numbered list > number-character bullet list in .rtf export

[rlauriston]

I've been playing around with saving FrameMaker 10 as .rtf, converting the .rtf to .docx with Word 10, and importing the Word file into Confluence 4.0.

Overall, it works quite well. (I'm still trying to convince Atlassian support that sorting each TOC node alphabetically constitutes a bug, but that's another story.) One problem I had was that numbered lists are getting converted to bulleted lists.

I sent the Word doc to support, and the guy got back to me, saying that the problem is that "they are bulleted lists with numbers for bullets and not actual numbered lists." And sure enough this seems to be true.

Is there anything I can do in the FrameMaker source to get real numbered lists?

If it helps, here's the RTF for a paragraph numbered 4:

.\par }\pard\plain \s37\widctlpar\f223\fs18\ql\fi-420\li420\ri0\sb0\sa160\tqr\tx200\tx420\faauto\sl220\slmult0\expnd0\expndtw0\cf0\charscalex0\b0\i0\ul0\strike0\accnone\hyphpar0

{\pntext\pard\plain \f223\fs18\ql\expnd0\expndtw0\cf0\charscalex0\b0\i0\ul0\strike0\lang1033{\u9 ?\u52 ?\u9 ?}}{\*\pn\pnlvlblt\pnilvl0\pnf223\pnfs18\pnql\pncf0\pnb0\pni0\pnulnone\pnstrike0\pnindent0\pnstart1\pnhang

{\pntxtb \u9 ?\u52 ?\u9 ?}}\lang1033{\f223\fs18\caps0\scaps0\b0\i0\ul0\strike0\expnd0\expndtw0\cf0\up0\nosupersub\charscalex100\lang1033

Paragraph text here.\par }

I own MIF2Go so I'll install that and see if that's a workaround.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I think you'll find once you play around with it, that Mif2Go gives you superior control over every little detail (from what I've heard/read). Jeremy's extremely active in the forums.

[rlauriston]

Thanks, section 5.5.5.2 in the MIF2Go user's guide covers that:

http://www.omsys.com/dcl/usergd/rtfref_0044_5552_converting_autonumbers_to_word_seq_fields.htm

Seems like a bug that FrameMaker doesn't map that correctly, though. People really shouldn't have to buy a third-party product to export in a format that FrameMaker supports natively.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

It does it; it just doesn't do it very well ;>)

[rlauriston]

FrameMaker should export its auto-number objects as Word auto-number objects. What it's doing for me instead is converting auto-number objects to static numeral-character bullets.

[rlauriston]

With WriteAnums=Yes and SeqAnums=Yes, Numbered1 paragraphs start with {SEQ:XX1 \r1} and Numbered with {SEQ:XX1}. Unfortunately, Confluence converts SEQ fields to number characters. That's better than I was getting with FrameMaker's native .rtf export, but it could lead to confusion and errors down the road.

Maybe I'll try FrameMaker > RoboHelp > Word.