Publisher 2.5.5 does not export PDF digital

[martenf]

I have tried numerous times to export a Publisher file as a PDF digital (high and small) and they always fail with the following error:

An error occurred while exporting to: (filename).

This error happens almost immediately and I have tried this on the iPad with the same file and it also fails to produce the PDF.

I can export as a PDF (print and press ready) but not as digital.

I tried one of the sample files and that works.

My publication has no errors in it and appears to be OK. It is 44 pages and contains images (embedded), text, cross references and two TOC's.

I am very frustrated and not sure what steps to take further. Seems I have wasted a great deal of time already.

Thanks

[GarryP]

Have you tried to export the first half of the document?

If that works, try exporting the second half. (If it doesn’t then the problem may be in the first half.)

If that doesn’t work, try exporting the third quarter.

If that works, try exporting the last quarter. (If it doesn’t then the problem may be in the third quarter.)

Etc. Etc.

Dividing the document into parts this way may help you pin down which page(s) may have a problem.

That might give you some idea of where to look for problem layers.

One you have pinned down the page with the problem try turning layers off in that page until exporting works.

[martenf]

I have tried this right from page 1, one page at a time. Always fails. 
there is nothing odd about any of the single pages I tried this with.

[GarryP]

Odd.

Would you be able to share the AFPUB document here in public?

Or, could you make a copy of the document, delete all but the first page (or so) from the copy, save it, and then share it if it still doesn’t export?

[martenf]

I have finally narrowed the problem down. On page two there is a text box with three columns. If I delete this text box, it does not have the problem.

Now I just have to determine what it is about this text box that is causing it. I will try re-creating it from scratch and see and see if that resolves it.

Unfortunately I cannot share this as it has people's names and contact details.

Update: I copied the data and saved it to a text editor that does not have any special characters, removed the text box, created a new text box and pasted the text without format back into it and it now works as expected. My assumption is that there was something in that text box that Publisher did not like but I have no idea what that might be.

Thanks for all the responses.

[GarryP]

That problem definitely sounds a bit weird, but it’s good that you’ve managed to get it fixed.

Unfortunately, without the document we can’t really tell what went wrong in the first place.

If you can, it might be interesting to remove the all of text from the original Frame Text layer and seeing if the problem was still extant.

If it is then the problem might have been with the layer itself rather than its contents.

[martenf]

I did a further test as part of an effort to provide the file. What I found was that it was actual text that caused the problem.

When I deleted the text but left the text box in place, the problem had gone away. I can only presume there was some strange characters or font issue (even though it was all supposedly Times New Roman.

In any case, I really appreciate the time you took to respond to my issue. Thank you very much.

[GarryP]

You're welcome.

If the problem really is with Times New Roman then that would be quite worrying as that font should be one of the most 'well-behaved' fonts and Publisher should be able to handle it flawlessly.

Hopefully it was some other problem with the contents of the Frame text layer and not the font handling itself.

A moderator (if they see this) might give you a DropBox link where you can upload the document privately so the developers can look at it.