RoboHelp 8 - slow performance

[dsarig]

I am working with RoboHelp 8 and it is working very slowly.
It opens up slowly and sometimes one topic takes over 10 seconds to open up.

I upgraded the projects from RoboHelp 6.

Working in a local directory made no difference.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Debbie

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Debbie.

I know you said that "working in a local directory made no difference" but it sounds like you are ignoring one of the major rules of RH. If you run over a network it is almost certainly cause you problems as part of every RH project is an Access DB. These are known to have problems when run over a network. By all means back up to a network drive but you'd be best advised to create a local directory for your source (e.g. C:\RH). Quite apart from the possibility for corrupted project files you should find the project runs a lot more quickly. If this does not solve your problem, close the project, locate and rename the projectname.cpd file and then reopen the project.

[DominiqueMS]

Hi Debbie,

I encounter the same problem and posted about it a few weeks ago.
See the following thread where you can find information on the tests you could carry on to try and locate the problem:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=449&threadid=1427430

Unfortunately, all tests I have made have given me no clue what's happening. The Adobe guys have looked at my projects via Peter Grainge, but they have not found the culprit. It seems there is an issue with my css, although they acknowledge this should not be problem.

You can fill in a bug form - if several of us report this problem, it should be taken ito account :

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38

I'll let you know if I find a solution.

Dominique

[Peter Grainge]

See Using RH8 on my site.

I have been emailed by another user with a solution. It is not verified so you use it at your own risk.

[gsmichaels]

I have been experiencing significant wait times when opening or saving RH8 files from the C: drive. (Am also working with RS, located on the network, to which I check in  frequently.)

I am wondering whether the solution proposed by Julian McGirr and published on Peter's website has been "verified," and is known to be safe? I have found the BaseCSS.DLL, referenced in McGirr's solution in my C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHTML folder.

Many thanks

glennito

[Peter Grainge]

In this context "not verified" means that the solution has not been through Adobe's testing so it is not an official solution. Even if it had been, bugs in any software mean that ultimately nothing can be 100% safe. With that said, nobody has reported that it has done any harm.

Sorry, but it has to be your call.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi glennito,

I think you'll find that the vast majority of the advice, workarounds and solutions given by people on these forums is "not verified" in the sense that Peter talks about. That doesn't mean they don't work. If you are in any way unsure, take a backup and try it out. It doesn't cost anything apart from a little effort.

---

Read the RoboColum(n) for mutterings on RoboHelp, Technical Communication Suite and technical communication.

[gsmichaels]

I took your advice and experienced a remarkable improvement in processing response. Many thanks to all.

It does slightly unnerve one to make even a simple system adjustment that hasn't been officially sanctioned by the experts given the value and importance of the product (online help) I am responsible for maintaining. However, I did create the suggested backup.

Having seen no subsequent complaints resulting from the adjustment by the forum members responsible for the original postings, I am reassured.

Glenn Scott Michaels

602.257.0857

[DominiqueMS]

Hi all,

After ten days of testing and trying to figure out what's wrong, in 3 minutes I solved the problem by applying the solution found on Peter Grainge's Website. At last!

Topic opening is now instantaneous and Robohelp is much faster on the whole.

Hopefully an update will soon integrate this.

Good day to all and many many thanks to Julian McGirr for finding what was wrong and providing so simple a solution, and to Peter for making it public.

Dominique

[Guest]

Hello,

I applied the fix suggested by Julian McGirr and published on Peter's website

http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh8/using_rh8.htm  (see "RH8 is slow opening topics in the WYSIWYG editor").

It made a huge difference. I am very grateful to Julian for posting this suggestion!

Thank you!

Nancy

.

[dasq]

Thank you BagBalm!

After so many days, you were the first one to actually post a link to http://www.grainge.org which was referred to so many times.

A new comer.

[Peter Grainge]

My first post in the thread did tell you where it could be found on my site and my signature has a link to the site. See below.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[gsmichaels]

I resolved this problem so long ago, I've forgotten what I did or didn't do. In any case, the information obtained through the Grainge website  - I believe - provided the solution I needed, for which I am tremendously appreciative. 

If I failed, somehow, to acknowledge my debt on the Abode forum or elsewhere, I apologize sincerely.

Both the Forum and the Grainge website are invaluable resources.

Glenn Scott Michaels

602.257.0857

[Guest]

I have read everyone's suggestions but still have a problem. I have checked for updates and am now at 8.0.2. The slow problem I'm having is not with the opening of files, which isn't as fast as I would like, but isn't too bad. Instead, when I type anything there is about a 1/2 second delay between what's typed on the keyboard and what appears on the screen. Because of the delay, you have to wait constantly or you make corrections to the wrong place. Is anyone else having this problem?

[RoboColum_n_]

You say working locally made no difference which seems to imply that you were not running locally. You may have a corrupted project as a result. Try deleting the project's CPD file. If that doesn't work, you may be best checking out the information at this link.

---

• Read the RoboColum(n) for a tips, tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.
• Follow the RoboColum(n) on Twitter

[dasq]

Thanks for your good intentions.

Unfortunately I am not running RH8.02 locally and I have already tried the deletion of the CPD file which has not improved a thing. The fact is that RH8 (up to 8.02) is a speed hog and Adobe has failed at correcting this ridiculous flaw. For this reason I have decided to trash RoboHelp altogether as I'm about to port all my help files to WordPress. Adios Adobe!

Thanks anyway for your kind (but dubious) intentions, although I'm rather surprised that Adobe keeps offering the same bad solutions to redundant questions regarding a very bad speed problem which is not about to go away.

Obviously, this attitude is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE.

