Inconsistent Numbering properties in Frame Maker Book

[Amit Mani30445109n307]

Hi, I am getting an error message "inconsistent numbering properties" when updating Book even if I have taken all the required steps like:

• Updated numbering properties of all chapters
• Updated the numbering properties of first chapter
• Updated page number
• Updated the page number of first page.
• kept/Imorted same formats to all chapter.
• Selected the book and then upadted it.  

Yet I am getting this error message below. Please suggest solution.

Thanks,

Amit

[Bob_Niland · Accepted solution]

A usual suspect in that error is that the Numbering Properties in the Book menu, for each component file, don't match the
Format 🞃 Document » Numbering…
in each component file.
One fix is, in the Book menu, to elect, for each /Tab\
⦿ Read from File

[Amit Mani30445109n307]

This worked. Thanks Bob.

[davidcfrye]

Necro-ing this post: i can't seem to figure out how to do this "One fix is, in the Book menu, to elect, for each /Tab\"

[Bob_Niland]

davidcfrye: …can't seem to figure out how to do this…

In the book menu, right-click on each component file
🞃Numbering…
The dialog that opens has multiple tabs /Volume\, /Chapter\, etc.
Don't forget to click [Set] as each tab's settings are revised.

[davidcfrye]

That I know how to do. I thought there was some book-level method. Thanks anyway!

[Bob_Niland]

I see that at the .book level,
File🞃Import🞃Formats…
is available.  That makes me wonder if if one could craft a .MIF snippet containing just the Numbering settings, and bulk import it to the entire book.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

I think it's not likely to work, since the numbering specifics of files nearly always changes between files, for things like front matter and the first "content" pages in a manual.

I manage numbering by setting like-numbered files at one time (shift-clicking to select), then updating the book and saving all files in book.

It's always worked, and been straightforward.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Bob,

Some years ago I had used MIF snippets for variables.

I was not able to import the MIF snippet into several files in one go. I could import it only into a single file and then import properties from this file into other files.

Best regards, Winfried

[Beate5E27]

Hi all,

I'm not sure if I do this correctly, so please be patient with me 🙂 . This old thread was referenced in the thread I started recently. 

Anyway, I tried to follow some of the solution suggestions but none of them worked. The numbering issue remains.

I guess the problem is that this is not a book I set up myself but one I sort of inherited from my predecessor in my post as Technical Writer. He's not available anymore. I have to handle a big amount of files which have been created over the past 20 years or so and can't seem to manage it.  

Best regards,

Beate

[davidcfrye]

While I don't have any troubleshooting tips to offer for your issue, I will mention that the reason I posted was because we have some pretty large books (~100 files, totalling about 4000 pages) that recently started showing this mismatch numbering error. I've solved the problem before using the method(s) above, but they weren't working for some reason. We copied the files over from the server to a local machine and ran the HTML conversion fine. Not sure why bandwidth/server resources would interact with the numbering properties. However, we did notice some weirdness with lock files staying open, but that was an inconsistent issue. If you've got a LOT of files running from a single book, vpn bandwidth, server connection bandwidth, server resources (i.e., how "slow" is it processing) can all have effects. 

[frameexpert]

I have a series of short videos that give an overview of FrameMaker pagination:

https://youtu.be/AiI1DOoA6Ug

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Bob's method of using Read from File will definitely work, but using the book file to manage the numbering fits my workflow better.

I usually see an Inconsistent Numbering Properties message when developing or applying a template. I ignore it, because setting the numbering as you wish in the book file, then updating the book and saving all files will pass the book's numbering properties to each of the files and resolve the need for the message.

The message has shown up in every FrameMaker class I've ever taught, and I tell my students that it's like when a teacher sends home a note because the story of a parent and child don't match... the teacher is inclined to believe the parent, and will act accordingly. In this case, the parent is the book file, and rightly informs the behavior of the child(ren).