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I have *changed* a bunch of different file types to FrameMaker and found
that the word *conversion* has no place in this process, unless you use the
term with some religious significance. Usually the biggest problem is that
Word users have , er I mean *use* no styles. Each paragraph is a different
version of normal.
Typically, when you go from rtf, all of the index entries are maintained in
the text. You will most probably loose graphics and cross references. When
you go from Word 6 *.doc format to FrameMaker, you can have a little better
luck with everything except graphics. Cross references will have to be
changed to the desired format.
Here is what I have found to work well in *cavorting* Word to FrameMaker
(hence referred to as Frame):
1. Save a copy of the *.fm as rtf. Open this rtf in Word and save as a
template (*.dot). You can use this template to apply style names that match
the ones that you will use in Frame. It doesn't matter what it looks like
in Word, just that the names match (case sensitive). You can search and
replace style names, such as replace body text with body etc.
b. Use the AutoFormat to apply styles to a document that doesn't use them.
This way similarly sized headings are tagged the same and can be globally
replaced either in Word or Frame. It also gets rid of most of the pesky
empty paragraphs.
3. Open the Word document and then cut and paste it into a blank copy of
your template in Frame. This makes managing your Frame file easier without
adding all sorts of stuff to the paragraph catalog or master and references
pages.
IV. Clean up the mess manually and add graphics and cross references.
John Waddell
Technical Writer
Micron Technology
jwaddell -at- micron -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
From: Ginger Moskowitz [mailto:ginger -at- aatech -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 1999 3:34 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Converting Word to FrameMaker
Some questions for those who have converted Word manuals to FrameMaker:
* Does FM keep your index entries, or did you have to re-do the index?
* How does FM import the graphics? (my word doc's graphics are inserted as
files; they are not referenced images)
* Does FM keep your cross references, or did you have to re-do these as
well?
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