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Features removed in FrameMaker 2017? Bring them back please!

Participant ,
Mar 08, 2017 Mar 08, 2017

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I found more features you all have removed—as a FrameMaker user of 20+ years—I am not happy. I rely on FrameMaker's fast and quick features to do my job. I run several different departments for different companies (all of which I have had them purchase FrameMaker each time, thousands of dollars)—now you are removing features have helped make my job so fast, making us have to do more clicks than necessary, etc.

Please do not just remove all of our features? Another list of features we need put back please:

  • Windows that stay “On Top” and are able to be docked into the pod—almost all the windows I use and keep “On Top” throughout my work day (and dock them back to the pod when needed), the ability for me to keep them On Top are now gone. Now I have to constantly open & close these windows all day, which costs in my word processing time. Please bring back the ability for us to keep ALL our features On Top once again, just like in FrameMaker 2015. When can this be done? I am struggling using this product and feel like I am going backwards and all the features that helped me do my job quicker are now removed, slowing me down.

For example, one of these windows is the Edit Variable window, as I constantly am      updating Variables (as I use a lot of conditional text). Keeping this window On Top enables us to      quickly  go through each variable & quickly change them—now we have to constantly double-click      each variable, close, double-click, close, etc.

  • Another example: Page Break window = This used to be able to be "docked" into the little pod that we can keep open—now I cannot do this? I use this a lot and do not want to go to the menu for something that I can do in 1 click.

  • Graphics toolbar = I used to be able to put this into my main top toolbar—-now I cannot do that, it only allows me to put it on the sides. Why in the world would they even think about removing this feature? I don't have room on the sides for this—it must remain in my top toolbar.

You need to check with us users before just removing super important word processing features? I don't even see how this new version is any better at all, so far, it seems us users have lost.

Message was edited by: ankush rao

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Participant ,
Mar 10, 2017 Mar 10, 2017

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No one has responded...? Abhishek...?

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LEGEND ,
Mar 11, 2017 Mar 11, 2017

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The new points have gone off the original topic, so it's quite possible that these haven't been noticed. I'll branch this to a new topic.

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Adobe Employee ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Hi,

Thanks for reporting these.

Please note that these changes were part of simplifying the user interface where a lot of open PODs lead to significant clutter.

We have taken good amount of feedback during our pre-release from a significant number of users and incorporated changes as well. At times, due to time constraints, we aren't able to address all of them in one go.

Please rest assured that we are working on some of these and will ensure that the experience is better.

Graphics toolbar will be fixed in Update 1 and users will be able to dock it up horizontally as it used to be.

We have noted the concern with Variables POD as well and will provide a fix.

I would request you to please submit these requests through our tracker so that we can take prompt action based on priority.

Thanks again for your feedback. We really appreciate it.

~Abhishek

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Participant ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Why can't I reply back to the posting on the Adobe Forum? Did you remove the Reply button? I am not satisfied with your response-I want the ability to have ANY pod I want to be open and stay there-who made this decision? Was it an avid FM user, like I have been for 20+ years? I am appalled how much this has changed and now is making my word processing life MORE difficult than ever. I chose to remain with FM as it was making everything easy & quick-now you are making this have more restrictions and harder to use. I need a higher-up person to speak with about this-I am not happy. I have thousands of docs invested in this product! Please refer me to a USA manager-I want to talk to someone TODAY pls. You can't just change things and then say "Oh well, this is what we did and we have no time to fix it"-unacceptable.

Unhappy customer.

- smathers

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Adobe Employee ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Hi smathers,

we hear you and we do appreciate your honest feedback and will discuss it internally.

As you might imagine we sometimes do have to balance between opposing needs of our diverse user community. So with the discussion about dialogs vs. pods – some users want to have fewer ("no-modal") pods and want more ("modal") dialogs that go out of the way when they have done what they wanted to do. Others, like you, prefer a pod that remains open all the time. Also sometimes changes that are requested by users for a long time and that are welcomed in the prerelease / beta stage by long-time users and deep experts of the products might not be welcomed by all users.

We will revisit the decision to turn some pods ("non-modal") into dialogs ("modal") and take other users feedback into account as well.

As Abhishek already wrote, we will make the graphics toolbar dockable to the top toolbar again with Update 1 as a first step.

Again, we do value your feedback and take it into serious consideration.

Kind regards,

Stefan Gentz

P.S.: You can reply to your own or other people's posts at any time when you're logged into the forum. The reply button is on the lower right corner of each post.

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Enthusiast ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Stefan,

Why not let the user decide whether they prefer a modal or modeless version of any critical dialog? It could be a setting in the preferences.

Regards

Ian

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Adobe Employee ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Good idea, Ian.

