Skip to main content
F
fonrig
Known Participant
April 16, 2019
Answered

Select all, copy, paste in new doc

  • April 16, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 2057 views

I need to update several manuals from legacy content into our new template. I was thinking a script could help me do the trick.

I think the way it should work is as follows:

  • create an empty document using latest template,
  • open existing old manual document,
  • select all content, copy. This will copy all text, tables, anchored frames, etc.
  • go back to empty document and paste copied content.

Is this good practice using Extendscript?

Maybe using FCodes is an option. Do you have any suggestion?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Winfried Reng

Hi,

When I have a new template, I usually do not want any remnants from any old template.

Therefore I do it almost as fonrig said:

  • Empty document from the last template. I do not "Save As", as this might change the path from any graphics on the reference pages or master pages. I copy the template into my folder with my file manager. All my graphics are in a subfolder "graphics".
  • Copy old file into the new folder so that the path to any graphics will not change.
  • Rename old file e.g. with a prefix "_old_"
  • Rename new file with the same name as the old file.
  • Select all content, copy. Close old file.
  • Paste into new document.
  • Import formats from the current document and remove manual page breaks and format/layout overrides.
  • Take care of anything which should use another format now.

Best regards

Winfried

1 reply

Ian Proudfoot
Ian Proudfoot
Legend
April 16, 2019

Is it safe to assume that the legacy manuals are FrameMaker documents? If so then I wouldn't go about it in the way you describe. It's normally easier to import the formats from the template into the existing documents. When I have to do this with a large batch of individual FrameMaker documents I add them all to a temporary book file then import the formats from the template into all of the book components.

If you have vast numbers of documents to convert, then a script may be useful to automate the task, but otherwise I would just use the existing tools that FrameMaker provides.

W
Community Expert
Winfried RengCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
April 16, 2019

Hi,

When I have a new template, I usually do not want any remnants from any old template.

Therefore I do it almost as fonrig said:

  • Empty document from the last template. I do not "Save As", as this might change the path from any graphics on the reference pages or master pages. I copy the template into my folder with my file manager. All my graphics are in a subfolder "graphics".
  • Copy old file into the new folder so that the path to any graphics will not change.
  • Rename old file e.g. with a prefix "_old_"
  • Rename new file with the same name as the old file.
  • Select all content, copy. Close old file.
  • Paste into new document.
  • Import formats from the current document and remove manual page breaks and format/layout overrides.
  • Take care of anything which should use another format now.

Best regards

Winfried

Ian Proudfoot
Ian Proudfoot
Legend
April 17, 2019

That's a fair comment Winfried. I was just checking that fonrig was aware of the built-in options.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices