New Stuff Has Come To Light: FM10 --> FM2019 Upgrade Issues

[dauphinb]

My group -- me and four colleagues who edit/publish technical proposals and reports -- has recently upgraded from FM10 to FM2019 (as part of TCS2019), and we're noticing some "new" things... but, of course, we don't know how new they really are, since our upgrade was such a huge step change. Two things in particular are causing (admittedly minor) headaches, and we'd love to have solutions/workarounds:

• Importing multiple PDF pages as graphics: The cost proposals we publish require that we import into page frames multiple pages of cost and price data reports, which come to us as PDF outputs from our pricing system. In our FM10-based workflow, after importing the first page, subsequent iterations of File>Import>File would select the previous file by default, so that we only had to specify the page number in the dialog and click Okay; now, while subsequent calls go to the correct folder, the file itself is no longer selected by default, meaning that each page requires a couple extra mouse clicks to import. Not a big deal in each case, of course, but over time the extra clicks can add up, and in any case, my colleagues are frustrated that they can't do it the way they're used to. Is there a fix for this (a setting somewhere we can change, perhaps?), or are we just stuck with the extra clicks?
• Selecting long strings of text: A couple of my colleagues have complained that when they click and drag to select pages-long stretches of text (e.g., in the process of converting imported tab-delimited text to tables), FM2019 often crashes. I had not noticed this myself, because I typically don't do that, but instead click at the beginning and then shift-click at the end of the range, so that's our immediate workaround... but my fellow users are still wondering about this new (to us) behavior. Is this something we can fix with a setting? A known bug? We'd love to know.

It's possible, I grok, that we're just doing things is antiquated and inefficient ways to begin with, and that's a perfectly welcome answer... but solutions that involve installing plugins or one of us learning to write macros are less likely to be helpful, because of the environment we work in.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts....

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

All patched up? 32 or 64 bit version?

[dauphinb]

Good question! Because of our firewall/proxy situation, the Help>Updates... selection is greyed out in my installation <sigh>. If it helps, Help>About FrameMaker... tells me that the version number is 15.0.0.393.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Pretty sure that could take an update - there's been at least 1 patch issued so far for FM2019 - see Adobe - FrameMaker : For Windows

Are you running the 32 or 64 bit version?

[dauphinb]

64 bit, though I had to look it up to be sure. Our IT setup here doesn't encourage end users to know such things, nor (certainly) to perform exotic tasks like downloading patches! That's why I said answers involving plugins would be less helpful. I will, though, look into getting the latest updates installed.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Be prepared to do this more often than the old FM/RH patch-release model (infrequent patches); they intend to pump them out every couple of months or so in the new scheme.

[FieryPantone]

Ah … the "develop – release – fix" model :-}

[dauphinb]

That's going to be frustrating: As end users in this environment, we don't have permissions to install patches, and our proxy/firewall setup prevents automating the process. Sounds like we're in for new Help Desk tickets every couple months. <sigh>

[Stefan-Gentz · Accepted solution]

Hi dauphinb,

I have  just tested this with my FrameMaker 2019 (64 bit, Update 2), and it works like in older versions:

1. I choose File > Import > File. The "Import" dialog opens. I select the multi-page PDF ("foo.pdf") and click "Import."

   The "Select PDF Page" dialog opens, I select page 1 and click "Select". → Page 1 of the PDF is imported into the document.

2. I choose File > Import > File again. The "Import" dialog opens. By default in the same folder as in Step 1. The "File name" field is pre-populated with the file name of the previously imported PDF ("foo.pdf"). I just hit the "Return" key (or click "Import).

   The "Select PDF Page" dialog opens, I select page 2 and click "Select". → Page 2 of the PDF is imported into the document.

I have tried it multiple times and it works always the same. It works the same way, with Insert > Image (I have tested this as well), where you get the better Windows File dialog.

[dauphinb]

I finally was able to (manually) download and install Update 2, and this behavior now matches what you report (and what we expected, based on our FM10 experience). Thanks!