FrameMaker 11 - File Info fields auto-fill issue

[TechPubsFrameMaker]

Hi all

We have an issue with File Info... fields in FrameMaker 11 being automatically filled with unwanted text, even after we have deleted it.

The Subject and Keywords fields contain text that we want to remove from all the files in a book.  We open each file and remove the text, save the files, and close the book.  When we reopen the book, all the files have the unwanted text back again in the Subject and Keywords fields.

Ideally, we would like to remove the unwanted text completely from the files (a reference to part number of a piece of equipment).  However, we cannot find where the text is stored.  It does not appear in the Variables list, but must have been manually added by a previous writer because it's a specific company part number.

Does anyone know where the text is stored?  How to remove the text from the File Info fields without it returning?

Thanks for the help!

Emma

[FieryPantone]

very speculative – but if I save a .book as .mif, I discover a block near the top. It could be possible that ruthlessly deleting this from the .mif file (you will, of course, have made a back-up in a safe place before starting this) will clean things up.

<PDFBookInfo 
<Key `Author'>
<Value `author name here'>
<Key `Title'>
<Value `SALAMANDER Wireless LAN - Getting Started'>
<Key `Subject'>
<Value `Wireless LAN'>
<Key `Copyright'>
<Value `acme widgets inc'>
<Key `Marked'>
<Value `True'>
<Key `JobRef'>
<Value `521'>
> # end of PDFBookInfo

Next step would then be to introduce what you do want to see, though I've had more problems with info at book level not appearing when wanted than I have with obsolete info forcing its way in unwanted.

[TechPubsFrameMaker]

Thanks for the response and taking the time to look at the issue.

I couldn't view the .book file when saved as a .mif, however, I took one file from the book and saved it as a .mif.  I opened it in Notepad and saw the two fields I want to remove:

<Key `Subject'>

  <Value `DELETE THIS'>

  <Key `Keywords'>

  <Value `DELETE THIS'>

I deleted all four lines above and saved the .mif. 

Re-opened the .mif file and confirmed those fields are not present, then saved as .fm. 

Opened the .fm file which should not have text in the Subject and Keywords fields, only to see the original DELETE THIS text is back.

I am stumped as to where the DELETE THIS text is coming from, and why the fields are being re-populated after deliberately removing unwanted text from the FrameMaker and MIF files.

At this point it is more of an irritation than a real problem because we save all our documentation to PDF, and I can remove unwanted metadata from the Acrobat file.

Thanks for your help, maybe one day I'll find out!

Emma 

[FieryPantone]

It's a mystery ;-}

[TechPubsFrameMaker]

I found out the only way to "remove" the text is to replace it.  Spaces don't count, so if I don't want anything in the field, just a . or - would work.  I tested it in a new, blank FM file, so it seems to be applicable to all FM files. Not sure if this is by design, or a bug.

[Mike-Hardy · Accepted solution]

This is a bug.

The information is stored in two locations in the MIF:

• in the <PDFDocInfo ... > # end of PDFDocInfo
• in the <DocFileInfo ... > # end of DocFileInfo.

To delete a value, you must remove it from both locations in the MIF. I'd suggest that you delete the entire DocFileInfo. Then edit the PDFDocInfo so that it contains only those values that you want to keep.

Please also report this as a bug at https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm‌ .

FYI, the DocFileInfo is hexadecimal-encoded XML. After decoding, it looks like this:

<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>

<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 5.4-c005 78.150055, 2012/11/19-18:45:32        ">

  <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">

      <rdf:Description rdf:about=""

            xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"

            xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/"

            xmlns:pdf="http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/1.3/">

        <dc:format>application/framemaker</dc:format>

        <dc:description>

            <rdf:Alt>

              <rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">DELETE THIS</rdf:li>

            </rdf:Alt>

        </dc:description>

        <xmp:CreatorTool>FrameMaker 10.0</xmp:CreatorTool>

        <xmp:CreateDate>0116-03-12T10:24:38+01:00</xmp:CreateDate>

        <xmp:MetadataDate>0116-03-12T10:26:01+01:00</xmp:MetadataDate>

        <xmp:ModifyDate>0116-03-12T10:26:01+01:00</xmp:ModifyDate>

        <pdf:CreatorTool>FrameMaker 10.0</pdf:CreatorTool>

        <pdf:Keywords>DELETE THIS</pdf:Keywords>

      </rdf:Description>

  </rdf:RDF>

</x:xmpmeta>

<?xpacket end="w"?>

I suspect that while you edit the document, FrameMaker is using only one of these structures (PDFDocInfo/DocFileInfo). But when you save the document, it is then merging them, copying data from the unused structure if the other structure is empty.

[TechPubsFrameMaker]

Thanks for the response, Mike.

I wasn't aware of the encoded XML portion of the file.  I believe you are correct in that FrameMaker merges the data in the PDFDocInfo and DocFileInfo, effectively making the user unable to completely remove data from a field.

I will report this as a bug.

[Majestic_Swirl01AB]

TechPubsFrameMaker​,

Thanks. I've just bumped into this behavior in FM12.

What bug # do you have for this? I'd like to scan the release notes for FM2015 to see if the bug has been fixed.

Best regards,

[TechPubsFrameMaker]

Hi, I submitted 4139160 but it has since disappeared from my list of bugs.  I spoke to a customer service rep who said it was pulled into an internal system.  I think they are not going to address the issue and took it out of the public lists...

[FieryPantone]

Aha! thanks for that, Mike – so that's what the Book File Info does.

[jimj10032707]

FYI: This problem persists in FM 2019.