A Call for Tips and Tricks

by Rick Quatro on February 10, 2010

FrameMaker automation is not all about FrameScript and plugins. Sometimes a tip or shortcut can increase productivity, and even small increases add up over time. If you have a FrameMaker tip or trick that you would like to share, please let me know. If I publish one of yours I will give you a free Carmen Publishing Inc. plugin of your choice.

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Fun with Acrobat Forms

by Rick Quatro on June 7, 2010

I have created a great workflow for developing Acrobat forms, using FrameMaker, FrameScript, and TimeSavers from MicroType (http://www.microtype.com). Using this workflow makes it practical to use FrameMaker to develop PDF forms. FrameMaker’s graphic and table features can be used to layout great looking forms, while TimeSavers eliminates nearly all of the required Acrobat post-processing. A set of FrameScript scripts streamlines the insertion of the TimeSavers markers in the FrameMaker documents.

If you have a need for Acrobat forms, or are interested in the process, please let me know. I will be glad to provide a demonstration of the process. Also, I am soliciting a few more forms to do for free that I can use for demonstration purposes. If you have a forms that you would like converted to Acrobat forms, please let me know. In the meantime, take a look at some of the forms I have developed using FrameMaker, FrameScript, and TimeSavers:

http://www.rickquatro.com/forms/ClientQuestionnaire.pdf
http://www.rickquatro.com/forms/LosersAreWinners_Men2.pdf
http://www.rickquatro.com/forms/LosersAreWinners_Women2.pdf

-Rick

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Renaming DITA Map Topics

March 24, 2010

I have a client using MIF2Go to generate DITA from unstructured FrameMaker documents. They are very happy with the entire process with one exception: They want an easy way to rename the href values in the DITA map, and the corresponding topics on disk. I have proposed a set of FrameScript scripts that will automate [...]

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Move Markers to the Beginning of Words

March 20, 2010

Maxwell Hoffman recently posted “Top 10 mistakes FM Uses make in content before translation” on his blog (www.tinyurl.com/gpi-fm1). One of the mistakes is having markers within words instead of at the beginning of words. I decided that this could be solved quickly and easily with a FrameScript script. You can download the free script at [...]

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FrameSLT: A Great FrameMaker Plugin

March 15, 2010

There are many useful FrameMaker plugins out there, but one of my favorites is FrameSLT by West Street Consulting, operated by Russ Ward. I was reminded of how powerful it is when I recently helped a client add structure to a large number of unstructured documents. One issue was a very specific sequence of elements [...]

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Managing Imported Images Solution

February 23, 2010

I have developed a FrameScript solution for one of the “bottlenecks” submitted to me a couple of weeks ago. A common problem is imported graphics reported as missing when files and folders are moved or renamed. The FrameMaker user actually wanted the ability to rename screenshots and quickly update the references to them without reimporting [...]

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Include/Don’t Include Lists

February 12, 2010

Here is a FrameMaker tip that doesn’t require any plugins or scripts. When you are working in a FrameMaker dialog box with Include/Don’t Include list boxes, you can quickly move all of the items from one list to another by holding down the Shift key and pressing the left or right arrow key (highlighted in [...]

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Unexpected Absolute Path

February 12, 2010

File this one under the “learn something new every day” category. This question was posted on one of the Framers lists today: Our documents have the potential of being generic to be used in multiple manuals. To achieve that, our safety icons are in a common location. The FM files and associated graphics should always [...]

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Word 2007 Import Problems

February 9, 2010

I have seen a couple of problems with the FrameMaker Word 2007 import filter in FrameMaker. It seems that some Word formats do not import correctly like they did with Word 2003. The “by hand” solution is to open the Word 2007 (.docx) files and save them out as Word 2003 (.doc), and then import [...]

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Managing FrameMaker Images

February 9, 2010

Last week, I posted a request on the Framers and FrameScript mailing lists, requesting your “favorite” FrameMaker bottlenecks. By bottlenecks, I mean the tedious, error-prone FrameMaker tasks that you have to perform. Or, it could mean a missing feature that you wish FrameMaker had. I received a hand full of thoughtful responses, but one request [...]

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