"File in Use" error when generated doc file or Printed Documentation output

[MDoogieY]

When I try to generate Printed Documentation, during (what's reported as) the Updating images... phase, I get the first of a couple of messages in a pop-up box:
Title: File in Use
Text of message: tmp.doc is locked for editing by 'mhopkins'.
Do you want to:
o Open a Read only copy
o Create a local copy and merge your changes later
o Receive notification when the original copy is available.
OK / Cancel
If you select an option and press OK, it continues to try to process.
and ultimately fails with this message:
Internal error encountered, Failed to generate Printed Documentation.

[RoboColum_n_]

Who is "Mhopkins"? is it you? The problem is caused by "them" having a lock on the file required to produce the output. Try closing/restarting RoboHelp. If that doesn't work, reboot your PC and report back if this works.

[MDoogieY]

Yes, I'm mhopkins. I've tried overwriting the file I would typically generate as well as, in the case of tmp.doc, creating a brand new file. The results are the same regardless.

Yes, I have attempted to reboot, clean out all the "old" broken files, and I'm still seeing the same results. I am able to build WebHelp, my other output format, cleanly.

[MDoogieY]

Is it possible there's a limit on how big the file can be? When I created a new printed document format and added one of the books to it, I was able to generate a doc file easily.

During the last attempt, I looked at the file after the crash and it is generating up to a point, but the TOC is:
Table of Contents
Error! Bookmark not defined.

But the index is basically fine.

[Peter Grainge]

Open one of the supplied sample projects and try to create a printed document from that.

Is your project on your local drive?

[MDoogieY]

Sorry, I didn't see this post.  I did not try the sample products, but I have no problem generating the other 10 or so help projects I use.  Only this one fails.

I tried to divide it in half, do only half the topics in one file, and half in the other, and I was still unable to generate it.

[MDoogieY]

Updating again:

Given the impending deadline, it became suddenly imparative that I have working PDF file.

This is how I got one:

Print to a word documnent

choose "Save to a different file" when I get the error
After all the errors complete processing (Word started, crashed, and restarted a few times) and Word opens with the recovered file:
manually generate the toc in word

save as with a new name (save doesn't work, still gives an error about how the file is locked to me)

Save as PDF

If I had to guess, it's choking on creating the TOC.