CPU Usage - Generating Word Docs from RoboHelp X5

Question

If you have generated a fair-sized document through RoboHelp,
and you are having problems with your CPU usage pegging out around
100%, bouncing up and down between 50% and 100%, the page
repainting as you scroll through the document, etc., this solution
is for you!
I am using RoboHelp X5 to generate large Word documents
(2003). This solution worked perfect for me. The problem is with
document corruption, apparently. After you have generated your Word
document and opened the document, be sure to display the paragraph
marks. You will probably see the “]” mark at or near
the end of the document. Select your entire document,
except for the final paragraph mark, making sure to exclude
this symbol, and copy everything else. Open a blank Word document
and paste this content into the new document.
You will now need to reattach your template (.dot) file for
the generated document through Tools/Templates and Addins:
1. Locate the applicable document template and attach it
(it's typically in the base generated project directory in RoboHelp
- .dot file). Click the OK button to save.
2. Return to Tools/Templates and Addins. Click the Organizer
button to display the Styles tab.
3. In the right-hand list (In Normal.dot), Close the
Normal.dot file
4. Open the same RoboHelp .dot template as you selected
previously.
4. Select all of the styles once they display in the right
pane and click the <<Copy button to copy them all over to the
document template. Confirm that you want to replace all styles in
the document.
5. Close the menu using the Close button. The dialog closes
and your styles should all be updated, if your styles were set up
appropriately via template and style sheet settings.
You may need to also adjust the Page Setup page width
settings, if necessary.
Good luck!
Liz0259

Answer 1

Peter:
Thank you for responding to me, as I may not have been clear
enough, and I apologize for that. I was trying to keep it short and
sweet. This problem started when I began using RoboHelp X5 this
year.
To clarify...
- I'm not concerned with CPU usage during document
generation, that is to be expected. The document will need to be
generated originally from a RoboHelp WebHelp project. This does not
change. The problem takes place AFTER you generate a large document
and then open it in MS Word.
- My documents are large, 140-500 pages. It took forever to
scroll through the Word document (RoboHelp-generated), the screen
kept repainting, and the CPU usage stuck fluctuating frequently
between 50% and 100%, not allowing me to do much else. Editing
those documents was a nightmare. Even if I shut down all other
programs.
- Something translates to the Word doc from RoboHelp that
maxes out the CPU usage, and I can't locate the exact culprit.
However, it appears to be tied to the faded "]" symbol at the end
of the document (there is a "[" at the beginning, too). So you have
to omit more than the last paragraph mark; that symbol also needs
to be left out.
- The "corruption" information came from Microsoft; it could
be something other than that, but this is what they said. I found
nothing that would help on the RoboHelp forum, so I went to
Microsoft to see if they had a solution. Apparently, this is a
common problem with Word 2003, but the articles didn't mention
RoboHelp in the issues. I tried this solution, adding the omission
of the "[" symbol, with complete success.
- When you copy the document without the last paragraph mark,
it will still include the headers/footers when you paste it
(although you may need to adjust them slightly). This is not the
problem.
- When a document is generated, you can select to use a MS
Word template, which I do. I fully use the style sheets in
RoboHelp, and they match my Word styles (template) to keep things
in sync. Actually, this Word template remains in the project; it is
not moved to the folder that holds your Normal.dot file. So the
link to the template in RoboHelp from your document does in fact
remain intact. However, you can copy that template to another
folder outside the project and link it from there, but it won't
matter.
- The Word template (.dot) needs to be reapplied in order to
restore your styles, as the Normal.dot styles are applied when you
copy the content over to a new document. It doesn't matter where
you store the template. I reapply this SAME template after I copy
and paste the content into the new document. This is not the cause
of the problem. Note: The application of a template is not the same
thing as going back to the master copy. This is still a fresh
document, with the content pasted in and the same template applied.
- I have tried deleting the local copy and starting over. I
have moved the file to another location. I have renamed or created
a 'save-as' copy of the file. I tried editing out any extra
un-necessary merge-tags in Word, looked for macros, etc. All of
these things do not resolve the CPU Usage problem.
I hope this makes more sense. You can try it out if you wish,
but you will need to do this with a large document and use the
Print View when looking at the document in Word. You'll have less
of a problem in Normal View, or with a smaller document (under 50
pages).
Good luck!
Liz0259