Changing default page size and units to metric (mm, A4)

[AndyF@Mii]

I'm a brand new user so I'm going to assume this is a 'me' problem but I cannot seem to find any way of getting FrameMaker 2022 to default to mm's and A4 pages on start up. Everything I have found so far seems to suggest this is either a 'per session' or 'per document' setting ... which I hope is not true.

I've looked through the maker.ini file and can't see anything there that looks like it is related, which makes me feel a bit nervous about being able to make those settings 'stick'.

Can someone either point out what I'm missing, or confirm my fears? 

Thanks in advance

[K.Daube]

This default depends on the setting of the UI language - which normally is defined during the installation. If you have selected US-English, then the defaults are US paper size and Inch units.Fo International English the paper default paper size is A4 and you get cm as unit. The latter is also true for French, German and Japanese.

The setting is visible in $HOME (the installation directory) / maker.ini under the section Frame. Settings can be

Language

USEnglish | UKEnglish | French | German | Japanese

[AndyF@Mii]

Thanks very much for the quick response, I knew it had to be something that was 'doable' 🙂

I'll have to get admin permissions opened up to change the installation maker.ini file to confirm, but I can see the setting you are referring to ... usually selecting between US and UK English only affects whether it's 'color' or 'colour' etc. 🙂

[frameexpert]

There is also a user-accessible maker.ini in your 17 folder:

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\FrameMaker\17

where <UserName> is your Windows login name.

You can copy the line to your user maker.ini file. Any entries in the user maker.ini file will take precedence over the same entries in the maker.ini in your Program Files/FrameMaker folder. Make sure you copy the section label over as well.

[Frame]
Language=UKEnglish

[Winfried Reng · Accepted solution]

I switched the language in the maker.ini from UKEnglish to German and then to USEnglish.

The units and the interface language did not change.

As far as I know the language and the default template files are set during the installation and cannot be changed later.

Therefore I recommend to search for the template file and change its format  to A4 and change the units in the View menu in the Options dialog.

I admit I do not know which of the files in the template folder is the file which is opened, when you click Portrait or Landscape.

c:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2022\Samples\
c:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2022\Templates\
c:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2022\TemplatesWithAdobeFonts\

c:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2022\Structure\xml\

You can always create your own template file and add it to the template folder and adapt the Welcome screen, so that it is suggested.

However, then always the paths to any graphics on reference pages or master pages point to the folder of the template which might not be the correct ones. Therefore I recommend to just create a template file, copy it where you want to use it and open it from there.

[AndyF@Mii]

Hi Winfried ... as you say it doesn't appear that the maker.ini approach changes the default behaviour. It's a bit disappointing that this is not something that can be changed post installation, maybe there should be a clear notice as part of the install process that the language selection has side-effects that are not easily overcome.

Thanks for your detailed response, and also your note regarding the View option.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

In the View menu in Options you can switch between European and US units.

This setting rules also the unit in the Paragraph or Character designer or Table designer.

However, this setting is specific for the active file. This is not a general FrameMaker setting as in the Preferences. Therefore you should set the unit in your template file and then from that on you will always get your preferred units.

Best regards, Winfried