Steps to "de-pod" workspaces in FM 9
In a current thread
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/707908?tstart=0
a user is having problems working with a large file in FM9. I suggested he try "de-podding" the FM workspace to see whether that saved enough RAM and whether that might help to successfully create the print file without graphics dropping out.
Info about the workspaces is here:
The pods are where FM enumerates variables, markers, cross-refs, conditional text, fonts, and all the other goodies it creates / uses. Even if your particular docs don't use any of these features, my understanding is that FM still has to scan the doc to populate these panels, adding processing time and overhead.
In my own experience, being able to use a "de-podded" workspace is essential to being able to open and work with "large" files. System has 4gigs of RAM, WInXP. In an extreme example, a single chapter of 1800 pages of tables, approx 1.4 million cells total. The symptoms of the problem are that the files either won't open, or they're excruciatingly slow to open, or there is display and system instability to the point where FM has to be closed in Task Manager and the system rebooted. In a typical example, a de-podded workspace opens the file in approx 6 seconds. With the FM workspace called "Authoring" it brings FM to a complete halt. A smaller subset file of this, 83 pages, takes 4 seconds to open de-podded, 1.55 minutes with Authoring workspace.
Following the instructions in the above Workspaces explanation it's possible to create your own workspace files; I will post my own versions of these files in a reply to this message, if anybody would like to test them.
Regarding the "de-podding" process, though, I found that the following was ** essential ** in order to have the pods correctly suppressed.
Two steps are needed in order to get FM to be correctly de-podded for a given user:
1. put the nopods.fws and .cfws into the user’s Documents and Settings location (location varies according to Windows version)
2. have the user open FM, open a new blank FM document, select the "NoPods" workspace, close the new document, and use File > Exit to close FM.
If #2 isn’t done, then the symptom is that FM won’t open existing files (either double-clicking in Explorer or doing File Open in FM’s menu) with nopods active, even though nopods files exist in the correct Documents and Settings location and even though FM will, however, open a new blank document and have the nopods correctly activated.
Sheila
AdChoices