Error: "Build Failed: The directory is not empty"

[ccardimon]

What should I do if I encounter the error "Build Failed: The directory is not empty" when trying to build my PDF output?

[dorcutt]

I usually encounter this error when I've been manually opening a file in my Output folder. For some reason, this seems to sometimes stop Flare from auto-clearing the output folder, even if I have since closed the file. I just close anything relevant that I have open, delete the contents of that target's Output folder, and run the build again.

Not sure if you're having the same issue though.

[ccardimon]

Thank you.

[BrianBXYPRO]

I've been getting this error a lot today but I've found that if I close Flare and then reopen it the problem goes away.

Brian

[Nita Beck]

Instead of restarting Flare, maybe just clean the project (which deletes everything in the Output folder) and then try to build the PDF. So that's Project > Clean Project.

[BrianBXYPRO]

Hmmm. I'm starting to think it's a Flare 12 issue because it only happened a handful of times with Flare 11 but on Flare 12 it's a daily occurrence for me. Also, it only happens on my print outputs and never the online ones.

Brian

[netwrk219]

I've found that if you have the app "AdobeCollabSynch.exe" running in Taskmaster, that this is the reason for the error. It keeps a copy of the document built and displayed in Acrobat, so that it isn't really deleted. I couldn't find a way to properly delete it and since I heavily use Creative Cloud apps for work, I decided to simply rename the file by taking one character out. Now, I can find it and use it if it is ever necessary and since I did this the error hasn't returned.

Hope this helps a future Flare traveler.

[Dee Vincent-Day]

I get this happening a fair bit. I just start the build again and it runs ok. It usually happens when I have been viewing an output then closed it and clicked Rebuild Target.

[bwait]

Hi folks

We are running Flare 2017 and are seeing this bug a lot. I found that if I use Windows to delete the Output folder entirely, it fixes the problem, albeit temporarily. I have tried the Clean Project command too, but it cannot delete everything for some reason. It appears that the same files that Clean Project fails to delete are those blocking the build, which makes sense. MadCap should fix this bug.

[netwrk219]

Hi folks

We are running Flare 2017 and are seeing this bug a lot. I found that if I use Windows to delete the Output folder entirely, it fixes the problem, albeit temporarily. I have tried the Clean Project command too, but it cannot delete everything for some reason. It appears that the same files that Clean Project fails to delete are those blocking the build, which makes sense. MadCap should fix this bug.

I turned off AdobeCC Auto sync and it helped with this issue quite a bit. For some reason though, stopping the sync capability to AdobeCC only works for a bit, then it turns itself back on again, possibly through Acrobat. One person in this thread mentioned that it wasn't a Madcap issue but an Adobe one and they were absolutely right. The issue stems from Adobe not releasing the file completely after editing is complete. I have added a link below to a screenshot of the Adobe CC screen where the option is located.
https://drive.google.com/a/colossalarts.com/file/d/0B3kYbMmvGKpGM3BMeG9ocUpGX3c/view?usp=sharing

[rkotraba]

Thanks for posting this fix--this worked to solve the issue for me.

Hi folks

We are running Flare 2017 and are seeing this bug a lot. I found that if I use Windows to delete the Output folder entirely, it fixes the problem, albeit temporarily. I have tried the Clean Project command too, but it cannot delete everything for some reason. It appears that the same files that Clean Project fails to delete are those blocking the build, which makes sense. MadCap should fix this bug.

I turned off AdobeCC Auto sync and it helped with this issue quite a bit. For some reason though, stopping the sync capability to AdobeCC only works for a bit, then it turns itself back on again, possibly through Acrobat. One person in this thread mentioned that it wasn't a Madcap issue but an Adobe one and they were absolutely right. The issue stems from Adobe not releasing the file completely after editing is complete. I have added a link below to a screenshot of the Adobe CC screen where the option is located.
https://drive.google.com/a/colossalarts.com/file/d/0B3kYbMmvGKpGM3BMeG9ocUpGX3c/view?usp=sharing

[ceriwilliams]

I've found that if you have the app "AdobeCollabSynch.exe" running in Taskmaster, that this is the reason for the error. It keeps a copy of the document built and displayed in Acrobat, so that it isn't really deleted.

Ending this task also worked for me. Thanks for sharing!

[Landy]

Yes, thanks netwrk219. Just had this same issue and killing that exe solved the problem!