Summary: Creating a Word-to-Frame Template

[Robert Campbell <rcampbell -at- SYNOMICS -dot- COM>]

Hi all (and apologies for cross-posting - I received help from both lists.)

Original question: <snip>I'm trying to create an MS Word 97 template which
contains all the styles
(with exactly the same style names) we use in our Frame 5.5.6
documents.<snip>

Here's a summary of the replies (note that the Frame template needs to be
set up first):

Thanks to:
Joe Schrenghorst
Do it exactly as you describe, but make sure that you use the same fonts
in the Word template as are available in FrameMaker. <snip>
<unsnip>The styles don't have to be exactly the same as long as the names
are
the same. When you open the Word file in Framemaker, do any "import
styles" using your Framemaker template as the source and specify to
eliminate the "overrides" and you will eliminate all of the "asterisked"
style names.


Virginia Jensen
<snip>All of the styles come into
FrameMaker fine except the body paragraphs. For some reason they come in
with an override. I just bring up the paragraph designer and do an update
all to remove the overrides.  It sure saves a lot of time applying new
styles in Frame. <snip>


Annette Marx
<snip>1) Frame offers a couple of style features Word does not offer (eg
word
spacing percentages); those features will be lost after conversion.

2) If you think of creating Word styles with the same names as the Frame
Styles, this is ok, except for the following formats which use Word default
styles: Heading 1-9, Header, Footer, Footnote, Caption. They should rather
be renamed in FM to conform to the Winword defaults. We tried to create a
heading 1 style in word name Head_1 (according to out Frame style) and we
had no end of problems because Word somehow did not recognize them.

3) if after conversion you  encounter any problems with crashes or not being
able to create CRS in Word, you might try one of the following:

a) convert all Frame variable fields (eg. date fields) to plain text and
convert again
b) manually go through each Word style and set the language to your desired
language again (I know this is bothersome, but after I did it, a lot of
problems had disappeared)<snip>


Larry Sortor
<snip>We made our Word style names the same as our Frame template but added
a w in front of each Word name to help prevent confusion. Title = wTitle

When you import the Word document, from Frame select File > Import > File.
In the next dialog box, be sure to select Copy to allow you to make changes.


Scott Turner
Yes it will work. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? Not likely.

Ensure that you do the following in MWWord.

1. Turn off autoformatting.
2. Set up all character and paragraph tags exactly as you have them in
Frame. This will not be easy since the Word method of doing this does not
use the same phraseology as Frame.
3. Don't worry about autonumbering your table and figure titles.
4. Don't worry about formatting your tables.
5. Your headers and foots won't transfer, don't worry about them.
6. Do not make hyperlinked crossreferences in Word. They won't transfer.
7. Make a template and keep it inviolate for Word.
8. Get Office 2000.
9. Take Valium.

Thanks, Scott, but it wasn't _that_ stressful... ;)


...and a solution from Scott Hamlow that's a great example of lateral
thinking!

Yes, it will work.  It's been a couple of years, since I did it, but it
worked
pretty well. Just take your template in Frame and save as RTF, then open in
Word.

The biggest problem I ran into was with bullets and numbers, where I had to
modify the formats to avoid double bullets and double numbers.

I solved this by creating a frame template that was identical to my regular
template, but removed the bullets from the bullet formats (just the \t\b
portion
in the autonumbering para designer) and the numbers from the number formats
(again, remove just the n+ part portion in the autonumbering para designer).
Apply this template to your frame files, then save as RTF and open in Word.

Once in Word, everything should be just right if you have your Word template
attached.  You also need to create a Word template strip the bullets and
numbers, just like you did for Frame.

Not super elegant, but it works.

____________________________________________________
Thanks again to all who helped!

Robert Campbell
Technical Author
--------------------------------------------------
Synomics Ltd
Compass House
Vision Park
Histon
Cambridge CB4 9AD
UK

Tel: +44 1223 257788
Fax: +44 1223 257888

Email: rcampbell -at- synomics -dot- com
WWW: www.synomics.com

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