Unused Files

[vaprocura]

Is there a feature in RoboHelp that lists all of the files that are not being used in a project, (e.g., images, stylesheets, etc.)? My project has grown to a gigantic size, due to a lot of importing. And I know there are a lot of images that were once referenced from pages that have now been deleted. The images are no longer needed. How do I determine which images are not being used in my project?

[Peter Grainge]

Tools | Reports | Unused Files.

For images it is OK. Some other internal files may report falsely depending on your version so be a bit more careful there.

[vaprocura]

Thank you for that.

So I was able to delete all of the unused files, except a file called thumbs.db which I cannot find in the files anywhere. There are some of those files in the samples projects that come with RoboHelp, but none in my own project. Very strange.

Also, my project still takes forever to load (and also to close) even though I've removed everything that is not in use. I am suspicious of those thumbs.db files since they are probably database files. If they are database files, when the project loads, and the message "Loading DB" appears in the status bar, RoboHelp is proabably trying to reorganize the project each time it encounters a .db file.

How do I find these .db files so I can delete them?

[Peter Grainge]

Delete them via Windows Explorer. They are files Windows creates when there are images in a folder.

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

Just a slight clarification on what my esteemed colleague and fellow Adobe Community Expert Peter said.

Peter said "They are files Windows creates when there are images in a folder.". It's true that it may happen when images are inside a folder. I figured you may want to know how it's caused and what you may wish to do to prevent it.

Why it exists:
This is a database file that holds thumbnail images of the images inside the folder. It's used when you choose to view the folder in Thumbnails view by clicking View > Thumbnails.

How to prevent it from being created:
If you open Windows Explorer and click Tools > Folder Options... > View tab, you should see a raft of options you may turn off or on. The option you are interested in here is named: "Do not cache thumbnails". If you click to place a check mark there, you should never again encounter a "thumbs.db" file in the folder.

Cheers and happy Thursday all! Rick

[vaprocura]

I see.

Well, my original problem was that my project was taking an unusually long time to open, like 5-10 minutes. I have now removed all of the unused files via Windows Explorer. But the project still takes the same amount of time to open.

Once the project is open, I can work in it just fine. But it also takes forever to generate my primary layout and any of my printed documentation layouts.

I have 20 projects and none are doing this, except this one. Some of the other projects are just as big.

What situations can cause this?

[Peter Grainge]

Take a look at the topic on my site about opening projects. Backup your project and try deleting the CPD and XPJ files following my instructions.