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dianeo25300006
Inspiring
March 13, 2017
Answered

Table of Contents master pages - should they have a text frame??

  • March 13, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 1077 views

Hi everyone,

I have master pages for my table of contents, and there is a right master page and a left master page. In the master page (aside from fancy headers/footers) there is just a text frame located on the page where the table of contents should be located.

Now - when I generate the table of contents, I get the TOC information, but it looks like it is creating a text frame lying on top of the text frame from the master page?? (There are definitely two text frames on top of each other.) This appears to be why my TOC master page mapping is not working.

Doesn't the TOC master page need the text frame to know where the text should go?? I am clearly doing something wrong here. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

FrameMaker 2015

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Matt-Tech Comm Tools

Check the text flow on the blank frame...I'm betting it's something other than Flow: A

Delete both frames, draw a new one, give it a flow tag of A and you should be fine.

2 replies

Matt-Tech Comm Tools
Community Expert
Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
March 14, 2017

Check the text flow on the blank frame...I'm betting it's something other than Flow: A

Delete both frames, draw a new one, give it a flow tag of A and you should be fine.

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
    D
    dianeo25300006Author
    Inspiring
    March 14, 2017

    This did the trick, Matt. Might have taken me a year to figure it out. Who knew that labeling the TOC text frames TOC would cause so much aggravation?? Oh, well, I guess you. I had no idea they had to be part of the normal text flow. 

    THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR RESPONSES!!!

    Diane

      Matt-Tech Comm Tools
      Community Expert
      Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 14, 2017

      Glad it worked for you!

      I'm definitely in the "use Fm as designed" camp...

      I use default values whenever possible, even if I have to give up some level of "perfection" in exchange for reliable control.

      -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
        Barb Binder
        Community Expert
        Barb BinderCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 13, 2017

        Well, the general concept is that you allow FrameMaker to create a Table of Contents file when you add a table of contents to a book. FrameMaker bases this brand new file on the first non-generated file in the book window, and yes, it will create master page template frames that appear on the body pages. FrameMaker then flows the TOC text into the template frames on the body pages. There should only be one per body page.

        One option is to start over (and we can help you do that efficiently without much effort), but I'd start by trying to remove that extra frame. Is it coming from the master page or are there two on the body pages? You can Control+click on the extra frame to delete it, and then update your book to see if it is fixed.

        You could also post just the TOC file on dropbox and then post a link so that we can see the page structure.

        ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        Bob_Niland
        Community Expert
        Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 14, 2017

        re: FrameMaker bases this brand new file on the first non-generated file in the book window...

        And often that might be the cover.fm file, with funky flow, like disconnected pages and/or extra body or master page text frames and flows, resulting in a messed up default ToC.

        An easy fix is to delete the troublesome ToC, insert a leading deminimus file based on the book's main body page layout, and regen ToC.

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