RH2019 Is Slow When Creating New Topics

[Cynthia Pao]

I'm running RH2019.0.14 on Windows 10

I have a large help project, and it gets larger everyday since I'm converting topics to the new version.

When I create a new topic and add index tags, the UI is very slow as I add tags. 

Has anyone else had this issue? How can I fix it?

I am running RH2019 new and classic at the same time to convert my topics. Also, I see several RH processes running in my task manager, yet I've only opened the two instances.

Thank you!

Cindy

[Peter Grainge]

I have a large help project, and it gets larger everyday since I'm converting topics to the new version.

Please define large.

When I create a new topic and add index tags, the UI is very slow as I add tags. Has anyone else had this issue? How can I fix it?

Not a problem I am seeing or seeing reported.

I am running RH2019 new and classic at the same time to convert my topics. Also, I see several RH processes running in my task manager, yet I've only opened the two instances.

I often run both without any problem and yes you will see various processes. Are these projects local and what's the spec of the machine?

[Cynthia Pao]

Hi, Peter:

Right now, my project has about 300 topics, and it is a local project that I push up to our git repo.

Machine specs: Intel Core i7-6600U CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.81 GHz

16.0 GB RAM

64-bit operating system, x64-based proessor

Windows 10 Enterprise version 1903

Did I get that right?

[Peter Grainge]

That's far from large. 🙂

My guess would be that it is something to do with your source control. Try opening one of the sample projects and do a little bit of work in those to compare.

[Cynthia Pao]

I'll give that a try.

I have to admit, though, the answer made me groan a little bit. A few weeks ago, I did much work to integrate RH with our git repos, and we were never able to get it work. To think that there's some leftover connection slowing things down would make me very unhappy.

[Amebr]

Hmm I thought someone had complained about slow index behaviour, although I also seem to remember it was related to very large indexes, which shouldn't be a problem for a 300 topic project. You could check here: https://tracker.adobe.com/ or look through the release notes https://helpx.adobe.com/robohelp/kb/fixed-issues.html

[Peter Grainge]

Amber - That jogged my memory but I think the issue was with exceptionally large indexes.

[Cynthia Pao]

Deleting the connection to git didn't help the speed at all.

I tried the following to improve speed:

• Create topic without putting index entries in the initial dialog box. Opened properties later and added entries. No improvement (might have been even slower).
• In RH2019 classic, I generated an index report and opened it in Word. Previously, I had been opening the Properties dialog box in RH2019 classic. When I created a new topic, adding index entries is again slow.

Later, I'll try adding index entries when I have only RH2019 open (and the classic closed), but I'm not holding out hope.

Does this mean nothing can be done at this time?

Cindy

[Amebr]

Where are your projects located? If on a network drive, copy one to your C drive and try again.

If they're in your Documents folder, it's possible that is a network location too (that's what my work does - it looks local but isn't). Copy a project to c:\MyProjects, or something and see if that helps.

[Cynthia Pao]

Hi, Amebr:

My projects are not in the Documents folder. They're saved in C:\Users\UserID\source\repos\RoxCDoxCDev\RoxCNewHelp.

I keep them outside the documents folder because I push them up to my git repository.

Thanks!

Cindy

[Peter Grainge]

Not in Documents but that's still in your user profile so it would be the same issue that Amber was getting at.

[Cynthia Pao]

So far, nothing is working to improve the performance.

I'm not connected to the office network unless I log in - my team uses other tools to do our work so we don't log in.

Updating the AV scan didn't help.

And the thing is, as far as my work is concerned, the performance hit only happens when I work on the index.

I give up...

[Peter Grainge]

Can you share the project with me? If you can, see the Contact page on my site.

[Peter Grainge]

The thread started with the project being slow when you create topics. Now you are saying "And the thing is, as far as my work is concerned, the performance hit only happens when I work on the index".

Please clarify.

[Cynthia Pao]

Good morning, Peter:

I cannot share the project with you. This is internal, proprietary software...

So, when I started the thread, I was experiencing slowness in creating new topics. I would choose the option to create a new topic and type the topic name and file name, then add index terms. Adding the index terms was slow, as was clicking the Add button when I finished.

Since we've started this thread, I stopped adding the index terms when I create the topic. Creating the topic is faster now. But when I go back later to add the index terms, it's slow once again. When I click in the index field, the cursor line shows for a second, then disappears. It takes a a couple of seconds for the cursor to reappear (and flash) in the field. As I add terms, I have to wait for a couple of seconds between adding each term for the cursor to reappear.

I hope that helps - and I apologize for the confusion.

Cindy

[Peter Grainge]

Slow indexing was a known issue but corrected in Update 12, which you have applied. Whilst the project is not large, how heavy is the indexing?

If you go to Reports > Index, you can download the index as a CSV file. That will give you the number of lines. Post that and I will see if Adobe can throw any light on it.

It might help to know if you would be willing to share the project direct with Adobe.

[Cynthia Pao]

Peter,

I just downloaded the index, but the downloaded file is not correct. The Excel file has 251 entries, but it is not complete. So the index is in excess of 251 items.

I have finished the bulk of the work to convert the help project from 2019 Classic to 2019 (which I did by re-creating the topics, not importing them), so this isn't an issue any longer. I think I will just let this issue die.

Thank you for your help along the way!

Cindy

[Peter Grainge]

That suggests to me the index is somehow corrupt. Whilst I haven't downloaded an index file, all the other reports I have downloaded have been complete.

I suggest you use Explorer and locate the index file in your project. It's easy to find. Create a copy somewhere and open the copy in a text editor. Examine that.

[Cynthia Pao]

If by corrupt you mean empty, then it's corrupt!

Weird...

The empty index file makes no sense. When I compile the help, there's an index.

[Peter Grainge]

My apologies, I was forgetting the actual terms are not held there any more, they are in the topics now.

Adobe fixed the index problem but maybe there are still scenarios where there could be problems. Before I ask, you didn't indicate whether you can share the project with them.

[Cynthia Pao]

Peter,

I didn't indicate if I could because I'm not sure I want to share it with them. The last time I worked with support to get RH hooked up with git, they were not able to identify or fix the problem.

What you said about the topics holding the keywords makes sense. I just created a dummy project, and the same thing happened with the index file.

I'll chat with my manager and see if he wants me to proceed with sharing the project with support.

Cindy

[Cynthia Pao]

Is this what an index line should look like in the topic file?

<meta name="rh-index-keywords" content="command bars,pinning command bars,displaying:command bars,hiding:command bars,showing:command bars,unpinning command bars" />

[Peter Grainge]

Who said anything about Support? I will be asking further along the line and they may ask for the project.

[Amebr]

Regarding the index report not showing all the terms, I've found the reports are incomplete until I scroll to the end of the report. This may take a bit of time as only one "page" loads at a time and you have to wait for the page to finish loading before you can get continue scrolling. (I have 2019 update 12, although I'm only using it for testing, not production work.)

[Amebr]

Sorry, yes that's what I mean. The downloaded report is incomplete unless you scroll to the bottom of the report in Robohelp.