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RoboHelp 8 Crashes When Saving

New Here ,
Jul 16, 2010 Jul 16, 2010

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System: Windows Vista, SP2, 3.4ghz P4, 2.5gb ram

RoboHelp 8.02

Hey, any help for this issue I'm experiencing would be very helpful.

I have a project started from scratch in RH8. On one particular help topic, anytime I try to save a change--no matter what the change--RH8 crashes, with the following error message:

"Adobe RoboHelp 8 has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program."

There is a single button, labelled "Close the program."

The program is whited out, like it is typically unresponsive, and you can only click the button. RH8 of course closes and you lose all changes. I am using a master page and a modified default.css. Is there any kind of log that you can look at to see where the program crashes?

Appreciate any thoughts or ideas to fix this.

Rich

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Community Expert ,
Jul 17, 2010 Jul 17, 2010

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Have you tried deleting the CPD file and restarting RoboHelp to see if you can then edit this topic?

If not, don't open it but first run Update DHTML from the tools menu. Then open it and try editing.

If that doesn't work, try copying the content to a text file, deleting the topic and recreating it from the content of the text file.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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Contributor ,
Jul 13, 2011 Jul 13, 2011

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Hi,

I'm running RH 8.0.2.208, Webhelp

Win XP Pro 2002, SP3

RH is run locally on my computer, no server.  All files are saved to my hard drive.

I, too, have the same problem with saving and crashing, only my issue is specific to one project (and with any topic in that project).

It saves OK when I add a new topic! (just a few words in a file) but when I want to modify a topic already existing in the project, it crashes.

I deleted the cpd file and tried again, nothing works. Interesting though......that when it crashes and closes, I re-open the topic and notice the changes I made were SAVED. So, it seems to be saving, but can't quite recover...

I've tried to modify/save a previous project, no issues.

I've tried to modify/save a sample project, no issues.

The project I'm having difficult with is a brand new project (not related to other projects except in css, skin and some images, but all new content) and is much smaller than the previous project I tested.

It worked fine yesterday when I added one new topic + 3 images.  Today, I open RH to begin work again and can't save, but only when I work on an existing topic.

Are there any other things I can test or look for to find a cause and solution?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 13, 2011 Jul 13, 2011

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What's the path to the project? "Best practices" is something short like c:\projects\projectname\

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Contributor ,
Jul 13, 2011 Jul 13, 2011

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Well, it's C:\level1\level2\project. This is the same path level as other projects, which aren't causing an issue.....

Do you think simply by moving it to C:\level1, that this will solve the problem? Could it be that simple?

I'm still perplexed as to why creating and saving a new topic is successful, but modifying and saving a previously existing project causes it to crash. argh!

*******Adobe RoboHelp 8 has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.******************

Additional note:

After I created a new topic and saved it successfully, I closed the project.  I reopened the project and modified the newly created topic, and also saved it successfully.  When I modify a "previously" existing project (not one which was newly created) and save it, it crashes.

Maybe I should just rebuild the project and import everything?

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New Here ,
Mar 06, 2012 Mar 06, 2012

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JGaf -I am also having this problem.  My environment is identical to yours, and my project currently exists in C:\Projectname.  This is only happening in this particular project, and began this afternoon when I replaced a graphic.  The only workaround I have found is to avoid the Save and Save All icons like the plague.  My changes always save so far.  However, this workaround makes me a little nervous. . .

Any help or ideas from the community would be appreciated.

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Contributor ,
Mar 07, 2012 Mar 07, 2012

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Hi LeighSteele,

I'm sorry but I still haven't found a solution!  I tried to use keyboard shortcuts to save and I still have issues.  The only thing that's saviing me is that particulat project is shelved for a little while.  Of course, when I tried to demonstrate this issue to the IT guys, it didn't happen.  So, I'd say about 3 out of every 4 save crashes for me, when saving modified, existing files. Newly created files saved as expected.  I was under a tight deadline, so I closed the project and modified some of my docs in notepad! (the horror! ).  I was then able to open the project in RH and generate Webhelp with no issues.

I tested the project on a new laptop (new installation, brand new computer) and I was able to modify and save ONE file successfully.  This isn't a guarantee it's not going to happen again, so I'm bracing for the worst! 

For me, I don't know what triggered the error, if it was an image, a file, etc. I wish I knew what it was....

Sorry I can't be of more help, but I will post the results of working with the project on a new installation of RH on a new computer. 

Please keep us posted if you find a suitable solution!

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New Here ,
Mar 07, 2012 Mar 07, 2012

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LATEST

Weirdly enough, when I logged into the project today, I could click Save and Save All and had no issues.    Crazy!  I will keep you posted if I have the issue again and/or if I figure out the cause or solution.

Good luck with your new installation & project!!

