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techieblue
Participant
April 21, 2023
Question

Track Text Edits (Track Changes) does not remain active

  • April 21, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 885 views

We are having some issues in our group where Track Text Edits doesn't work as expected for us in UnStructured Frame:

 

1) Does not take effect immediately. Open a file immediately after enabling Track Text Edits and open a file, track changes is never enabled yet.

2) Does not enable or does not enable consistently throughout all book files. When a book file is opened, text edits may or may not be actually enabled; it's hit or miss.

3) Does not persist through single editing session. While editing a file, text changes often stops working.

4) Does not persist upon saving and reopening a file or book. After making edits with track changes enabled, 

 

What we typically have to do in either situation:

1) Select the book file and re-enable Track Text Edits.

2) Do that again.

3) Update book.

4) Save and close book.

5) Exit FrameMaker.

6) Reopen FrameMaker, reopen book.

7) Open a random file and see if text tracking is enabled.

    7a) If not working, do that whole process again until it does work.

    7b) If it is working, work with it in all the files until it either stops working in a file or you find it is not enabled in a specific file you try to edit. Then do that whole process again.

😎 Rinse and repeat until you get all your changes done.

 

I don't think this is how this is supposed to work, or I would hope Adobe would consider the feature broken, and/or no one would be using FrameMaker anymore. So, if there are any tips or tricks out there to help this feature actually work for us, *reliably*, I would love to know and pass that knowledge off to my team. Right now, though, working with it is RIDICULOUSLY frustrating. Thanks in advance everyone!

 

FYI: Deleting the preferences folder doesn't change any of the above for us.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    R
    Rick A
    Participating Frequently
    October 1, 2024

    For what it's worth, I've had this problem for several years now. Whenever I use FrameMaker, I have to restart it at least a few times a day because it stops tracking changes; some days more than others. Today, I found that it stops working each time I save. I don't think that's always true because I save very frequently and sometimes go hours without a problem, but that's the behavior today. Maybe it has to do with the state of the file (???).

    I'll post again if I find any other patterns (or workarounds).

    W
    Community Expert
    Winfried RengCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 2, 2024

    Hi,

    Strange. I had never experienced this.

    Can you answer Barb's and my questions above?

    Do you also use conditional text? Any ExtendScript or FrameScript scripts?

    And what's your FrameMaker version (Help | About)?

    Best regards, Winfried

      R
      Rick A
      Participating Frequently
      October 2, 2024

      I'm using FrameMaker 17.0.4.628 on Windows. I am not using any scripts, but the document does have a lot of conditional text. The behavior is pretty consistent at the moment: once I save a file, Track Text Edit ceases to work, not only for that file, but for all files and all books, even ones opened after the save. The only way I've found to reactivate tracking is to restart FM.

      This is a huge problem, as our working process includes review of every change. This problem makes it inevitable that changes are frequently made without tracking (it's very common to make a number of changes before noticing that they aren't being displayed as changes), which means these changes don't get reviewed. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

      W
      Community Expert
      Winfried RengCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 24, 2023

      Hi techieblue,

       

      I think that Barb's explanation is correct. It fits well to your description. Can you check this?

       

      You also wrote:

      3) Does not persist through single editing session. While editing a file, text changes often stops working.

      4) Does not persist upon saving and reopening a file or book. After making edits with track changes enabled,

       

      I use Track Text Edits often (means most of the time, when I work in FrameMaker). Track Text Edits had not stopped during an editing session yet. When Track Text Edit is activated, it's also activated, when I save, close and reopen a file.

      Therefore there must be a cause for your issues:

      Do you have structured or unstructured files?

      Are your files in Dropbox or any CMS?

       

      Tracked Text Edits use the conditional text feature, and there can be strange effects, when you use both.

      However, it can be activated and deactivated reliably.

       

      Best regards, Winfried

        Barb Binder
        Community Expert
        Barb BinderCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 23, 2023

        Hi @techieblue:

         

        Have you tried opening all files in book (Shift + File > Open all files in book) first? If a file has an error (i.e., missing fonts, unresolved x-refs) it can't enable Track Text Edits unless it is already opened. 

         

        ~Barb

        ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
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