PDF Builds Taking Hours

[peterb]

I feel like something simple is eluding me, but here is my situation. We have a project that we typically output as HTML5. The project is ~90 topics, liberal use of snippets, linked to a master project that houses the variables and CSS.

It usually takes a few minutes to build the HTML5 output, but today I created a PDF target for some initial testing with print targets, and twice now the build took HOURS. It was successful the first time, but it took hours. Now I am 2 hours, 20 minutes into the second build and just waiting for it to finish.

Obviously, something is wrong. I did not do much configuration in the PDF target (no page layout or anything like that), so is the engine just chugging away trying to reinvent the wheel in the absence of any sort of plan to follow? Will my problem go away if I do a little more standard configuration with the target?

Please advise if you might have an idea of what is going on, kind forumites. Thank you very much!

[ChoccieMuffin]

Do you have anyone else with Flare who could try to build it? If they also have the problem then it's almost certainly to do with the project. If it builds ok for them but not for you, it's more likely to be a problem with your Flare installation.

But before you try that, I suggest you do the default steps:

Close your Flare project.
Delete the Analyzer and Output folders.
Try again.

Flare sometimes gets its knickers in a twist, so removing the Analyzer folder means it has to re-analyse the next time you start the project.

If that doesn't do the trick, a call to Tech Support may be the next step.

[peterb]

Thanks for your help as always, ChoccieMuffin.

I executed another build, and it took the same amount of time. I have a few more tests to try, but I wanted to clarify something first: I was able to delete the Output folder of my project, but I was unable to find an Analyzer folder for it. I looked at my other projects, and there is also no Analyzer folder for any of those. Looking for information on this in the forum and other places on the internet, there are several mentions of deleting the Analyzer folder but no further detail about this folder which I can't find.

I am running Flare 2018 r2, but these projects were all created on one of the 2017 versions. Just want to leave this info out there in case someone in the future has the same problem (no Analyzer folder). Any thoughts?

[ChoccieMuffin]

The Analyzer folder lives (or should!) at the same level as the Output folder and the .flprj file. I am VERY confused as to why you can't see it. I even checked whether it's a hidden folder as far as Windows is concerned but it isn't.

[NorthEast]

You won't see an Analyzer folder if the project is stored on a network drive.

I *think* these will be at:
C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\MadCap Software\Analyzer

[ChoccieMuffin]

You won't see an Analyzer folder if the project is stored on a network drive.

I *think* these will be at:
C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\MadCap Software\Analyzer

Ooo, I never knew that! Thanks Dave, yet another nugget of information from you! Does that mean there is only ONE Analyzer folder for all your projects, or does each project have its own?

[peterb]

I just confirmed with my organization's technical support that they are unable to find an Analyzer folder in either our project folders or in the local hard drive location that Dave Lee provided (and they did confirm that they were able to see that location, just not the Analyzer folder).

I have submitted a support request to MadCap asking why we may not have an Analyzer folder. I will surely follow up with this thread when I hear back. Thank you for all of your suggestions, everyone!