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donnarms
donnarms
Known Participant
July 18, 2018
Answered

FrameMaker 7.0 -- Can I convert?

  • July 18, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 888 views

I have 50 out of print books that were created in FrameMaker 7.0. Will the current version read these files? Can they be converted into InDesign? Can I at least copy the text from the old FrameMaker files and paste it into InDesign?

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Correct answer Jeff_Coatsworth

Yes, they can probably be upgraded to FM2017, but there may be issues with fonts - FM7 was still pre-Unicode support. You can download a copy of the FM2017 trial version (apply all patches to it before working with a copy of the FM7 files). There's no direct route to ID from FM. You can search the FM forum for ideas on how others have tackled that.

3 replies

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 18, 2018

Hi Donna:

I have 50 out of print books that were created in FrameMaker 7.0. Will the current version read these files? Can they be converted into InDesign? Can I at least copy the text from the old FrameMaker files and paste it into InDesign?

I see two FrameMaker to InDesign workflow options in addition to cut and paste (and in your shoes I'd try both and pick the one that seems smoother):

  • Open the Fm7 files in a current version of Fm (i.e. the 2017 trial)
  • File > Save as .RTF
  • Clean up the content in Word
  • Save as a Word file (.docx is fine)
  • Use File > Place to import the text into InDesign
  • Hopefully the images were imported by reference so you can place those in InDesign directly from the project folder

or if you have PDFs

  • Open the PDFs in Adobe Acrobat (not Reader)
  • File > Export to > Microsoft Word
  • Clean up the content in Word
  • Save as a Word file (.docx is fine)
  • Use File > Place to import the text into InDesign
  • If the images were not imported by reference, you can use File > Export to > Image to extract all of the images from the PDF

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    donnarms
    donnarmsAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 19, 2018

    These responses have been so helpful. Thank you so much!

      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 19, 2018

      We are always happy to help, Donna.


      ~Barb

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
      donnarms
      donnarmsAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 18, 2018

      Thank you Jeff. Just what I needed to know.

      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      July 18, 2018

      Yes, they can probably be upgraded to FM2017, but there may be issues with fonts - FM7 was still pre-Unicode support. You can download a copy of the FM2017 trial version (apply all patches to it before working with a copy of the FM7 files). There's no direct route to ID from FM. You can search the FM forum for ideas on how others have tackled that.

      Be.eM
      Be.eM
      Inspiring
      July 18, 2018

      Regular text flows transition fine when opening FM7 files in later versions. As Jeff correctly said, you might need to re-define your paragraph and character formats to use current unicode fonts, especially if books are written in a foreign language. However, there's one problem I remember from the days when switching to FM8 (first unicode version):

      Marker text (e.g. index markers) written in foreign languages (like Greek or Russian or using other characters beyond ASCII) don't get transferred correctly. I remember having used scripts for converting marker text to plain text, then open in FM8 (or later), and then run the script to make marker text from the now correctly transferred text again.

      Bernd

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