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Datacard_Group
Participant
July 25, 2017
Answered

FM 2015 Suddenly mis-applies Master Pages

  • July 25, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 404 views

Since I installed the latest FrameMaker 2015 update (13.0.5.547), I have had a problem in that when I update an entire book, the master pages apply seemingly at random within each book. Note that we have different Master Page templates for the front matter, chapters, index, and glossary.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a workaround?

--Laura

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Datacard_Group

Hi Laura:

That's a very clear analysis of the situation—and you certainly convinced me that my initial assumption was incorrect. I haven't see this behavior before. When you are ready, consider filing a bug report here: Tracker.

~Barb


Barb--

Without your suggestion, I wouldn't have done the analysis: thank you! I will file a bug.

The interim solution, however, is to select the book and all chapter files.

Then, click File > Print Book.

Select Adobe PDF for the printer (rather than a physical printer), set up the Adobe settings and the Printer settings, then click Print. Somewhere in there, clear (de-select) the box for "Print to File", which creates a raw .ps file of your book that can subsequently be opened by Distiller and converted to PDF, but save yourself those steps.

I'm off to file a bug.

Cheers!

--Laura

2 replies

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 26, 2017

It may or may not be related, but back when FM7.1{Unix} was my daily driver, I found that selecting
☑ Apply Master Pages
in Update Book
would result in Master Pages mis-applied.

So the protocol was to only perform an AMP
Format > Page Layout > Apply Master Pages
in the individual component files
(and there's probably a keyboard shortcut for this that I don't recall)
and de-select the AMP option in the Update Book menu.

If a bug, I'd expect it to have been fixed by now, but haven't confirmed it.

AMP is potentially unstable by definition. When an MP is changed, it can and does reflow content to prior or subsequent pages, which content might shift mapped tags. This can result in the prior, current or following page needing a new MP as well, which when applied, can ...

So a logical loop trap is easily possible, which FM may or may not reliably detect (a variation on the "halting problem" in computer science) - which does little to explain why file-level AMP would be working when book-level AMP doesn't.

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 25, 2017

Do you have master page mapping tables defined on the reference pages?

Are you enabling Apply Master Pages when you update the book?

This is an awesome feature that allows you to associate a master page with a paragraph tag and apply master pages automatically while updating your book. This post explains how it works (and I'm guessing you enabled it inadvertently.) Adobe FrameMaker: Automatically Assigning Custom Master Pages - Rocky Mountain Training

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
D
Datacard_GroupAuthor
Participant
July 25, 2017

Thanks for your reply, BarbBinder!

Yes, selecting "Apply Master Pages" could indeed cause a big mess! :-) I'm aware of this feature and have made extensive use of it in the past. However, at my current site our books are not configured for this, so we are careful to not accidentally select it when updating a book.

I found this problem with 4 different books (they were due, or I would have stopped after 2 books :-) ). After experiencing a title page in the middle of Chapter 2 of my second book, among other oddities, I decided to experiment to figure out if this was user-error or a bug.

Here's the process I followed with the second book:

1. Rebooted my computer (cold-reboot).

2. Checked for Windows and FrameMaker updates. (none)

3. Selected one mid-book chapter and updated (Edit-->Update References) just that chapter--no problems with Master Pages being mis-applied, no errors of any kind in the error log.

4. Selected the front matter chapter and updated it--again, no problems or errors.

5. Selected an Appendix--same results.

6. Selected the whole book and updated it (Edit-->Update Book)--no errors......

So sorry, I just realized I forgot a key step: I only saw the problem AFTER I did a File-->Save As PDF. Then, it saved the PDF file "successfully" (but displaying the randomized master pages) and the source files now displayed the messy Master Pages, too.

Until the last software update, the File-->Save As PDF worked just fine and was our procedure for saving all files. Since the update, I have had to re-apply master pages multiple times per book to get one successful PDF out of it.

I will experiment with just File-->Print and selecting the Adobe PDF printer in the Print Setup dialog box and report back in case anyone is interested.

Thanks so much, BarbBinder, for getting me to further analyze my process and (hopefully!) find and solve the problem. Cross your fingers everyone...

--Laura

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 25, 2017

    Hi Laura:

    That's a very clear analysis of the situation—and you certainly convinced me that my initial assumption was incorrect. I haven't see this behavior before. When you are ready, consider filing a bug report here: Tracker.

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
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