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kelly_usa
Inspiring
April 5, 2011
Question

Converting from RoboHelp to FrameMaker

  • April 5, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 4887 views

So far all the posts I've read here deal with converting from FrameMaker to RoboHELP, but what is the best way to do the reverse? I have a RoboHTML project in RH7 that I need to convert to Frame 9. Do I have to generate printed documentation from my help project into Word format, then convert from Word to FrameMaker? Thanks in advance for any tips you can offer!

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3 replies

Matt-Tech Comm Tools
Community Expert
Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 15, 2011

Kelly, I recommend

  1. Using the Printed Documentation to Word to produce a Word file (see Peter's site at www.grainge.org/ for best practices)
  2. Open the Word file into FrameMaker to create a base document for your FM template. This file will contain your base paragraph and other catalogs.
  3. Create your template file by modifying the definitions (If you'll be importing more than one document, DO NOT change the names of the formats. If desired, contact Rick Quattro for an inexpensive conversion of tag names via FrameScript)
  4. Import (File > Import > File, not File > Open) any other word files into this template.

-Matt

-Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 5, 2011

That method's probably a sure way to heartache in FM (Word imports a lot of crap into FM). I'd suggest going from RH to Word then PDF and then pull the PDF into FM. Check the frameusers.com mailing list for RH to FM suggestions (do a Google search on site:frameusers.com).

K
kelly_usaAuthor
Inspiring
April 7, 2011

Hi Jeff,

I can see how I can import individual pages of a PDF into Frame, but how do I bring a whole PDF into Frame? Thanks!

Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 8, 2011

Sorry, no idea - I've never had to bring a PDF into a FM doc. I just know that it can be done (with what results - I have no idea). You may end up just copying & pasting as text into your FM doc and applying styles afterwards.

Captiv8r
Captiv8r
Legend
April 5, 2011

Hi Kelly

The thing is, most often folks are either Frame centric or RoboHelp  centric. Seldom do we see folks taking RoboHelp and moving that to  Frame.

As I understand it, if you are Frame centric, that is the approach you would take. Adobe's recommended workflow seems to be as follows:

Start with Frame. Make all edits using Frame. From Frame you create your PDF output if you like. You link Frame to RoboHelp to create help type outputs.

Of course if you are RoboHelp centric, you ignore Frame is even there and only work with RoboHelp.

Cheers... Rick

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K
kelly_usaAuthor
Inspiring
April 5, 2011

Unfortunately, Robo does not do everything we need -- and it is too work-intensive to create decent-looking printed doc from Robo (in my humble opinion). So the idea is to BECOME Frame-centric. All the doc is already written in Robo, so starting with Frame is not an option.

The best way I can think of (converting Robo to Word, and Word to Frame) is going to be a lot of work considering the amount of doc to be converted. I just want to make sure there's not an easier way before I go down that road. Thanks!

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