Header Formatting Issue When Converting From FM12 to FM17

[BillP0311]

We've recently updated from FM v12 to v17 (Structured) (I know.. don't get me started 🙂 ) and we're running into an issue with the document headers. For some reason, on of the header fields is changed to Align Center instead of Aligh Right. When you look at the properties is still says Align Right.

I'm attaching screenshots of the Master Page from FM12 and what it should look like, and also the converted Master Page from FM17 and the resulting page with the incorrect alignment.

I appreciate any advice.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

I had noticed sometimes that a right tab was ignored, when the value was too far to the width of the text frame.

You might decrease the value to 1 mm to the left. If it works, you can increase the value again by 0.1 mm steps.

Best regards

Winfried

[Barb Binder]

Hi @BillP0311:

Winfried is likely correct—header/footer frames have default tab stops—but we can't see if you are using tabs. Any chance you can post the third image again, this time with View > Text Symbols enabled, your cursor clicked before or after Running H/F 16 and Paragraph Designer > Basic properties visible? Or share the file so that we can look at it?

~Barb

[BillP0311]

Thanks for the assistance Barb! The attached image shows the Basic properties in Paragraph Designer are identical for one header that is correct and the one that isn't. It won't let me attach the FM file... 

I appreciate any help. 🙂

Bill

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Bill,

Yes. And I would really just test, if you change the value of your right tab to something less. Sometimes there can be rounding issues which could result in a tab which does not fit into your text frame.

Best regards

Winfried

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Can you resolve it by removing the center tab stop and Update Style?

What about extending the header frame width slightly?

[BillP0311]

Hi Matt -

That's kind of my workaround for the moment. 🙂 I was hoping to figure out what we can do to prevent it from ocurring. I'm going to see if we can change the properties for the tab or text frame to see if that helps.

I appreciate the suggestion.

Bill

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Neither are a workaround...you should find that you have margin and/or tab stop settings that land outside your text frame width.

[BillP0311]

Thanks Matt, I think I understand your suggestion now. I really do need to apologize for not grasping what you/Barb/Winfried were suggesting. I'm not a very experienced user and new to the updated version; I'm still figuring out a few things.  I apologize if I'm missing something obvious, but I still don't understand how I can open a file in FM v12 and the headers are correct. When I open the same file in FM v17 I get this misalignment. I can only guess something happens when the file is updated/converted for FM v17? 

I really do appreciate all the help.

Bill

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools · Accepted solution]

No worries, sometimes strange things happen! Perhaps the default width of the master page headers is different in the two versions.

I've even seen places where FrameMaker is "forgiving" of improper syntax in an early version, and then not-so-forgiving of an error in later versions. The good news is that you're moving away from a very old version of the product into something that should work much better (and faster!) for you with the current release.

Once you have your master pages working, if you don't have master page overrides on your body pages (you probably don't...) then you can import Page Layouts from the updated file into the other files in your project, using the File > Import > Formats command.

[BillP0311]

Thanks so much Matt! I'll give that a go. 🙂

Bill