Saving word output...

[JimLeft]

This subject is similar to a topic from 2011, but does not involve a mini TOC.

Being the second content author on an existing project, I keep finding new issues, such as building a User Guide in Word format. The Builds pane shows the Status as Running, the State as Building, Build Progress and Complete Progress indicators are both light green. However, the Complete Status shows: Saving word output...

That is as far as it gets. I can't stop the build because it is grayed out. I know Flare did something because there is a new file (Title.xml) in the Output subfolder, but no Word file there.

In looking at the .mclog for that user guide, nothing pops out at me as to why no Word file was built. It shows processing topic after topic, with the last row showing: Saving word output...

What does Flare need to successfully produce a Word target?

[Nita Beck]

Have you elected in the target settings to have Flare embed images in the Word file? If yes, and if there are a lot of images to be embedded, it may take a fair bit of time for Flare to finish up and then save the final document. I've got a large Word target (450+ pages) with lots of images that get embedded, and Flare takes a good 20 minutes to finish the whole process.

[JimLeft]

Nita,

Thank you for your response. To answer your question, no, I did not select to embed images in the Word file. The PDF that I did get to successfully build is 33 pages, so my guess is that a successful Word build will be about 33 pages too. So, I do not think the build should take too long.

Is there a recommended project structure to follow that has a good chance of successfully building the output?
Are there subtle settings/selections that everyone else understands but me?

Please let me know.

Thank you,
Jim

[Nita Beck]

Can you generate Word output from a different project? Or is it just this project?

If just this project, I'd try creating a new Word target and seeing if you can build from that. Maybe there is something amiss with the original Word target.

Otherwise, if it's for all projects, then my next step would be to contact MC tech support.

[JimLeft]

Nita,

Thank you for your answer and logical troubleshooting approach. I have only 1 "inherited" project, so I cannot verify if Word builds successfully for another project. Because I have never has a successful Word build, I do not know what to look for in the Log File. The only thing I see is "Saving word output...", which is followed by </Messages> in the log.

I suspect that a successful Word build has something after the "Saving word output..." that I am not seeing, but I don't know what it is. Because I can successfully build a PDF file, I suspect a problem/issue outside of Flare is causing the Word output to continue running, but produce no output file.

If I try to build the Word output again, the message: "The selected target is already being built. To check the progress of the build, open the Builds window." Because the build hangs, only Clear Finished (doesn't work) and Build Targets (displays the message) tabs are available in the Builds pane.

Does Flare use the installed Word application to generate the Word file? Or is a Flare version of Word used?
Does the Word file creation print the output to a file location? If yes, where in the project would that location be? The PDF file is in the Output folder. Should the Word file also be in the same Output folder?

If I could just get 1 successful Word output to build successfully, I would have a better understanding of the process and perhaps understand why it is failing for me.

Thank you,
Jim

[JimLeft]

Success!

The Word build completed. The problem was outside of Flare.

An obscure application, which will remain unnamed, used for classifying files was launched, but was not visible on the Windows Task bar. Tabbing through the open application windows showed it was active. After making the required selections, the build completed, Status showed Finished, Build Progress and Compile Progress indicators were both dark green.

After "Saving word output...", the following lines occur in the .mclog file:
Generated xxxx.doc (Word file name)
Saving result set...
Output generated in xxx (time it took to build)
Done
Saving log to xxxx (.mclog location)

[Richard W]

I just had a very similar issue and came to check the forums for advice.

This helped me as well. In my case, apparently something in the process triggered a Windows security alert in the background (one of the page layout XML files supposedly looked suspicious) and until I minimised all the other windows I couldn't see it. Selecting Yes to allow the changes on that dialog then unblocked the process and let the save complete.

So, solution - minimise everything else and look for some dialog from another process that you need to deal with in the background.

[RebeccaIsTyping]

Well I'm 6 years late to the party but this forum solved my problem as well! A Windows security alert was triggered behind all my open windows, and the build wouldn't proceed until I dealt with that.