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Participant ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Excellent idea! How soon can you implement this? I am not liking doing all my tons of work like this... I also need that Edit Variable window stay up the whole time (until I choose to close it), as I am  constantly updating several variables at once (I really use that conditional text feature and changing variable sis huge for me). Having to constantly double-click each variable now is a huge hassle. Pls help!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Why don't you just go back to using a prior version of FM until some patches appear for FM2017?

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Participant ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Jeff---How? My client installed 2017 on my machine? I would LOVE to go back to the 2015 version? Do tell how I can do this---all my FM issues will then be solved!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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I would LOVE to go back to the 2015 version? Do tell how I can do this---all my FM issues will then be solved!

As an FYI, you could have kept 2015 when you installed 2017. I have clients using both, so I left 2015 alone, and installed 2017. Both are working as expected.

It sounds like you are ready to reinstall 2015 until these issues get resolved. You can download it again from here: Download FrameMaker | 2015 release, 12, 11, 10, 9. You will need your 2015 license to re-activate it.

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Participant ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Barb, thank you! Unfortunately, this is a new client and after my 30-day 2015 trial was over, they bought me 2017---no going back. All my other clients use 2015 and I was so happy with that. I will see if I can re-download another trial, but it would only be for 30 days and this is a long-term client. I am converting ALL their docs from Word to FM, but am so bummed now with these changes. Thanks for your response, and let me know if you think of anything else! I appreciate it!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Hi smathers: I've been watching this thread (and your Feb 28 post on renaming formats) with great interest. You have alerted me to 2017 issues that I had yet to encounter personally and I really appreciate the heads up. More importantly, you have brought Adobe's attention to these topics which is the necessary first step in getting them resolved.

I will absolutely step back in the conversation if I have anything helpful to contribute.

~Barb

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Participant ,
Mar 14, 2017 Mar 14, 2017

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Sounds great! I am very appreciative that the engineers are responding, very impressive. I am hoping all will work out.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Hi @smathers - so, you've been using FM for 20+ years, recommending it to all your clients, all your docs are in FM & yet you yourself don't have copies of the versions?!? LOL - what's going on there? You could have asked to be part of the beta program to test stuff out yourself you know...

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Participant ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Jeff Coatsworth---lifting software from a client is illegal! Please, only positive comments on this, I really need help.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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@smathers - who said anything about obtaining software illegally? I just would have expected that you would have purchased your own copies of FM throughout the ages so that you would have multiple versions of FM to use to match a variety of clients.

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Participant ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Jeff Coatsworth---why? Why would I buy $1000 FM software when all my clients insist on providing me with their laptops, their company-owned software (which includes FM), etc. I did buy FM originally, but found out it's not necessary, and most all clients don't allow a consultant to use our own software on their machines. Please, maybe send me a personal message on here and ask about my specific situation before you make all these assumptions. I need help here, not these kind of negative comments.

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Participant ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Abhishek & Stefan Gentz---can I be part of beta testing? I didn't know I could do that, would love to!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Hmm, I guess then you're stuck with FM2017.
BTW - freaking out on the forums (which are a user-to-fellow user mechanism) & expecting changes overnight probably isn't going to speed anything up.

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Participant ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Jeff Coatsworth---I understand all that. The only person freaking out here today is you---pls, stop commenting. We need helpful tips, not fighting back & forth.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Ok, here's an idea - why not have one file that acts as a "container" for all your variables - change them all in there and then import them into all the other files OR use the idea of MIF snippet (as seen in post#3 of this thread - Re: Update Variable across the Book )

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Participant ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Jeff---yes, that's what I've always done, I have a file named "Variables." I just want the freedom to have that Variables window to stay on top, like it does in 2015. Now it's a window that doesn't stay on top, so I have to click to open it every time to update tons of variables throughout my day---if they could give an option (maybe an "Stay on Top" icon) on the window to have it stay if we choose to, that would solve it. Thx for the tip tho, I appreciate anything to make it easier. I do believe that Stefan has noted my concerns, and I appreciate your comment in being part of a Beta---I've emailed both him and Abishek and offered to do that (I didn't know I could do that!). Thx!

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Adobe Employee ,
Mar 15, 2017 Mar 15, 2017

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Do you have FrameScript? If so, you might want to have a look at itl's Variable Definitions FrameScript. This might be a HUGE help for you (with or without non-modal pods/dialogs).

Basically, it extracts all variables from a document, creates a new document and presents all variables in a nice table:

ReportVariables3.png

In the center column, you can edit the variable definitions (it's normal text in a normal table) as you like. You can even do thinks like search and replace of course. After that, you can import the variables back into your document.

This might be extremely helpful for you. Just export all variables from your variable document, edit all the variables super easy in this table and then import the new definitions back into your variable doc. Might be a super big time safer!

itl also have a big bunch of other FrameScripts that you might find helpful.

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