Importing Formats Fails

[steveself]

I am running FM 2019 in parallels on a mac.  I have two documents open. I wish to import the formats from "S2" into "S3".  I did exactly what the FM instructions showed.  When I click  Import, nothing happens. I have done this 4-5 times, restarted and tried again. No joy.  What stops this from happening?

[Barb Binder]

Hi Steve:

To import the formats from S2.fm into S3.fm:

1. Open both files
2. From S3.fm choose File > Import > Formats
   • Chose S2.fm on the top row
   • Check the formats you want to copy over, uncheck the ones you don't want
   • Click on Import

What are you doing differently? Can you explain your steps and share screen shots so that we can see what is going on?

~Barb

[steveself]

Yes. This is exactly what I am doing.  The destination file blinks slightly and nothing changes.  Is this the first time anyone has had this issue? Is there a limit to the number of styles that can be had in a doc?

[Barb Binder]

Hi Steve:

No style limits, and no issues in any version, ever. I use it all the time. Would you like to share a copy of both files on dropbox? You can add a link here (public) or hover over my name above this post and message me the link (private).

~Barb

[Barb Binder]

Do you have overrides in S3? Did you check the Remove Overrides checkmark?

~Barb

[LinSims]

Could you expand on what you mean by "nothing changes"? Are the formats named the same in both files, but with different settings and the settings aren't updating? Are there formats in S2 that aren't in S3 and they aren't showing up in S3?

There is, as far as I know, no limit to the number of format tags you can have in a FM file, but it does get unwieldy after a point.

As a start to troubleshooting, I'd suggest saving S3 off to a working file, deleting all the formats from whichever catalog we're talking about (paragraph? character? table?), and then trying to import again from S2. If you get listings in the catalogs, we'll at least know that something is being imported.

[Bob_Niland]

Not likely to be the problem here, but Import Formats apparently only imports things in the Catalog(s) for the selected item(s).

This is a mainly an issue for Master Page formats, like ¶Header and ¶Footer, which by default, are not in-Catalog. The work-around is that anything you want to export has to first be added to the catalog (and the method varies by FM vintage). Then delete from Catalog at the destination.