Local drive vs. network drive?

[RightOar]

Hi all,

I am using RH HTML 9.0.2 to create a project via the "Link to Word" (Create as Reference) feature. The project resides on a local drive (with a backup on a network drive); however, I wanted to confirm whether the source documents must also be on the local drive? I am running into an issue where the red warning triangles are indicating the linked documents are out of sync with the source documents—despite the fact that the source documents haven't moved. I am wondering if it is because the source documents reside on a network drive where they may have been corrupted.

I am contractor and will eventually be handing off the finished project to my client. If I move the source documents to my local drive, are there any concerns with the project and source documents eventually being copied or moved to another local drive down the road—besides having to re-link all the documents? I had hoped that the source documents could remain on a network drive where all parties involved could have access to the help files.

Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

It should be OK to have the documents on a network drive. Could someone have opened the document and saved, even without making changes?

You are talking about having the documents on your local drive and then handing the project over. Will "your" local drive be the PC they are using? If either the PC or the network location change, then I would expect to have to relink and update.

Whilst I understand linking, I have not used it in anger so real world experience may differ.

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@petergrainge

[RightOar]

Peter, thanks for the reply. I thought having the source files on a network drive would be fine too, until I opened up my project last week and all the topics are showing as being “out of sync.” I could see if one or two documents had been opened without saving, but since all are showing the red warning, I am guessing that something else is going on. Crash? I should mention that the red warnings started to appear slowly. Only a few one day and then the next day all were showing red.

Prior to starting the discussion, I searched our forum and found this by Colum McAndrew: “RH stores all the project files in a directory. It uses a .CPD file (a cached MS Access DB) but there are a wealth of other files used as well. As the .CPD file exists, it is imperative that your source files are located on a local drive and backed up to a network drive as MS Access files can be corrupted if run over a network.”

I am trying to confirm the above statement before switching all my files over to my local drive.

Any recommendations on how to proceed with all the “out of sync” files? I could attempt an “update all” but wanted to know if something else would be better. I am not that familiar with the cpd file—anything I can do there?

To answer your question about the PC: I have a company laptop that I will be giving back, but it’s possible that the project will have to reside on someone else’s laptop. Will likely have to re-link all if that is the case.

[Peter Grainge]

Without seeing the context of Colum's post, I think he is talking about the project itself and not any linked documents.

Update All or Force Update All should do the trick.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[RightOar]

Here is a link to Colum’s post: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2175015#2175015

I’ll try an Update All—thanks.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Yes, he’s referring to the RH project files, not the source content.

[RightOar]

Great—good to know—thanks.

I’ll try an Update All and report back with the results.

[RightOar]

Peter/Jeff: I performed an Update All and everything seems to be fine. I am still not sure why all the documents became out of synch (the source documents were not moved), but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Appreciate your help as always.