How to reverse a change all command

[GregGregory_TechWriter]

I am running FM 11.0.2.384 on Windows 7, and have accidentally changed upwards of 700 text items in a book which has nearly 30 chapters incorrectly, by inadvertently activating the text "A" shortcut, with the search and replace window open.

While extremely frustrating and time-consuming, I could re-run a search for the boolean string. Unfortunately, the replacement text box was blank.

The original text has been replaced with a space, which I can't accurately search for, considering the original word had plurals as well as past-tense instances.

Is there any way in which I can reverse a "change all" command from within the Framemaker 11 interface?

[Russ Ward]

GregGregory, the terrible news is that you are out of luck here. This is a consequence of poor interface design that could easily be fixed, but decades later never has been. There are two critical flaws:

- The default search option should be a single document, not a whole book.

- If you do a Replace All on a book and any book components are closed, you should be warned before a file is altered and saved. An application should never make irreparable changes to your files without at least some kind of warning.

I really can't say much more except that I understand your frustration.

Russ

[Stefan-Gentz]

Hi Russ,

good catch! I have just created a ticket for this.

Please note, that FM remembers within a session, the last search scope selection. So once you have changed it, it properly switches the scope when switching between book and doc.

[Barb Binder]

Are your .backup files intact? Even if you saved the files once after this happens, you can open the .backup files in your project folder and rename them. Although I rarely need it, this is why I keep the feature turned on.

[Lynne A. Price]

Russ,

    There are situations in which I really wish the scope would reset automatically during a session and other situations in which it would be very annoying. For example, if I'm going to perform a sequence of global changes, I don't want to reset every option for each one.

    As far as prompting before opening, changing, saving, and closing a book component, perhaps one general prompt that book components will be changed that is only issued if there are closed book components. Such a prompt should be issued before changing any files, open or closed. Prompting for every book component would be a disaster in a book with hundreds (or even dozens) of components.

    I would suggest an option that enables/disables resetting the scope and prompting for book components, but the occasions when I wish the current behavior were different are too hard to predict.

Stefan,

    Adobe needs to be very careful making a change in this area. It may be a case where helping many users some of the time will harm many users as often, and some users may be in both groups.

Barb,

    I agree that backup files can be invaluable here. In addition to FM's automatic backup, users may want to make a copy of an entire book before performing global changes or use an automatic backup tool outside of FM.

    I must also say that in the old days, FM's automatic backup was more useful than it is today. Somewhere along the way (FM 9?), FM started saving book components more than once when updating a book, so that backup files after a book update are pretty much useless.

     --Lynne

[Russ Ward]

Lynne,

I would definitely agree with one general prompt if there are any closed files. This is the big whammy... when FM changes your files and saves them without any chance of recovery. With that, I submit that there should be a "Do not show this message again" checkbox at the bottom AND some way to programmatically avoid the message via the FDK/ExtendScript.

Russ

[Lynne A. Price]

Russ,

   Sounds good.

--Lynne

[GregGregory_TechWriter]

Many thanks to everyone for their insightful replies.

As it turns out, I've had to methodically check the entire book to ensure that all changes have been reveresed.

A lesson well-learnt...won't be doing that again any time soon.