CHM file size enourmously increased

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Diana_Safina
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by Diana_Safina »

Hello,

I have a strange issue with a CHM file. After I added a topic with short text (no screenshots were added), the size of the published file increased fourfold.
The language of the increased file is English.
I've done the same operation for translated files in other languages, and the size of the published translations remained almost the same.

Could you please advise me on a possible reason for this?
Thanks in advance!
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Tim Green
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Re: CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Diana,

There must be something else that is increasing the size of the file. Text won't do that. The most common causes are graphics, particularly embedded graphics, or embedded Flash videos. If you continue to have problems please mail the project to support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) with information on the topic that is causing the "inflation" and we'll check it for you.

It's easiest if you send a compressed, single-file HMXZ project. If you're using uncompressed .hmxp for your daily work, you can save a single-file .hmxz copy with Save As... in the File menu. Choose the "Help Project (single file storage)" format, (.HMXZ in the description text on the right).
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Diana_Safina
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by Diana_Safina »

Hello Tim,

I've solved the problem. Surprisingly, some pictures that were in the folder got included in the built file.
The strange thing is that these pictures are not inserted to any of the published topics and all previous builds did not include them (except for the last build).

Diana
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Tim Green
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Re: CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Diana,

Are you storing the images in your Baggage Files folder? Those are all always included in your output. You need to create an additional, separate folder for graphics in your project folder. Then only the files that are actually used will get included. You can easily move all your graphics there. You just need to change the folder settings in Configuration > Common Properties > Project Search Path in your project. Delete the entries pointing to the old locations and add one for the new folder.
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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chris were
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Re: CHM file size enourmously increased revisited

Unread post by chris were »

Hi I am having a similar iisue with chm file size, but its related to a modular help project.

I have a large project with multiple TOCs including one called "application Notes"
If I publish that the chm is about 10MB. Fair enough.

I then created a separate "master" project, with a single topic referencing this TOC. When I publish from the master this its 50MB.

I then removed the ref to that toc and added a test one to a new test toc with just one text only topic. The modular generated chm size is more or less unchanged, 50MB. It seems to be adding all the images referenced by the child project, not just thosed referenced by the selected TOC?

Thanks,
Chris
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Tim Green
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Re: CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Chris,
It seems to be adding all the images referenced by the child project, not just thosed referenced by the selected TOC?
There are a couple of factors that may be involved here:

First, if you are using the first TOC at the top (primary) it will always export all files and all topics. The primary TOC has a special status and can't be used to filter the topics included in your output, so it should not be used to create a reduced TOC. All the topic files will be there in your output if you use it, even if they don't have TOC entries, unless they are explicitly excluded with build options on the topic files themselves in the Topic Files section. This will happen if you use the primary TOC as a "reduced" TOC.

Something similar could be happening with your child project. All the images referenced by all the topic files it includes will be included, even if they don't have TOC entries. For example, if you exclude chapter topics without also explicitly excluding their sub-topics, the sub-topics will be included as well, because HM assumes you want to display them by linking to them.
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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chris were
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Re: CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by chris were »

Thanks Tim.

I am referencing a reduced TOC in the slave (the one being referenced, containing all the content and multiple TOCs) from the main (and only) TOC in the master (the one doing the referencing, where I set the Title). I will try moving it to a different folder so it cant see the topics subfolder.

My slave is saved as hmxp, with files and folders all under subversion control.
My Master is saved as hmxz in the same folder as the slave so I didn't think it would look at the topics subfolder.

The master is fairly trivial- just Title variables setup, and a link to a single sub toc of the slave.
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Tim Green
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Re: CHM file size enourmously increased

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Chris,

If you continue to have issues I think we'll have to have a look at the projects involved. They'll be too large to mail, so zip them and mail the download link to support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) and we'll look into it.
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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