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Explorer ,
Feb 10, 2011 Feb 10, 2011

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I have a purse-sized desk calendar in which I note what I work on each day, what I need to do the next day, etc. I make tick marks in it each time RoboHelp crashes. Yesterday, there were 7 crashes. Today just the one so far. The CPD workaround that Peter G mentions sometimes works, but not always. It seems as though RoboHelp gets confused if I make too many changes before I click save. I had one project a few weeks ago that I had to rebuild from scratch because it just became unusable. "Scratch" meaning I started a new project, then imported everything, including creating the TOC by "importing" the old one. It took the better part of the day, but it no longer crashes. This project is, I think, just too darn big. (One "parent" and 10 "children" and numerous subfolders.) I am thinking of experimenting with changing the virtual memory size. I recall Authorware and Doc2Help were sensitive to RAM size (one needed it to be bigger, the other needed it be smaller; neither worked well with "system managed" size.)

OH, and I'm on RH 8.02, Windows 7, 64-bit, Intel dual core E7200, 2.53 GHz, 4Gb RAM (in case the Adobe developers are paying attention).

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Community Expert ,
Feb 10, 2011 Feb 10, 2011

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Where is the project, local drive or network?

Is this with specific projects or any of them?

Do you get the same problem if you try with the sample projects?


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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Explorer ,
Feb 10, 2011 Feb 10, 2011

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Hi meKarla,
I don't think RH8 is officially supported on Win 7 64 bit, but it should work. The latest release of RH9 supports Win 7 64 bit fully.
By big project, do you mean the folder structures only or with the no of topics and resources.
What is the size of the project in terms of topics, snippets and images?
Is it an upgraded project or created from scratch?
Thanks

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Explorer ,
Feb 11, 2011 Feb 11, 2011

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  1. Are you all patched up in RH8? Yes, 8.02.208 is the latest. I’ve clicked the “Update” link many times, just to be sure.
  2. Running in XP mode or in the Win7 virtual machine? Not XP mode, not on a virtual machine.
  3. Have you thought about adding more RAM? LOL!! Adobe recommends 1Gb. I have 4Gb. I’ve looked at the Task Manager when it’s crashing and it looks fine. Might be a virtual memory issue, but I see nothing in RH docs that says to set it to any particular size. I have tried leaving it at System Managed, increasing it, decreasing it, but it has no effect that I've noticed.
  4. What is the size of the project in terms of topics, snippets and images? See http://help.globalscape.com/help/index.html. EFT Server version 6.2 is one that currently likes to crash, and it’s the biggest one. The project folder for EFT Server (minus the SSL folder) has 9294 files, 149 folders, 377MB.
  5. Is it an upgraded project or created from scratch? All of my projects so far have been upgraded from RH7. Some I’ve had even since RH6.
  6. I don't think RH8 is officially supported on Win 7 64 bit, but it should work. When IT wanted to give me a new computer, I told them I didn’t want to upgrade, because I’d have to upgrade RH. Later they told me RH8 was supported on Win 7, 64-bit and even sent me a link that said that. Since they released RH9, the Adobe website no longer says that, nor does the readme file. So perhaps they’d planned on 64-bit support when they first released RH8, but it didn’t work out? (I work at a software development company, so I know how that works, but we don’t release a product for a particular OS unless QA has tested it and it actually works.) I found the email from IT that told me RH8 is supported on Windows 7. It  doesn't specify 32- or 64-bit. Luckily he sent a screen shot, not just a  link, because the link now displays RH9 sysreqs, of course. I saved the  screen shot here if you want to see that I'm not crazy : http://help.globalscape.com/help/tutorials/image002.jpg
  7. Where is the project, local drive or network? Always my local drive. Just me, no other writers. No RH server, either.
  8. Is this with specific projects or any of them? Pretty much any of them, but only after I’ve been working in them for a while (which is most of them).
  9. Do you get the same problem if you try with the sample projects? Haven't tried any sample projects, but I would guess not, because I *think* I would have to be writing/editing in them every day for months before I would see problems.
  10. I had crashes with RH7, too, and was SO happy to upgrade to RH 8, partly because of the improved search capabilities, but mainly because I thought it would stop the insanity. The other day I was rebuilding an old project that has multiple sub folders and links. One of the subs is created by another company and I have to “rebrand” their help to fit in with ours. I also had to fix broken links, because some of the topics they reference are in a different location in our help. I would save frequently, because the stupid thing would crash every 20 minutes or so. Then when I open the project back up, all of the links I fixed were broken again! I’ve been trying to figure out where changes are saved in RH when I click Save, since it doesn’t appear to really save anything. Does it cache the saves and then save them all at once on close, or something else just as stupid? Do I need to save it differently than just clicking the Save icon? (I've clicked both of them with the same disappointing results.)
  11. When we release a new version, I update the existing project. Is that wrong? Should I be creating a new project every time we do a release? Just in EFT Server, we have v6, 6.1, 6.2, and numerous patches in between. I’d hate to rebuild that thing every time!

