately produces the same error message, and stops again. If I unselect Use Distiller to Generate Images then the project generates, with poor image quality. The .tps file is in the quoted temporary directory and can be opened manually in Distiller.

I've been through all discussions related to this issue but have found no solution. The Watched folders... option in Distiller also seems to make no difference.

I would be most grateful if someone could point me towards a solution.

Distiller_cannot_find_tps_files.png

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Community Expert ,
Sep 30, 2016 Sep 30, 2016

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If this worked before, what's changed since then? Are you having any issues creating PDFs in either FM or RH?

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New Here ,
Oct 03, 2016 Oct 03, 2016

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What's changed since then is updates. The Windows 10 Anniversary Update comes to mind.

I have no problems generating PDFs from FrameMaker, and only use RH to generate OLH, using a Multiscreen_HTML5 layout.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 03, 2016 Oct 03, 2016

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If that was the case, then I would expect you not to be able to create PDFs in FM or any other application. You have the full version of Acrobat, right? (not just the headless version that ships with FM).

Try creating a PDF of a topic in RH – see if that works.

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New Here ,
Oct 04, 2016 Oct 04, 2016

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We have Adobe Technical Communication Suite 4, which was installed as an update for TCS 2.

With this we have the aforementioned versions of FrameMaker, Robohelp, as well as Adobe Distiller XI, Professional Version 11.0.179.

I have no problems generating PDFs from FrameMaker books. Have just generated a guide as a PDF in Robohelp using the Printed Documentation Single Source Layout, and that worked fine, though of course the result bears no relation to the PDFs we generated directly from Frame.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 05, 2016 Oct 05, 2016

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I think you're going to have to call Adobe Support - something is messing up the operations of the Distiller when it's invoked from RH.

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New Here ,
Jun 08, 2017 Jun 08, 2017

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Was this ever resolved?

We are having this exact same issue. Adobe support was unable to fix it. Reinstalling the software didn't help.

This is literally the only google result for this particular problem - can't find anyone else who experienced it, or any hints on what may be causing it.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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I am not a Fm user but bear with me.

From Fm, you can generate an online output without opening RoboHelp. Do you also generate an online output that way and does that work OK or do you link to RoboHelp and generate the online output from there.?

If the latter is your workflow, have you tried generating a Word doc instead and creating the PDF from that.

The issue of RoboHelp not creating a PDF directly is unusual now but we do see it from time to time.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring information

@petergrainge

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New Here ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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Unfortunately, Framemaker doesn't give us the type of HTML output we need. We've had success using the Framemaker -> Robohelp -> HTML process, but this error is now stopping us cold.

To clarify exactly when the error is occuring, importing content from Frame into Robohelp has 3 stages:

1) Link a Frame book in Robohelp to connect the two programs.

2) Import all images and content into Robohelp (Update>Generate or Update>ForceUpdate)

3) Generate HTML5/Webhelp Pro output.

The error shown above is occurring during step 2.

We don't see this error during any other PDF-related actions.

We've completely reinstalled Windows 10 and the entire Technical Communication suite 4 - which includes Framemaker 11, Acrobat Pro XI, and Robohelp 10 as a single installed package. This error is entirely repeatable, and occurs across all of the several hundred Frame documents we manage.

The problem seems to be with Distiller, more than Robohelp or Frame specifically. From what I can understand of the Frame->Robohelp software workflow, it seems as though Distiller takes an image in Frame as a background layer, takes any text captions or arrows that were in the image's anchored frame as a top layer, merges the layers together as a PDF, and then saves the pdf as a .jpg/.png/etc. to be used by Robohelp.

As part of that workflow, Distiller creates Temporary Post-Script (.tps) files in a AppData/Local/Temp/ folder. For some reason that we can't figure out, some of the .tps files that it creates, Distiller is unable to open. Because it can't open the files, it produces the error, and the import process comes to a halt.

However, while the process hangs, I can go into that folder, find the .tps file, and open it in Distiller manually. It is processed into a PDF without problem at that stage. So the issue doesn't seem to be with the file itself, but that the temporary file is being called before it is properly created.

Unfortunately, Adobe Support had no fix for this issue. Since this is the only google result for this error that I could find, I was really, really hoping that Surged had better luck.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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Just for a laugh, try creating a new blank project & import the FM content into it (not link) - I suspect that the same issue may occur, but it's worth eliminating linking vs importing as a cause.

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New Here ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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Sadly, yeah. Encounter the same error.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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Have you tried updating your copies of FM, RH and Acrobat to the latest patched versions? I fix may have appeared since TCS4 came out.

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New Here ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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Yeah, we had pinned our hopes on it being something like that, but the Adobe Update Manager says they're all up to date:

Frame 11: 11.0.2.384

Robohelp 10: 10.0.1.292

Acrobat XI Pro: 11.0.20

Distiller XI: 11.0.2017

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Community Expert ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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You may have to bite the bullet & upgrade to TCS2017

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Community Expert ,
Jun 09, 2017 Jun 09, 2017

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We never heard back from the OP - it seems to be a failure in the processing of the Conversion Settings' command to "Use Distiller to Generate Images" setting, not in the creation of PDFs from FM or from RH.

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New Here ,
Jun 15, 2017 Jun 15, 2017

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Final update for people finding this via google:

After over a week with Adobe support, local tech support, and installing and reinstalling everything from windows to drivers and software, we were unable to fix this issue.

We gave up.

Thankfully, we had two (identical) laptops where the software worked flawlessly. So we cloned the harddrive of one of the working laptops, and installed the clone onto the laptop that wasn't working. This, FINALLY, got everything working.

No idea what causes this error, but it doesn't seem to be related to hardware or user setup/permissions - it's some kind of software issue that survives repeated attempts to install/uninstall/reinstall/fix/update the adobe software.

If you're one of the unfortunate souls that encounter this issue, your only apparent hope is to have a functioning computer that you can image and replicate.

Good luck!

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Community Expert ,
Jun 15, 2017 Jun 15, 2017

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Not the only way to produce a PDF. The other solution as I suggested is to

generate a Word doc and then the PDF. The result will be the same.

Or am I misunderstanding a point?

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New Here ,
Jun 15, 2017 Jun 15, 2017

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I'm afraid you're missing the point.

The goal is to import Framemaker documents into Robohelp. As a part of the process, images in frame are automatically exported to .jpg/.png via distiller. Distiller was encountering an error during that process.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 15, 2017 Jun 15, 2017

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Got it. Thanks for clarifying.

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New Here ,
Sep 18, 2017 Sep 18, 2017

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LATEST

I had a similar problem recently and was able to resolve it. At my company, we integrate our FrameMaker books into RoboHelp to generate help files, and we typically set up our projects with 'Use Distiller to Generate Images' checked, and 'Do Not Regenerate Images' unchecked. I generated my help file as usual, but all images that had callouts disappeared from my CHM file. All of my equations disappeared as well. Unchecking the 'Use Distiller to Generate Images' option restored the images and equations, but they were too blurry to use.

I wasted a lot of time trying various solutions that didn't work (grouping inside frames, importing images without changing DPI, adjusting image settings in RoboHelp, reloading all ATC software, etc), and finally happened upon the solution. I found a set of default *.joboptions files from a newly reloaded computer and then I replaced all *.joboptions files on my local hard drive. Oddly, they exist in many different directories. When I generated the CHM again, with 'Use Distiller to Generate Images' checked, all of my images and equations were restored. Hallelujah!  I hope this helps someone out there!

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