We produce "doc sets" that include multiple sub-maps. The doc sets are published as SuiteHelp (HTML).  From within the sub-maps we want to include xrefs to the other sub-maps. We also produce PDF output for each of the individual sub-maps. Where we are including xrefs to other sub-maps, we want to instead include a citation when we are producing the individual PDFs (because, of course, you can't link to topics outside the map). To accomplish this, we include both the xref and the citation, them conditionalize them to include the appropriate one for the type of output, HTML or PDF.  This all works great until we attempt to release the PDF output. During the release phase, Publication Manager tries to resolve ALL xrefs, even if they are conditionalized out of the output you are releasing. So the PDF output cannot be released because it can't resolve the xrefs.

Has anyone else run into this issue, and if so, have you found a workaround? We are considering not releasing those publications, that is, just leave them as a Release Candidate.  The main downside I see is that objects might be updated (new versions created), then inadvertently included in the previous version of the publication. (When a publication is a Release Candidate, you can still create a new version of it.)