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J
Jan368847023tmb
Participant
April 21, 2024
Answered

Summary of changes customisation

  • April 21, 2024
  • 5 replies
  • 678 views

Hi,

I'm preparing my company to move from MS Word documentation managment into FM. But...

I haven't found any solution yet for creating a Summary of Changes/ List of Changes to the document which covers a live document and not a comparison log. The standard log doesn't really meet our expectations and taking into consideration that I lack experience in the matter of this particular software, I imagine if it is even possible to achieve. If we want to operate fully on FM, tracking replaccement of figures and tables should be available.
The perfect way that i'm looking for is to list changes inside one of subchapters of the initial document and it will be up to date (creating new entries with every change made) as new rows in table with date, version number, affected pages and brief description of changes made.

I don't know if my explenation is sufficient, but anyway thank you for any provided support that will bring me one step closer to achieve this goal.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Barb Binder

    Hi @Jan368847023tmb:

     

    This is the webinar where I show how to create a list of effective pages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNABxhe8-4A (the LOEP starts at minute 47:50).

     

    Please note that this is an advanced feature of FrameMaker that builds on knowledge of body pages, master pages, reference pages, template frames, background frames and generated files. You might find watching this section to be useful to see what it can do, but then I would set it aside until you're up to speed on FrameMaker before trying to implement it. 

     

    Thanks to @QuintinSeegers for linking to my blog post and @Samuel A Tomanio for mentioning the webinar! 😊

     

    ~Barb

    5 replies

    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Community Expert
    Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 24, 2024

    Is this something you currently produce out-of-the-box with MS Word, or with the help of add-on software?

     

    To me, it sounds like the LOEP needed for aerospace projects, as mentioned by Sam and Barb.

    If you can you post an example of your Summary of Changes, we may be able to give you more pointed advice.

     

    -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
      J
      Jan368847023tmbAuthor
      Participant
      April 24, 2024

      Hi,
      well I didn't expect to get replies so soon, cause most likely old fashioned forums are not that popular nowadays... and especially from @Barb Binder. I'm just... wow...
      Thank you for your contribution in my case. So to let everyone involved know, I'm reading Barbs blog posts one by one to get some hints for begginers.
      Some of my paperwork do focus on aviation industry (FAA and EASA alike) so LOEP will be included, but overall I thought it could be helpful to somehow be able to generate a List of Changes that were made from one version of specific document to another. Like changes of pictures, tables etc., but as I read in FM helpdesk there is no official support for graphic changes.
      And I would like to implement this as regular part of the document, so it will be troublesome if i have to update it by hand everytime. It's not a problem when I have <100 docs, but I will soon have three times more put on me...

      @Winfried Rengmentioned "change bars" and I saw something like that in airplane manuals. Do they work with graphic changes as well or only with text?

      @Matt-Tech Comm Toolsas for now, I'm writing all changes in tables by hand in MS Word. There are 4 columns in my LOC: affected pages, date, version of the document and brief description of implemented changes.

      As for now I will study more of Barbs entries, but I'm open for any helpful tips.

        Sam Tomanio
        Sam Tomanio
        Known Participant
        April 24, 2024

        Jan,

         

        Its not that hard. Why don't you make a practice book file with a few chapters? Put a body page text frame on the Master pages. I use a date tag. Then run your List of Paragraphs to pick up the date tag and format . You shouldn't have to do it by hand!

        Follow the  instructions in the Essentials part 6 video.

        I’m available to develop or revise small aviation Projects in FrameMaker.
          Barb Binder
          Community Expert
          Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
          Community Expert
          April 23, 2024

          Hi @Jan368847023tmb:

           

          This is the webinar where I show how to create a list of effective pages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNABxhe8-4A (the LOEP starts at minute 47:50).

           

          Please note that this is an advanced feature of FrameMaker that builds on knowledge of body pages, master pages, reference pages, template frames, background frames and generated files. You might find watching this section to be useful to see what it can do, but then I would set it aside until you're up to speed on FrameMaker before trying to implement it. 

           

          Thanks to @QuintinSeegers for linking to my blog post and @Samuel A Tomanio for mentioning the webinar! 😊

           

          ~Barb

          ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
            Samuel A Tomanio
            Samuel A Tomanio
            Participant
            April 22, 2024

            Hi,

            There's a YouTube video that Barb did for the Adobe FrameMaker Essential series.  In part 6, shes explains how to create a list of changes. 

            I call mine a List of Effective Pages and we use it for aviation manuals that are approved by the FAA.  It just picks up page date & number. I'll send you my template if you're in a jam.

            regards,

            Sam

              W
              Community Expert
              Winfried RengCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              April 22, 2024

              Hi,

              When you want a list of changes, you have to mark text manually, so that FrameMaker can create a list for you.

              E.g. with markers or with conditional text.

              Then FrameMaker can create a list of markers or of conditional text.

              Of course you also have to delete or remove those markers or conditional text, when the change is accepted.

              And you know, that there are two ways to mark changes automatically:

              Track Text Changes (more advanced)

              Change bars (more limited)

              Best regards, Winfried

                QuintinSeegers
                QuintinSeegers
                Legend
                April 21, 2024

                Hi @Jan368847023tmb , welcome to FrameMaker. 

                 

                The only way I know of to create a List of Changes is by using the method described in one of Barb Binder's many useful blog posts: https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-framemaker-compare-documents/, but does require you to work with different copies of the documents. Depending on how your documentation is structured, this may/may not be practical/feasable for your company.

                 

                Having gone through the process (many years ago) of converting documents from MS Word to FM, I wish you all the best with this project. It won't be a simple/easy process, but most definitely worth the time and effort in the end.

                 

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