file locations for books

[fm997]

Victoria Thomas' book for FrameMaker 7 simply states to put all files for a book in one location.  Is it good practice to just put all of the files in a single folder such as "C:\book", or can subfolders be used effectively as well?

I prefer to use multiple subfolders such as a folder for each chapter and then subfolders under each chapter to hold graphics files for specific sudheadings.  My plan was to do something like the following:

C:\book

C:\book\chapter_1

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_1_figs

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_1_1_figs

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_1_2_figs

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_1_3_figs

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_2_figs

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_2_1_figs

C:\book\chapter_1\sect_1_2_2_figs

And then put the book file in "C:\book".

I tend to save lots of chapter versions - one for each day of editing and sometimes several per day - rather than just keep saving one file.  I would like to keep the work organized but I probably need functionality more.  I like my subfolder technique but if it will cause FrameMaker problems then I will just use a different organization plan.

FM v7.1

Windows XP SP3

[Art_Campbell1]

I don't know that your version would cause problems, but I tend to organize projects by file type:

\ProjectDirectory  (Usually only contains the book files -- I often use a couple for file managment in addition to the actual working book file)
  \Content (for the frame files)
  \Graphics (I often re-use graphics, so I try not to tie them to a single chapter)
  \Source (for notes, specs, related files that aren't in the book,
  \PDFs (including review copies)
  \Shared (for frame files that are imported into multiple chapters (-- I sometimes nest this as a sub-directory under \Content))

  \MIF2Go (for output files in other formats)

Works for me...

Art

[fm997]

Thanks for the feedback Art.  Your method makes sense to me.  All of the graphics files could have the heading/subheading info in their names.

[Van Kurtz]

We used to use version 7 of FrameMaker and had files all over the network drive. There were absolutely no problems with referencing the graphics files in book files no matter where the book files resided. I think you should use the organization that works best for you. Note that putting ALL your graphics files in one folder can cause that folder to increase quickly in size. That practice was started years ago at this company, and the folder now contains 4400 files and occupies over 6 gigs of space! So, again, use what works best for you.

[Arnis Gubins]

It's a good idea to keep all books together in the same top-level folder IF you will be creating cross-file links between books (i.e. PDFs). The working files can all then be in respective sub-folders along the lines suggested by Art.

If you do not have any links perceived or planned between books, then it really doesn't matter.