topic Re: Published pdfs corrupted! in Documentation

Published pdfs corrupted!

Llian — Fri, 19 May 2023 20:07:29 GMT

My published 130-page PDF drawing is zero bytes. i re-boot computer and re-publish four times, still zero bytes and adobe pdf error message - "...it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded)."

Help!!!!

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Barry Kelly — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 09:37:01 GMT

All I can suggest is to try publishing groups of pages to see if any of them fail.
That may help to narrow down what is causing the problem.

Barry.

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 14:18:49 GMT

Hi,

I've also encountered similar issue. It actually happened regardless of pdf's being published in a batch or single files.
At first I thought that this could be caused by our cloud storage, but no (sort of...).

I think I've read somewhere here on the forum that ArchiCAD doesn't like long paths (here I have to underline that being able to use relative paths is ESSENTIAL when it comes to professional work with organised folder structure. Yet it's still missing in ArchiCAD).

For me solution was to publish into shortest path possible (like "D:\..."), then moving the package into destined folder.

Hope this proves to be helpful.

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Llian — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 22:41:08 GMT

Thanks...interestingly it works if the folders are NOT merged. This means I have to spend the time to combine the PDFs manually...
The other thing, what does the yellow warning means here?

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Barry Kelly — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 07:32:44 GMT

Llian wrote:
The other thing, what does the yellow warning means here?

Try double clicking on the warning icon and you should see what the warning is.

Barry.

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 07:12:25 GMT

Usually the yellow triangle means that ArchiCAD has published the file but had to correct the filename (i.e. hidden space at the end of the file name)

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Minh Nguyen — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 08:33:00 GMT

Hi Lilian,

Thank you for reporting the issue and I am sorry for the experience!

My first suggestion is, if you publish to PDF with "Merge to one PDF file" option activated, and the location is Desktop, is the file successfully created? I have a hunch that this is caused by long path issue. As LucaP pointed out, this is a known issue to us, that sometimes due to the long path, the published PDF resulted in 0 byte.

Also, thank you LucaP for answering the warning icon question! Yes, if the published file name (generated from the layout's name) has some special characters (like : / \ * and so on), ARCHICAD will correct the name before saving the file, resulting in a yellow warning icon.

Let me know about the result of the above test. Thank you very much! And big thanks to LucaP and Barry for your suggestions in this case!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 11:14:55 GMT

Hi Minh,

Since we're talking about the "long path issue", do you by any chance know if Graphisoft is planning to implement the possibility to use relative paths (i.e.: external drawings, publishing setup etc.)? Being able to use relative paths based on PLN file location would be a great help.

I wonder if that issue had at least been discussed by developers (there is a wish from 2004 about a secondary path, and another from 2018 about relative publishing, but none of them seem to be addressed by developers).

Łukasz

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Minh Nguyen — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 07:30:50 GMT

LucaP wrote:
Hi Minh,

Since we're talking about the "long path issue", do you by any chance know if Graphisoft is planning to implement the possibility to use relative paths (i.e.: external drawings, publishing setup etc.)? Being able to use relative paths based on PLN file location would be a great help.

I wonder if that issue had at least been discussed by developers (there is a wish from 2004 about a secondary path, and another from 2018 about relative publishing, but none of them seem to be addressed by developers).

Łukasz

Hi Łukasz,

This is a known wish that actually dated back in 2002! To be honest, I won't be able to comment on the implementation of this (not sure how hard it would be). This was put into Filed state, but I really am not sure if this would be possible to happen.

Anyway, I have placed another comment into the wish entry (same as you, I think it will be wonderful to have relative path, so that we won't have to relink libraries, hotlinks, and drawings every time the file is copied/saved to another machine!). Please refer it in the future as #1369.

Thank you very much for raising the question. I wish you a great day!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 08:57:52 GMT

mnguyen wrote:

LucaP wrote:
Hi Minh,

Since we're talking about the "long path issue", do you by any chance know if Graphisoft is planning to implement the possibility to use relative paths (i.e.: external drawings, publishing setup etc.)? Being able to use relative paths based on PLN file location would be a great help.

I wonder if that issue had at least been discussed by developers (there is a wish from 2004 about a secondary path, and another from 2018 about relative publishing, but none of them seem to be addressed by developers).

Łukasz
Hi Łukasz,

This is a known wish that actually dated back in 2002! To be honest, I won't be able to comment on the implementation of this (not sure how hard it would be). This was put into Filed state, but I really am not sure if this would be possible to happen.

Anyway, I have placed another comment into the wish entry (same as you, I think it will be wonderful to have relative path, so that we won't have to relink libraries, hotlinks, and drawings every time the file is copied/saved to another machine!). Please refer it in the future as #1369.

Thank you very much for raising the question. I wish you a great day!

Best regards,
Minh

Thank you for taking effort and reporting that wish. I really hope that this will be easy enough to make it work in near future. (Next release perhaps? Fingers crossed)

All the best,
Łukasz

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:40:03 GMT

Lukasz, as far as I know, there is a imit to file name length including path in Windows. So I'm not sure it's that easy for Graphisoft to get around it.

Even if you somehow managed to create such long path, you'll have problems when moving/copying it and anything inside.

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 12:19:30 GMT

The maximum path length in Windows is 256 characters which will include server address and all directories
The example below is in excess of 100 characters long and uses simple short file and directory names so with descriptive file names and nested directories it can be very easy to exceed the max file path.
//FileServer/Shared/Projects/2020/20100_Client_Name_Project_Name/B-Drawings/BIM/29100_Project_Name.PLN

Also the danger with long file paths is that windows will let you create them but then they may ‘disappear’ and may not be backed up or (from experience) may not be recoverable

Scott

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 13:35:56 GMT

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input!