Thanks for listening,

Karla

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Community Expert ,
Feb 11, 2011 Feb 11, 2011

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Were you all patched up when you upgraded the projects from prior versions? There was a big bug early on that messed up old projects.

Adding more RAM is always a good idea - especially if you're running a 64 bit processor. I'd first try running RH8 in XP mode as an admin and see how it behaves.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 13, 2011 Feb 13, 2011

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Adobe never stated that RoboHelp 8 was supported on Windows 7 64 bit. What was stated was that they believed it should work but that it was not supported. A very different thing.

The number of topics is large. Typically I limit projects to 4/5000 and use merged help.

It sounds like deleting the CPD works unless you then go on and make lots of unsaved changes. So if you save more regularly and delete the CPD regularly, do you still have problems?

You can set RoboHelp 8 to automatically create a new CPD each time it opens. Note it is not a project specific setting.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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Explorer ,
Feb 17, 2011 Feb 17, 2011

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From your website: http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh8/using_rh8.htm

No

Date

Credit

Item

26
28 Dec 2010Duncan Baxter

RoboHelp 8 crashes on Windows 7.

RoboHelp 8 is supported on Windows 7, both 32 bit and 64 bit.  Most people are running it without problem and I have it installed on  three 32 bit machines.

The forums have a number of threads started by those who have  had problems but I think Duncan's solution looks more definitive than  some others.

To quote Duncan, "I now have RoboHelp 8 working perfectly well  in Windows 7. The issue was   resolved by disabling all non-Microsoft  Services in the 'Services' tab   of the System Configuration.

Follow this link if you want to see the full thread.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 17, 2011 Feb 17, 2011

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Thank you for pointing that out. It was my understanding at the time but subsquently I was advised that it was supported on 32 bit and should run OK on 64 bit, albeit not supported. I will correct that post.

With the volume of material on my site, it is difficult to ensure it is always correct.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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Explorer ,
Mar 03, 2011 Mar 03, 2011

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I *think* I *might* have figured out why my projects kept crashing. I have several "child" projects in a "parent" folder. They each worked fine until I moved them out of the parent folder. Then when I opened them, they would crash when I clicked save (yes, even if I deleted the CPD file). Then I created a new project and imported everything into the new project. Now it works fine. So I *think* the problem is that the child projects were each created in RH v6 or 7, and I'm now using 8. So creating a new project created them in the new version. BUT you have to be a bit methodical when you import the files. For example, if you have sub folders, create all of those first before you begin importing. Here is my method that seems to be working:

  1. Rename the corrupted project folder (e.g., Source63-corrupt).
  2. Create a new project folder (e.g., Source63).
  3. In Windows Explorer, copy the path to the new folder.
  4. Open RoboHelp HTML (from the Start menu or Desktop shortcut). (i.e., don't click File > New > Project.)
  5. Create a new blank project. In the location box, paste the path that you copied from Windows Explorer. You can leave the First Topic as First Topic.
  6. In Project Manager, create your folders and subfolders (e.g., if you have an images folder, create that, and RH will populate it when you import your topics.)
  7. In Project Manager, create a new Table of Contents. Select the "copy existing" check box and then point to the one in the corrupt folder.
  8. Ditto the Index and Glossary, if you have them.
  9. Make the new TOC, Index, and Glossary the defaults, then delete the ones that were automatically created when you created the project. You can also delete "First Topic."
  10. Once the Project Manager is all set up, you can begin to import your HTML files. (It helps to sort by type in the Open dialog box so that you can multiselect with the SHIFT key.)
  11. Be patient. You will see the cursor blinking as it imports your files and images. If anything shows up in the Broken Links node, you need to import more files.
  12. Your TOC should not have any red Xs over the icons--if they do, you've forgotten to import some files.
  13. Click Save All (or CTRL+S), close the project, and then reopen it to be sure your changes were saved.DO NOT delete the corrupted folder until you are 100% positive you have imported all of the necessary files, including Baggage files. (The CSS file(s) will import with the HTML files, as will the images.)

My problem *may* have been because RoboHelp is installed on a 64-bit computer--which is not officially supported. But if RH is crashing for you, then you might want to save some time and frustration by rebuilding the project from scratch. (You might lose half a day of work instead of 2 or 3 days! )

--Karla--

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Community Expert ,
Feb 11, 2011 Feb 11, 2011

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Are you all patched up in RH8? Running in XP mode or in the Win7 virtual machine? Have you thought about adding more RAM?

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