Framemaker 10. My PDF TOC links aren't working - Make sure file exists.

[justined82505550]

I'm using FrameMaker 10. My PDF TOC links aren't working. When I go the TOC.fm page and click on the chapter pages, I receive an error message "Cannot find the file named C:\Users\Username\Documents.... Make sure file exists."  I tried replacing my TOC.fm  file from another book with a working TOC, that didn't work. Any ideas?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Hold on - is your TOC working in your FM book? If not, then you need to fix that up. If it is, how did you create the PDF? Save As or by printing to the Adobe PDF printer instance?

[justined82505550]

The TOC is not working in the Book and  I don't know how to fix it.

I always do 'save as' for my PDF's.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, so the fact that it isn't working in the book is why the PDF is munged up. Try updating the book to regenerate the TOC.

[justined82505550]

Well, I updated the book to regenerate the TOC and it didn't work. Still throws error "Cannot find the file named C:\Users\Username\Documents.... Make sure file exists."

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Did you move files around or something? You may need to generate a new TOC and then apply formatting to it.

[justined82505550]

I didn't move the files around. That's what's odd.  From the TOC, I am able to click on the Introduction page number and it takes me to the correct page.  It's the rest of the TOC links, when I click the page numbers, the error message "Cannot find the file named C:\Users\Username\Documents.... Make sure file exists." displays.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If you open all files in the book, are you getting any errors or messages in the console?

[justined82505550]

If I open all files in the book, I'm not getting any errors or messages in the console.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ignore the PDF part for now - you need it working in FM first. Did the files that don't work have different Paragraph tags being used? For example, in the first 3 that work, you have Heading1 (which corresponds to a Heading1TOC), but in the non-functioning ones, it's H1 (which you don't have defined to map to an H1TOC in the TOC file).

[justined82505550]

No, the chapters all have the same paragraph tags.

[justined82505550]

I added a new TOC. When I click on it I get error "File named filenameTOC.fm does not exist".

[Winfried Reng]

When you add a TOC file, you must also update the book.

With the update FrameMaker will create the TOC file.

[justined82505550]

I just noticed something while checking the Create Hypertext Links. When I click Set Up Table of Contents, my file name is greyed out where it has 'Add File:' which explains why I get the error message "Cannot find the file named C:\Users\Username\Documents.... Make sure file exists."

How can I fix that?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Not sure what you're doing - did you generate the TOC by using the FM process of auto-creating it or did you manually create one yourself?

[justined82505550]

I took over the manual from three previous Tech Writers so the TOC was already been created. If I generate a new TOC, I don't know to set up the master page if needed. The file generates fine, it's just the links only work on three chapters in the book (I went through all of them) both in FrameMaker and the PDF. The rest of the PDF TOC links do not work. Another odd thing is the PDF Bookmarks work fine.

[Barb Binder]

Hi justined82505550:

I'm 100% with Jeff—get the TOC working in FrameMaker, then generate the PDF. It sounds like you haven't done this before so I'm including the steps from the online help below. (You could also watch this video: Creating a table of contents in FrameMaker | lynda.com tutorial - YouTube.) There are a number of rules one needs to learn to create and maintain generated files in FrameMaker—taking the time to learn how generated files work will save future heartache. Note that I'm just addressing the first step.

Before you do this, move the formatted but-with-broken-links TOC out of the folder. When you generate a new TOC with the steps below it will be unformatted. Once it is working, you can use File > Import > Formats to import the formatting from the old TOC into this new one. (In theory, a new TOC will use the formatting of the old TOC but something is off so let's play it safe.)

Generate a table of contents or list for a book

1)Open the book window and select the file below where you want the generated file to appear.

2)Choose Add > Create Standalone TOC

3)Enter a suffix or keep the default one. The suffix indicates the type of generated file. For example, TOC is the usual suffix for a table of contents.

note:   The suffix is not the same as the filename’s extension. The suffix is used with paragraph tags in the generated lists, and appears as part of the generated file’s filename, such as UserGui­deTOC.fm.

4)In the set up dialog box, Add File drop-down list, specify whether the generated list will appear before or after the current document.

5)Move items to the Include scroll list. To move an item between scroll lists, select the item and click an arrow, or double-click the item. To move all items from one scroll list to the other, Shift-click an arrow.

6)To have each entry in the generated list be linked to its source, select Create Hypertext Links. These links let you jump to the source of an entry by clicking the entry.

7)Click OK and then click Update. FrameMaker generates the list. You can view the generated list by double-clicking its name in the book window.

8)Save the generated list in the same folder as the source document or book. If you want to rename the generated file, use the book window to do so—FrameMaker will rename it on the disk and update all references.

9)Save any open files in the book. Open files are updated only in your computer’s memory and not on the disk. If a file isn’t open, the changes are made on the disk.

~Barb

[justined82505550]

Hi Barb, thanks for the clear instructions.  I followed the steps above and created a new TOC. I clicked on one of the Chapter page numbers in the new TOC and still received the error message "Cannot find the file named C:\Users\Username\Documents.... Make sure file exists."

Justine

[Barb Binder]

Hi Justine:

Could you post a screen shot of your book window so that we can see the status all of the files listed?

~Barb

[justined82505550]

Is this what you mean?

[justined82505550]

Wow, now I can't click on the files in the FM files from the stidebar.

[justined82505550]

Oh, I can click on them now.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

It sounds like a problem with the book file.

Have you tried removing the file from the book (which, by the way, doesn't delete the file on disk) and re-adding the file to the book?

Also, have you tried creating another book file with these same components? It might be faster than troubleshooting the existing book.

-Matt

[Barb Binder]

Yes, thank you, Justine. I was looking for common mistakes—missing book files, the generated files not showing the generated icons, the generated files not matching the book name (although the index file doesn't match—but that's not what you are asking about).

Now some of the links work and some don't? Some of the filenames have a space at the end—just before the extension—and some don't. For example:

• Chapter  01 Administration Interface Subsystem Menu .fm vs
• Chapter  02 Auth Parameters.fm

Is there a connection between the ones that work and don't work and the spacing on the names?

~Barb

[justined82505550]

The Index file did match until I generated the new TOC.  As for the file names, they were here when I inherited the book.

Yes, Matt I've removed the file and re-added it.