Of course you're both right about Windows file path length. In fact I'm not having any problem with that I do my best to keep folder structure organized and short. This discussion started with different topic - corruption of pdf's exported to a long path and I've only suggested a possible reason for it.

Perhaps I should've created different post for my own subject since my issue concerns working on files located for example on shared folders, where on different PC's these files may have different root paths (which I know isn't the best practice, but for the sake of discussion let's agree that it happens ). External drawings or publisher paths in ArchiCAD project file could use relative paths, thus allowing the user to avoid the cumbersome process of updating external drawings.

Cheers,
Łukasz

P.S. On a side note - while writing this post I wanted to check how things are working in Teamwork, and boy, I had a REVELATION. Little did I know that you could use IP address for External Drawings AND Publisher paths, however the issue with corrupted pdf's appears again, even with shortest path possible (\\192.168.88.88\d\). I get 0 kBs, even though in ArchiCAD I can see it's proper size. I've also noticed that for a split second even the Windows Explorer shows the file size correctly after file creation, but then it just goes to zero again - perhaps that is a trail with witch to start when trying to find a solution for it
There is some problem with the publisher and file naming I guess (or it just doesn't like some people - I've heard machines tend to do that )

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Minh Nguyen — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 18:58:03 GMT

LucaP wrote:
Hi guys,

Thanks for your input!

Of course you're both right about Windows file path length. In fact I'm not having any problem with that I do my best to keep folder structure organized and short. This discussion started with different topic - corruption of pdf's exported to a long path and I've only suggested a possible reason for it.

Perhaps I should've created different post for my own subject since my issue concerns working on files located for example on shared folders, where on different PC's these files may have different root paths (which I know isn't the best practice, but for the sake of discussion let's agree that it happens ). External drawings or publisher paths in ArchiCAD project file could use relative paths, thus allowing the user to avoid the cumbersome process of updating external drawings.

Cheers,
Łukasz

P.S. On a side note - while writing this post I wanted to check how things are working in Teamwork, and boy, I had a REVELATION. Little did I know that you could use IP address for External Drawings AND Publisher paths, however the issue with corrupted pdf's appears again, even with shortest path possible (\\192.168.88.88\d\). I get 0 kBs, even though in ArchiCAD I can see it's proper size. I've also noticed that for a split second even the Windows Explorer shows the file size correctly after file creation, but then it just goes to zero again - perhaps that is a trail with witch to start when trying to find a solution for it
There is some problem with the publisher and file naming I guess (or it just doesn't like some people - I've heard machines tend to do that )

Hi Łukasz,

Thank you for your report! I'm aware of this issue as well. Some reports we received recently do not have a particularly long path, but still produced 0kb PDF. I'll try to see if I can replicate this issue!

Have a nice evening!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Minh Nguyen — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 15:09:40 GMT

LucaP wrote:

P.S. On a side note - while writing this post I wanted to check how things are working in Teamwork, and boy, I had a REVELATION. Little did I know that you could use IP address for External Drawings AND Publisher paths, however the issue with corrupted pdf's appears again, even with shortest path possible (\\192.168.88.88\d\). I get 0 kBs, even though in ArchiCAD I can see it's proper size. I've also noticed that for a split second even the Windows Explorer shows the file size correctly after file creation, but then it just goes to zero again - perhaps that is a trail with witch to start when trying to find a solution for it
There is some problem with the publisher and file naming I guess (or it just doesn't like some people - I've heard machines tend to do that )

Hi Lukasz,

Sorry for the late response! I have finally managed to test the publishing process on a server, however, I couldn't replicate the issue (although the path is quite long actually). If you have sometime, Is it possible for you to make a small video about the issue, along with collecting the FastLogger, so that I can open an investigation for this issue?

Here is how you can get the FastLogger file: https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/knowledgebase/63116/

My advice is to delete all the logs inside that folder before we start recording the process.

Thank you very much for your help! Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 11:05:42 GMT

Hi Minh,

Sorry to disappoint, but right now I somehow cannot replicate the issue. I get the correct PDF's file size without any problem and actually they are exported quite fast. (so sorry, not sorry )

However I must admit that lately I've installed an Windows update, and since it has been mentioned that the problem might be connected with the Windows Explorer itself, there might be possibility that this update has resolved it.

For now, if the issue comes up again, I will know to collect the FastLogger data for the investigation and I will let you know.

Best regards,
Łukasz

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Minh Nguyen — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 08:13:05 GMT

Hi Łukasz,

At least it's good to know that the problem is no longer happens to you! I'm just wondering if the recent updates on your computer were one of those weekly patches (the code name start with KB...), or a big update? This might be a good start for us to advise those who have this issue later!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

LucaP — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 09:23:32 GMT

Hi Minh,

There were two updates

Security update for Adobe Flash Player (KB4537759).
Typical update package (KB4532693).

Cheers,
Łukasz

Re: Published pdfs corrupted!

Minh Nguyen — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 14:30:02 GMT

Hi Łukasz,

That was strange! I remember reading somewhere that the patch KB4532693 contained some serious issues that Microsoft pulled it from the database! Anyway, it's good to know it's not a big update that may cause/fix the issue!

Have a nice Sunday!

Best regards,
Minh