Bizarre behaviour

[Laini Giles]

Hi Tim and co.,

I have been trying to make a simple change to a file, and I'm not sure it it's because I have a brand new laptop or what, but there's weirdness happening.

I open my .hmxp file and attempt to add a topic to it. I get this message: 'Cannot load topic: "topics/newtopic.xml"! The topic file exists but is either locked by another user or damaged.'

However, this was a brand spanking new project, and I'm creating a brand new topic to put in it. I am the only one working on this project right now. The topic that I tried creating gets a red bar across the top with "Topic is read-only! File is write-protected" on it. It becomes grayed out in the left panel, and I can't delete it either (even though it wasn't created and wasn't saved?).

Also, I saw something in one of the forum posts about checking the permissions on the directory where I'm working. I checked, and it was on Read. I changed it to Write, clicked Apply, and closed the pop-up, but it defaults right back to Read access. I've never experienced anything like this. Any ideas as to what could be causing it?

[Tim Green]

Hi Laini,

This is definitely a permissions problem on your laptop Windows configuration and nothing to do with Help+Manual. Try putting the project in a folder inside your own Documents folder. Also, make sure that you are NOT inside a OneDrive folder!!!! Microsoft has become very aggressive about pushing OneDrive and trying to edit Help+Manual projects in OneDrive is pretty much a guarantee for data loss/corruption and all kinds of weird errors.

[Laini Giles]

Thanks, Tim.

My boss suspected it was a OneDrive issue. Good to know. By the end of the day, I DID finally manage to get a copy to save correctly. I used a different backup source directory, and that seemed to work.

I knew there was a reason I hated OneDrive. This only confirms it.

[Tim Green]

My boss suspected it was a OneDrive issue. Good to know. By the end of the day, I DID finally manage to get a copy to save correctly. I used a different backup source directory, and that seemed to work.

The problem with OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive and others, is that they have sorta kinda maybe version control features. However, they only work (hopefully) reliably with programs that are specifically designed to work with them actively. In the case of OneDrive that means ONLY Office programs and probably a couple of other Microsoft programs, and Microsoft keep the programming interface to themselves.

And even with systems like DropBox that do provide a programming interface, all is not sweetness and light. For example, the novel writing software Scrivener, which has a similar structure to Help+Manual except they use RTF files instead of XML, has programmed active support for DropBox. However, even with the thousands of lines of code they have written to try to make it reliable, it is still strictly forbidden to access a DropBox-managed Scrivener project on more than one computer at the same time. If you do, you end up with multiple "conflicted copies" of your chapter files, and possibly also other problems.

TL/DR: Stay away from cloud folders for active editing. You can use them for archives and backups, but if you need active editing on multiple systems use real version control, preferably Git.

[Laini Giles]

Thanks for this other tip, Tim.

I loathe OneDrive, and we had considered going the non-source control option for doc, but it sounds like it will be more trouble than it's worth!

[Tim Green]

I loathe OneDrive, and we had considered going the non-source control option for doc, but it sounds like it will be more trouble than it's worth!

Once you've learned how to use it real source control, preferably Git, is your best friend.

[SteffenR]

Hi,
I have the same Issue - also a Colleague of me. I cannot confirm that it works outside of OneDrive.
- Existing Projects located in my local OneDrive Folder are working fine
- Copied Projects stored outside of OneDrive or New Projects created from Scratch have the Issue

Please help!

Best Regards Steffen

[BertholdL]

I had the issue as well today, in a subfolder of my local documents folder. For testing I created a test project in another subfolder, and it worked without any problem. Only saving my project to another path helped, now the problem is gone.
I synchronized the Documents folder with Onedrive by accident, but I stopped doing so already several weeks ago. Nevertheless, maybe this is the source of the error.
So, here is my confirmation: Don‌‌’t let Onedrive even approach your Help+Manual project folder.

[Tim Green]

So, here is my confirmation: Don‌‌’t let Onedrive even approach your Help+Manual project folder.

Definitely, but not just OneDrive. This applies to any managed cloud folder. In addition to OneDrive this also includes Google Drive, iCloud Drive, DropBox and all the others.

[SteffenR]

Hi,
this is weard, I have existing Projects stored in my OneDrive which I frequently update - these are working fine.
I can add Topics without any Issue.

What is the difference between a new one and an existing one?

[Tim Green]

this is weard, I have existing Projects stored in my OneDrive which I frequently update - these are working fine.
I can add Topics without any Issue.

If you only use single-file projects (HMXZ) and only access them from a single computer you are relatively safe. The problems start if you access from more than one computer and use the uncompressed format (HMXP), particularly if multiple users access the same project.