Participating Frequently

Question

Structured master pages in PDF output

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
October 9, 2025
4 replies
442 views

I'm working on a document with many large tables that I want to automatically rotate to landscape orientation in my PDF output using master page maps. When I generate the PDF, I can see that my templates are being used, but only the left and right pages get applied- never the landscape page that I want.

I have a set of templates for this document and I've determined that ChapterOutputTpl.fm is the one that gets used for this table. In ChapterOutputTpl, I've added the landscape master page. I've also edited the structured and unstructured master page maps in the reference pages so that the table element (structured map) and table cell and body paragraph tags (unstructured map) use the landscape master page. I know that the right template file is used because I put a visible time stamp in it.

I'm generating the PDF through the Publish panel using "Save PDF via Book with components route" and "Apply Output Templates". I've tried "Print" and "Save as PDF" with similar results.

I'm new to structured FM so I might be making a basic error here, but I've spent hours trying to figure this out and getting nowhere. Any help is appreciated!

D

Darren3302Author

Participating Frequently

UPDATE: I've boiled this down to the simplest possible structure and I can't get any custom master pages at all in my PDF output no matter what I try.

The project structure is just a bookmap with a single chapter:

The chapter is just a concept with a few paragraphs and a note (I previously had a table element but I deleted it for testing purposes):

The reference pages in the output template have several entries that should trigger a new master page:

I have a master page for landscape ("landscape"), which is what I've been trying to apply since the beginning, and another master page that's just a copy of the default left page with some custom text ("blah"). The later is just for testing to eliminate page or text rotation as a possible cause.

The ONLY master pages I get in the PDF output are the default left and right pages. It's as if the MasterPageMaps aren't even being used...

W

Winfried Reng

Community Expert

Hi,

Where did you enter your custom blah text on the master page? If on the main text frame, this text will not be shown. Only text on a background text frame.

Best regards, Winfried

D

Darren3302Author

Participating Frequently

I put it in the footer.

Bob_Niland

Community Expert

Top suspect:
I've never been able to get AMP (Apply Master Pages) to trigger from content in Table cells. It has to be some other content on the page (which could be hidden meta for the purpose). I haven't challenged this in a while, so newer FMs may have enhanced to implement it.

Next suspect:

I don't work in struc, but I suspect that Struc FM has the same pagination limitations as unstruc.

It's always been my understanding that FM can't mix page sizes in a single document (.fm file), and this probably extends to same-size pages that are rotated in the output. Exception pages have to be separate .fm files in a .book.

I have done portrait-orientation pages with rotated (landscape) content, and those Master Pages do map correctly.

D

Darren3302Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks Bob.

I tried triggering the landscape master page using the prolog author, and several other different elements and paragraph styles. Same result.

I also tried un-rotating the landscape master page so that the page itself is portrait while the text frame runs down the long edge. Still no change.

Any other ideas?

Matt-Tech Comm Tools

Community Expert

Are you modifying the reference pages for the output templates or for the editing templates? If the landscape master page and the mapping table don't reside in the output template, that could be the issue.

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

Matt-Tech Comm Tools

Community Expert

I've had trouble getting ditamaps to publish to PDF...

Is your project organized with a ditamap or a bookmap?

If ditamap, try saving the project as a bookmap first, then publish to PDF.

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

D

Darren3302Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Matt

I'm using bookmaps. My main document is actually a bookmap of bookmaps for different volumes and parts of the manual, but for testing purposes I created a single bookmap with my same large table and master pages. No change.

Any other ideas?

This seems like a very basic thing that FM should be able to do without much trouble. I can't be the only one who's tried to automatically rotate tables in structured FM?

D

Darren3302Author

Participating Frequently

Sorry, I should have added that I'm using Structured FrameMaker 17.0.8.853.

Thanks!