Figure Numbers Out of Order - Cannot Change

[houghpt]

Hello,

I am using FrameMaker 9 in Windows XP Professional, Version 2002, Service Pack 2.

I inherited a FM document in the form of instructions that accompanied third party technology that my company farmed out.

When I opened this document (built in FM 8), the figure numbers (X-X format) were completely out of order.

Figures 5-1 through 5-4 are in order, but then the next figure shows Figure 5-1, followed by Figure 5-6, followed by Figure 5-5.

I am not a FrameMaker user per se; I am more at home with PageMaker and InDesign, but this is the tool of choice for this document and I'm stuck with it.

How can I get the figure numbers back in the right order? Please be clear and specific; I am not versed in FM lexicon. Thank you for your attention.

- WPH

[houghpt]

Huh. I guess nobody knows the answer to this mystery.

- WPH

[AxialInfo · Accepted solution]

Are the entries you are looking at in the actual document itself, or are they in a separate file such as a generated List of Figures?

If you're talking about a separate List of Figures file, out of sequence entries are almost always caused by some of the figure titles (but not all) being located inside a table or inside an anchored frame.

The reason the entries get out of sequence is because Frame builds lists in a certain predefined sequence: it looks at the main text flow of the document first, then looks at text inside tables, then looks at text in anchored text frames (I may have to last two out of sequence, but in any case that's the reason).

If it's the actual figure numbering within the chapter(s), the problem is likely due to a problem with the chapter's numbering setup. Put your cursor in the Figure paragraph tag. Then open the Paragraph Designer (use Ctl-m), and look at the Numbering tab which is the 4th icon from the left.  What is shown for the autonumbering building blocks?

Sheila

[WHough]

Thanks, Sheila! The code contained in the autonumbering blocks did the trick. Obviously in several instances before I inherited the doc, the original author inserted different figures at different points in the doc, and not in the order of appearance. Thank you for showing me the <n+> tag.

Regards,

- WPH

[houghpt]

Oops. Shadekur = houghpt = me.

- WPH