Webhelp project extremely slow & unresponsive

[danishfool]

I have a Webhelp file containing 270 topics. Two weeks ago, I imported about 50 Microsoft Word files using the RoboHTML for Webhelp instructions. Each topic imported contained Bookmarks, which I manually removed. I then had Broken Links to repair.
It takes nine minutes to open the first topic. Thereafter, a minimum of four minutes. My sistem stops responding after I visit four or five topics.

I uninstalled and reinstalled RoboHTML. I reverted back to an earlier archive (6/30/06) where I had already imported about ten topics, and I have the same issues.

Technical Support (Adobe) has had my database since Thursday morning, but I'm running out of time! Any suggestions will be appreciated!

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi danishfool and welcome to the forums. I hope your alias isn'r phrophetic Have you tried looking at Peter Grainge's site for tips on importing word docs/ Click here for more details. Best of luck.

[Peter Grainge]

Is the project on a network drive by any chance? If it is, move it to your hard disk.

You might also like to look at the topic on Opening RH Projects. It may be worth deleting the CPD file.

[danishfool]

Yes, I did check Peter's website (and often do!). However, since RoboHTML had clear instructions on importing, I did not check Peter's site until I was inundated with problems.

I've tried so many things that I forgot to mention I also deleted the CMD file and started the project with the HHP file.

[Peter Grainge]

... and is it on a network?

What's the CMD file? Did you mean CPD?

I notice you are saying you have a webhelp file, singlular. You also say you have 270 topics. Each topic in a RH HTML project is a unique file. Can you tell us a bit more about what you are working with?

[danishfool]

My file was on a network, and has been for years. The first Customer Service rep told me to move it to my hard drive and my problems would be solved. Nothing changed.

Sorry, I have one Webhelp project with 270 topics.

[RoboColum_n_]

The problem is that by the time you start hitting problems of this type it's too late. Moving the project to your drive may indeed solve the problem but there are many instances where it is not. RH is based on an Access DB which as a product is well known to have an adversity to networks. It may be worth trying to create a new project, on your hard drive obviously, and importing your topics? You'll have to do a little tidying up with your project specific properties (e.g. windows, browse sequences) but this may be your only option.

[RoboColum_n_]

Sorry meant to add that you may wish to consider this approach..

[Peter Grainge]

You say "The first Customer Service rep". You hadn't said that you had taken this up with support or are you thinking that I am a Customer Service rep"? If so, I am not and I didn't say your problems would be solved. As Colum has indicated, it can solve the problem but not always. However that is not to say if it does not that you should move it back. Simply that it hasn't resolved the damage done and you need to continue your efforts.

How big it this project zipped up?

Adobe Community Experts are simply other RoboHelp users who have been recognised by Adobe for work in these forums or elsewhere in assisting others.

[danishfool]

Sorry, did not mean to confuse the issue. It's been a very long weekend trying to resolve this issue. I've been a member of the forum for a while (inactive for a while) but lost my signin so created a new one.

When I said "first" - I meant the first of three reps from Adobe that I've spoken to about this issue. Then, I remembered the forum and thought perhaps the "real experts" could help me!

The first rep at Adobe couldn't wait to get off the phone and was convinced all I needed to do was move my file. I did move the file and it now resides on my hard drive. The second rep was better and did try harder to resolve the issue (deleting files & regenerating). The third rep tried the same steps and finally had me send him a zipped file. I've heard nothing back. although I stressed the urgency. He is now out of the office for several days.

The zip file is 8,586 KB. I've removed about 100 topics because our software is being split.

Our IS person is going to pull the last three archived files for me (prior to 6/30) so I can try to open those. The files I imported were done during the month of June.

Thanks

[HKabaker]

If you're certain that your RH housekeeping files (.cpd, .xpj, etc.) are not at fault, you should look carefully at each topic you imported.

You said you removed bookmarks and fixed broken links.

Did you also examine source code in the newly imported files and clean out all the extraneous tags? If you did, that's good. If your reaction is, "What extraneous tags?" take a look at the source code.

Tables, particularly, need attention.

Another sore spot is file names. Some characters in a file name will cause trouble. If you have any file names like standing.reports.htm (two dots) make it standing_reports.htm or standingreports.htm. Unfortunately, RH picks up the Word file name as it is. It doesn't tell you it's going to have trouble with it later.

Harvey

[danishfool]

I'm not certain that my RH housekeeping files are not at fault, but it appears that they are OK. Adobe Custoemr Service agreed.

I did examine my source code through IE, but now that I have a better idea of what to look for - I will do so again. I'll concentrate on my Word imports. Thanks for the suggestions!

[danishfool]

My file name are now clean (thank you very much) and I am able to open my project much quicker. However, the program still turns to unresponsive when I attempt to switch between topics. So updates are still impossible.

I also have about 10 broken links which cannot be resolved. Not sure what to do about these yet.

[Peter Grainge]

Click my username and email me. I'll send you some instructions to FTP the zipped up project to me. I'll try to look at it in the next few days.

[HKabaker]

While you're wating for Peter, I have another thought or two.

I should have mentioned that long filenames shouid be shortened, for many reasons, and the bottom line is that RH speeds up.

Just to be sure we're covered here: When you changed the filenames, you did it in the RH project, in the Properties dialog, right? Not in the Windows directories.

And you didn't delete any files in the Windows directories, right? Only in RH.

One way to fix a broken link is to re-import the file it's looking for, into the RH topics directory where it's looking. Do this even if the target topic already is where it should be, just re-import it from the RH project folder. The link is repaired when you next save the project.

(A useful pre-emptive strike against many problems is to click the Save icon in the RH toolbar every so often when you've had the project open for a long time, and before you go into another application while leaving RH open.)

Good luck,

Harvey

[danishfool]

Harvey,

I'll work on my filenames next. I do have some long ones.
Yes, I made my changes within RoboHelp, not in Windows Explorer. I also deleted in RoboHelp.
I'm now resolving broken links by using File > Import > HTML and bringing in the file. I do Save often - and with the state of my database right now - even more often! As each task is completed, the project is performing better than before. Hopefully, by the end of today - it'll be workable again.

Thanks!

[danishfool · Accepted solution]

My project is working this morning. Today was my turning point - either I "fixed" it today, or I started over.

I moved the project to my hard drive. I shortened all the filenames. I looked for extraneous tags. I deleted the xpj and cpd files. Nothing changed.

Colum, I followed your advice. I createed a new project and import my topics. I tested the project after every 10 htm file imports, and the project worked each time. The last 10 files imported included the CSS and it failed. I created another new project and imported only the .htm files and used the default css. It works!

Thanks for all the help!
Wendy