Improved Pandoc error handling and logging

app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/Pandoc.cs

@@ -44,13 +44,15 @@ public static partial class Pandoc
         try
         {
             var preparedProcess = await PreparePandocProcess().AddArgument("--version").BuildAsync(rustService);
+            LOG.LogDebug("Checking Pandoc availability using executable: '{Executable}' (IsLocal: {IsLocal}).", preparedProcess.StartInfo.FileName, preparedProcess.IsLocal);
+
             using var process = Process.Start(preparedProcess.StartInfo);
             if (process == null)
             {
                 if (showMessages)
                     await MessageBus.INSTANCE.SendError(new (Icons.Material.Filled.Help, TB("Was not able to check the Pandoc installation.")));
 
-                LOG.LogInformation("The Pandoc process was not started, it was null");
+                LOG.LogInformation("The Pandoc process was not started, it was null. Executable path: '{Executable}'.", preparedProcess.StartInfo.FileName);
                 return new(false, TB("Was not able to check the Pandoc installation."), false, string.Empty, preparedProcess.IsLocal);
             }
 
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ public static partial class Pandoc
             if (showMessages)
                 await MessageBus.INSTANCE.SendError(new (@Icons.Material.Filled.AppsOutage, TB("It seems that Pandoc is not installed.")));
 
-            LOG.LogError("Pandoc is not installed and threw an exception: {0}", e.Message);
+            LOG.LogError(e, "Pandoc availability check failed. This usually means Pandoc is not installed or not in the system PATH.");
             return new(false, TB("It seems that Pandoc is not installed."), false, string.Empty, false);
         }
     }

app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/PandocProcessBuilder.cs

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ public sealed class PandocProcessBuilder
     private static readonly Assembly ASSEMBLY = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
     private static readonly MetaDataArchitectureAttribute META_DATA_ARCH = ASSEMBLY.GetCustomAttribute<MetaDataArchitectureAttribute>()!;
     private static readonly RID CPU_ARCHITECTURE = META_DATA_ARCH.Architecture.ToRID();
+    private static readonly ILogger LOGGER = Program.LOGGER_FACTORY.CreateLogger(nameof(PandocProcessBuilder));
 
     private string? providedInputFile;
     private string? providedOutputFile;
@@ -116,25 +117,62 @@ public sealed class PandocProcessBuilder
         // Any local installation should be preferred over the system-wide installation.
         //
         var localInstallationRootDirectory = await Pandoc.GetPandocDataFolder(rustService);
-        try
+
+        //
+        // Check if the data directory path is valid:
+        //
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(localInstallationRootDirectory))
+            LOGGER.LogWarning("The local data directory path is empty or null. Cannot search for local Pandoc installation.");
+        
+        else if (!Directory.Exists(localInstallationRootDirectory))
+            LOGGER.LogWarning("The local Pandoc installation directory does not exist: '{LocalInstallationRootDirectory}'.", localInstallationRootDirectory);
+        
+        else
         {
+            //
+            // The directory exists, search for the pandoc executable:
+            //
             var executableName = PandocExecutableName;
-            var subdirectories = Directory.GetDirectories(localInstallationRootDirectory, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
+            LOGGER.LogDebug("Searching for Pandoc executable '{ExecutableName}' in: '{LocalInstallationRootDirectory}'.", executableName, localInstallationRootDirectory);
-            foreach (var subdirectory in subdirectories)
+
+            try
             {
-                var pandocPath = Path.Combine(subdirectory, executableName);
+                //
-                if (File.Exists(pandocPath))
+                // First, check the root directory itself:
-                    return new(pandocPath, true);
+                //
+                var rootExecutablePath = Path.Combine(localInstallationRootDirectory, executableName);
+                if (File.Exists(rootExecutablePath))
+                {
+                    LOGGER.LogInformation("Found local Pandoc installation at the root path: '{Path}'.", rootExecutablePath);
+                    return new(rootExecutablePath, true);
+                }
+
+                //
+                // Then, search all subdirectories:
+                //
+                var subdirectories = Directory.GetDirectories(localInstallationRootDirectory, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
+                foreach (var subdirectory in subdirectories)
+                {
+                    var pandocPath = Path.Combine(subdirectory, executableName);
+                    if (File.Exists(pandocPath))
+                    {
+                        LOGGER.LogInformation("Found local Pandoc installation at: '{Path}'.", pandocPath);
+                        return new(pandocPath, true);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                LOGGER.LogWarning("No Pandoc executable found in local installation directory or its subdirectories.");
+            }
+            catch (Exception ex)
+            {
+                LOGGER.LogWarning(ex, "Error while searching for a local Pandoc installation in: '{LocalInstallationRootDirectory}'.", localInstallationRootDirectory);
             }
-        }
-        catch
-        {
-            // ignored
         }
 
         //
-        // When no local installation was found, we assume that the pandoc executable is in the system PATH.
+        // When no local installation was found, we assume that the pandoc executable is in the system PATH:
         //
+        LOGGER.LogWarning("Falling back to system PATH for the Pandoc executable: '{ExecutableName}'.", PandocExecutableName);
         return new(PandocExecutableName, false);
     }
     

app/MindWork AI Studio/wwwroot/changelog/v26.1.2.md

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # v26.1.2, build 232 (2026-01-xx xx:xx UTC)
 - Added the option to hide specific assistants by configuration plugins. This is useful for enterprise environments in organizations.
 - Added the current date and time to the system prompt for better context in conversations. Thanks Peer `peerschuett` for the contribution.
-- Improved error handling for model loading in provider dialogs (LLMs, embeddings, transcriptions).
+- Improved the error handling for the model loading in provider dialogs (LLMs, embeddings, transcriptions).
+- Improved the error handling when checking the Pandoc installation.
 - Improved the microphone handling (transcription preview) so that all sound effects and the voice recording are processed without interruption.
 - Improved the handling of self-hosted providers in the configuration dialogs (LLMs, embeddings, and transcriptions) when the host cannot provide a list of models.
 - Improved the document analysis assistant (in preview) by allowing users to send results to a new chat to ask follow-up questions. Thanks to Sabrina `Sabrina-devops` for this contribution.