Download I/O Error Resolution Steps

While working with WriteRAP, you may encounter the Download IO Error as shown in Figure 1. The first thing to know is that you have done nothing wrong. This is a known error and one the WriteRAP team is working on as an extremely high priority to correct.

To summarize the problem:

• When interacting with the download option in My Projects, the user receives an immediate “Download Document IO Error.”
• The error seems to be associated with large file sizes, though it can affect a Word document as small as 3MB.
• Once the error occurs, it cascades across multiple projects and files, and the size of the files affected consistently decreases as the error propagates.
• The file is accessible via the “backdoor” method or preview option (though this is not a workable solution for the customer).
• The only known fix is a system reboot.

On specific files, you can always access the files via the “Backdoor” process, so long as you are the WriteRAP project administrator. The file can then be “compressed” to a smaller file size using a native Word figure compression tool (this often reduces the size to a third of the original). The steps for both are below.

When you encounter this error, please do contact the Corporate Helpdesk.

Backdoor Access

If you are unable to download a document because of this error and cannot wait for the system reboot (or if the reboot does not correct the issue), use these steps to access the current version that is on the server. You must be the WriteRAP project administrator to perform these steps.

1. Log in to the WriteRAP site.
2. Choose WriteRAP Admin.
3. Choose Projects.
4. Find the project for which you need to access the Word file.
5. Click the documents link in the Documents column.
6. In the Action column for the Word document you need to download, click the Download Document icon (see Figure 2).
7. The Document Download window appears (see Figure 3).
8. On the PC, right click the Download Now link to download the document to your desktop (or other designated location). On the Mac, Ctrl+click on the Download Now link to download the document to your desktop (or other designated location).
9. You can now work on the file, use the following Word Compression steps, etc.
10. When you are ready to upload the file, you will need to sign out (but not download) the document via the normal sign-out process and then upload and sign in the document via the normal process.

NOTE: Occasionally, the actions in step 10 may require setting the version ID to the newest. For assistance with that, contact your super user.

Word Compression (PC Only)

You can use Word’s native image compression feature to re-save the document at about 1/3rd its original size and then upload the document into WriteRAP. Please note that this compression does not work all the time in shrinking the overall size of the file.

To perform this task in other documents, make sure that the Picture toolbar is displayed in Word (choose View>Toolbars>Pictures

1. Open the document you want to use this feature on.
2. Click the Compress Images button (see Figure 4). The Compress Pictures dialog box appears (see Figure 5).
3. In Apply To, ensure that All pictures in document is selected.
4. In Change Resolution, ensure that Web/Screen is selected.
5. In Options, make sure both checkboxes are marked.
6. Click OK.
7. A dialog box appears informing you about the irreversibility of this action. Click Apply. The process runs for a few moments, compressing the images.
8. Save the file.

NOTE: If this product is intended for direct to PDF (and especially for print purposes), contact your WriteRAP Product Specialist to confirm that this set of steps is allowable for such products.