maximum size of a robohelp project

[Jenn_MM]

Hi All,

Assuming you have a high-powered computer, what is the maximum size you would recommend for a RoboHelp 7.0 project? Is there a limit specified? Is there a limit for the number of topics allowed?

Thanks,
Jen

[Pet3689]

We have noticed that when you create Word and especially PDF output, then there is certainly a size limit. We do not have any hard numbers, but around 1,000 pages with a large image per page, things start going bad. The Printed Documentation creation tool will simply "get stuck" forever.

We use high-powered PCs (top of the line), and waited for two days (during the weekend). Stuck.

Cutting the output in half (in our case), and then merging the Word/PDF files afterwards, is a feasible (albeit annoying) workaround for us.

[Peter Grainge]

Jenn_MM

There is no fixed limit. Judge by how long the project takes to open.

Pet3689
You are drawing the wrong conclusion. The 1,000 pages is not an issue for online help but it will be for printed documentation. High powered could mean many things but RAM is the king for this process. I found problems with a document that could be cured two ways. Reducing the number of pages or adding more RAM.

1,000 pages for any Word document, RH or not, is large.

[Pet3689]

Peter, I did draw the correct conclusion, but perhaps I did not phrase it very well.

If the user generates Printed Documentation from a RoboHelp project, then the size of the project (that is, the part of it that is used to create the Printed Documentation) does have size limits (or the user needs to workaround this problem by merging multiple DOC/PDF files afterwards).

Indeed, this only applies for projects from which the user generates Printed Documentation.

Our high-end PCs have a very large amount of RAM (as much as the latest motherboards can handle). We can easily manipulate PDF and DOC files with thousands of pages. But generating more than 1,000 pages of Printed Documentation from RoboHelp seems to be problematic.

We work with a lot of reports that contain many hundred and often several thousand pages. Only RoboHelp's Printed Documentation cannot handle it.

Perhaps I should add that the size of RoboHelp projects itself does not necessarily slow things down. It is to total amount of complexity that makes life difficult for RoboHelp. 1,000 pages of plain HTML and a basic TOC does not cause problems. But tons of hyperlinks, extensive Index, See Also, Browse Sequences, image maps, etc. will cause troubles for these same 1,000 pages. Especially removing items from the database can take some time then, and increase the likelyhood of a corrupted database.

-- Peter, I hope that this aligns with your perspective.

[Peter Grainge]

I don't think we have a difference.

Start with a low end PC and 200 pages could be an issue. Then generate on that PC after putting in more ram and it will work. Keep going and 500 pages will become an issue until you throw it at a better PC and the cycle starts again. Eventually though you are going to get to a point where nothing will handle it. It is, as you now indicate, also a question of what is in those pages.That said, I would almost expect 1,000 pages to fall over.

Perhaps I should have been clearer but my point was that it's not as simple as nn pages, which is also your point, so the limit is a mix rather than the number of pages.

Microsoft used to say in their help that the limit for a Word document was around 32mb. They dropped that statement years ago but it was never clear whether the limit no longer applied or marketing just didn't want that dampener on things.