Re: My Word-to-Frame Adventure

[Jay Smith <jay@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dal,

Regarding your TABLE question...  

Application of an FM table tag to an EXISTING table will not normally apply
the effects that I believe you want.  There are probably "hidden" overrides
for ALL of the lines, fill, etc.  You can try to use Custom Ruling/Shading and
(highlight the table) set and apply everything to "From Table".  However, for
a number of reasons, this is unlikely to catch everything.

What I do is (in a otherwise empty document) create an empty "template" table
that is exactly what we want.  I then copy it into my live document.  I add
the necessary rows/columns to get it to match the size needed to replace the
incorrect-appearing (old) table.  Then COPY the text from the old table and
paste it into the new table, selecting the "replace" paste option.  Double
check that everything is okay; if you messed up on the number of columns or
rows, you could yourself into a mess.  Then delete the old table.

Jay

-- 
Jay Smith

e-mail: jay@jaysmith.com

The Press for History(tm), The Press for Education(tm), 
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Gemmell,Dal wrote:
> 
> First of all thanks to everyone who posted replies to my "Desperately
> Seeking Macros" post. There were many recommendations for 3rd party macros.
> Overall a very kind response to yesterday's rant.
> 
> Also thanks to the Adobe employee who replied personally to me. It's
> reassuring that people at Adobe do listen to their customers.
> 
> Today, after a full day of converting I think I am getting the hang of it.
> Here is the method I have been using.
> 
> Before I started this process. I searched in the Techwriter's archives and
> the FrameUser's archives for hints or other peoples' experiences. One of the
> posters (Gregory D. Drew 09/09/1998) said this,
> 
> "In Word, remove the automatic numbering from numbered lists prior to
> importing into Frame. I've found in the long run it saves me a lot of work.
> The same goes for bulleted lists. In Frame the bullet or numbering is
> properly applied."
> 
> 1. So first I remove all the autonumbering in headers.
> 
> 2. Next I remove any styles that have been collecting dust in the Word file.
> Or as my boss says, "I hope that Frame doesn't generate, collect, mutate,
> and retain styles the way that Word does..."
> 
> 3. From archived posts, nearly everybody wrote that FrameMaker
> document/template must have the EXACT style tags (case sensitive) as the
> Word document. This was a point that was stressed again and again. So I make
> all the names of the style tags identical to the one's in Word and delete
> any extraneous ones.
> 
> 4. I save the Word 97 file as an RTF and open the RTF file in Frame. I tried
> import->file once, but I think good ol' open is the way to go.
> 
> 5. A "Body" tag appears out of nowhere and has been assigned to the normal
> body text throughout the document. This originally was called "Normal" in
> both documents. And for some reason each style suddenly has a lot of tabs.
> Actually, one for every half-inch. Where do all these tabs come from? Also
> there are some tags that have mysteriously appeared in my Frame document,
> and tags that have mysteriously appeared in the Paragraph Catalog. There is
> one that is called "Paragraph" and it has attached itself to some Index
> markers.
> 
> Another strange thing is that all the heading tags were labeled "Heading
> (number)" ("Heading capitalized") in the Word and Frame document, but after
> conversion, in the Paragraph catalog all of them are listed as "heading
> (number)".
> 
> I capitalize ALL the heading tags because I want to import formats from a
> template with all of my company's updated styles.
> 
> All the graphics look fine and index entries are preserved nicely.
> 
> 7. I select import->formats and choose a template with my company's updated
> styles making sure those style tags also exactly. After I select everything
> and click import, it works fairly well.
> 
> 8. When I arrive at my first table, the formatting is different than what I
> would like, but whenever I make changes to the ruling in the Table Designer
> and try to apply them nothing happens. The table was done in Word and has a
> special 3D look. The only workaround I can think of is to convert the table
> into paragraphs and back again. Only after am I able to customize my tables'
> ruling. There must be a better way right?
> 
> Anyway, that's my experience so far. Frame does do a pretty good job, but
> you must take the time to carefully prepare both documents before you
> convert. Well that's enough for me, I'm out of here.
> 
> Dal
> 
> dal_gemmell@email.syscom.com.tw
> 
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-- 
Jay Smith

e-mail: jay@jaysmith.com

Jay Smith & Associates
P.O. Box 650
Snow Camp, NC  27349  USA

Phone: Int+US+336-376-9991
Toll-Free Phone in US & Canada:
	1-800-447-8267
Fax: Int+US+336-376-6750

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