Cheers,

-Dasq

++++++++++++++++++

Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:59:34 -0700

From: forums@adobe.com

To: dasq@hotmail.com

Subject: RoboHelp 8 - slow performance

You say working locally made no difference which seems to imply that you were not running locally. You may have a corrupted project as a result. Try deleting the project's CPD file. If that doesn't work, you may be best checking out the information at http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/opening/opening_projects.htm.

----

• Read the http://notcolin.wordpress.com/ for a tips, tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.

• Follow the RoboColum(n) on http://twitter.com/robocolumn

>

[Peter Grainge]

You are using RH on a network and it was not designed for that, as is well known. Yet you blame Adobe for the fact that RH does not work when you run it contrary to the recommended method. Have I got something wrong there?

It's like ignoring you car manufacturer's instructions to put petrol in your petrol car and complaining it does not run too well on diesel.

I am trying to understand why you think this is Adobe's fault.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

[dasq]

This is quite hilarious Peter.

You keep insisting that I must be using RH8.02 on a network and I keep answering THAT I'M NOT ON A FRIGGING NETWORK. I DO NOT USE A NETWORK AT ALL. With 25 years of computer experience, I think I would know.

Furthermore, please avoid car examples in these hard times, I might be talked into using petrol in my electric car, duh.

The fact of the matter is that RH8 is a stinking turd, period. It has huge difficulties handling a project of ±500 web pages. I repeat : NOTHING TO DO WITH A NETWORK, NOR IS IT SET TO BE PUBLISHED ON A NETWORK. RH8 just chokes.

Indeed, I think it's Adobe's fault, simply because RH has been quickly patched by Adobe since they acquired it from, eHelp.

There are still a lot of untreated bugs regarding the handling of template headers (worse than previous version), spell checking, general speed, import/export, plus overall stability and ease of use.

Is it Adobe's fault? Of course it is. They botched it to market and didn't do much to improve it aside from cleaning those silly proprietary tags left behind by eHelp, and even at that the code is still unacceptable in my books. For example, try checking RH generated code with Adobe Dreamweaver and see for yourself. Yet both Dreamweaver and RH are Adobe products.

Nothing personal here Peter, just a reality check.

Let me put it this way for your better enlightment.

It's like ignoring your car manufacturer's instructions to fill up a normal car tank with regular gasoline, then complain it only does 3 m/g, if it runs at all. And before you suggest anything, NO the tank is NOT PERFORATED, and YES the gasoline is fine. So, who's fault is it?

++++++++++++++++

Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:29:27 -0700

From: forums@adobe.com

To: dasq@hotmail.com

Subject: RoboHelp 8 - slow performance

You are using RH on a network and it was not designed for that, as is well known. Yet you blame Adobe for the fact that RH does not work when you run it contrary to the recommended method. Have I got something wrong there?

It's like ignoring you car manufacturer's instructions to put petrol in your petrol car and complaining it does not run too well on diesel.

I am trying to understand why you think this is Adobe's fault.

----

See http://www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me http://twitter.com/petergrainge

>

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Whoa - chill out Debbie!

You clearly state in post #16 that you're not running it locally - that's why everybody was thinking that you were.

The other posters on this thread that were having speed issues seem to have had their problem resolved by the application of the method on Peter's site - you don't say if you tried it at all & if so, what the result was.

It's a bit hard to help someone if they don't give you some feedback. All the best to you in the WordPress area!

[Peter Grainge]

Well forgive me but I quote from your post

Unfortunately I am not running RH8.02 locally

So you now say you are not running it on a network and above you say you are not running it locally.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

[dasq]

Peter,

"not running RH8.02 locally" doesn't mean I'm running on a network. It simply means that "RH is not installed on my machine", but on a translator's home machine and he is NOT on a network.

I can see where the confusion lies due to a wrong extrapolation and/or feeble explanation on my part.

Furthermore, I can assure you that this customer's XP system and hardware are flawless. I know because I set it up myself.

I reiterate that RH is a speed hog for what it's supposed to do. Regardless of the speed problem, it still doesn't do well a lot of the things it should do, as mentioned earlier. I have applied all suggestions, including applying patch 8.02, checked all links, deleted unused files, removed and replaced the cpd file, etc. To no avail. Furthermore I find projects easily prone to corruption when making searches/replace and/or switching languages. This is totally ridiculous.

All I can say is that Adobe obviously cut a lot of corners on this one and they are extremely slow at fixing the many bugs that afflict RH8.

For such a price tag, this is certainly unacceptable.

So please, let's drop this discussion, shall we. Unfortunately, I don't

really have the time for this anymore.

Thanks anyway Peter, but I'm outta here.

[Peter Grainge]

Geez, now why didn't I realise Debbie was telling us her machine doesn't have RH but that is a red herring as the problem is on someone else's PC. It's a bit like taking one of your car's to a garage and letting the mechanic work on it without mentioning the problem is with the other car that's at home.

For the benefit of anyone else looking at this thread, there has to be a logical explanation but one we will never get to as Debbie is more intent on flaming RoboHelp than giving us information that might help.

Odd that nobody else is complaining about this since Adobe fixed the problem.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

[dasq]

Your post was removed because it violates our adobe.com Terms of Use as well as our Adobe Community Guidelines

Message was edited by: Jochem van Dieten

[Guest]

take a breath, move on to some other application that will have its own issues and growing pains, and leave the rest of us to do our jobs and try to assist other users (without compensation, without reward, by the way, on our own time...).

you have a nice day.

Peter, wipe this off. Not even worth your time to respond.

Your post was partially removed because it violates our adobe.com Terms of Use as well as our Adobe Community Guidelines

Message was edited by: Jochem van Dieten

[dasq]

Your post was removed because it violates our adobe.com Terms of Use as well as our Adobe Community Guidelines

Message was edited by: Jochem van Dieten