Viewing facing pages in FM 9

OH Tech Writer wrote: Yesterday, when I was viewing a document and set the view to "Fit Page in Window", I was able to see two facing pages at a time, which I really liked. Today, I went to do the same thing, and it didn't work the same way -- I could see only one page at a time. Then I opened a different file and was able to see facing pages in that file, but not other files! The options that appear to be available via the Arrange Documents toolbar button seem to vary on a file-by-file basis -- and sometimes change while I'm viewing a single file! Is there anything I can do to consistently be able to view facing pages?

Thanks for asking! This is one of those things that a FrameMaker user gets used to quite early on, and forgets to pass along to newcomers. The good thing is that once you learn it, it sticks with you forever after. It's something like tuning your home theater's surround-sound speaker positions, relative volumes, etc. to suit the room it's in, then leaving it alone forever after, unless, of course, you get new furniture, and/or drapes, and have to retune it again.

Fitting a document page's vertical dimension into a window may or may not leave enough width for a second page along side it, if the window is too narrow. You can zoom out in small stages until you get the fit. Hide unneeded toolbars, panels, and rulers, to increase the usable window size.

To get it all working together, you need to look the combination of the size of your document window, the zoom percentage of the pages, the Fit Window to Text Frame (sometimes it's confusingly "sticky," View > Options > Variable, the UI Visibility setting (FrameMaker 9) setting, and Format > Page Layout > Pagination > Single/Double Sided. Whew!

Good luck!

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

It turns out that this can be set by going to View > Options and changing Page Scrolling to Facing Pages. (Why couldn't I find this in the FrameMaker help?) Anyway, I suspect that the reason it worked one way one day and another way the next is that yesterday I was working at home, and the size of my monitor there is probably different than it is when I'm in the office. Anyway, mystery solved!