One flow on left pages; a second flow on right pages

Report · Mar 07, 2010

Is there a way to set up FrameMaker document so that one flow of text is only on left pages and a second flow of text is only on right pages -- without having to manually connect the frames in pairs throughout the document?

In other words, I don't want to have to tediously connect two frames every time a new page is added. Once the master pages are set up, I just want Flow A text to flow from page 1 to 3 to 5, and so forth; and Flow B to flow from page 2 to 4 to 6, and so forth -- automatically.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Report · Mar 08, 2010

Hi,

I did this some time ago. I do not remember, whether it worked.

Better:

Create two text flows A and B on each master page. Do not forget

to activate "Autoconnect".

On the right master page position and adjust text flow A as you want to have it.

Position text flow B somewhere else in the margin. Adjust the width of text flow B

so that it is so narrow that not even a single character fits into this text flow.

On the left pages vice versa:

Text flow B as you want to have it.

Text flow A too narrow for a single character.

I just testet it again, and it works.

Best regards

Winfried

Report · Mar 08, 2010

Winfried Reng wrote:
Hi,
I did this some time ago. I do not remember, whether it worked.
Better:
Create two text flows A and B on each master page. Do not forget
to activate "Autoconnect".
On the right master page position and adjust text flow A as you want to have it.
Position text flow B somewhere else in the margin. Adjust the width of text flow B
so that it is so narrow that not even a single character fits into this text flow.
On the left pages vice versa:
Text flow B as you want to have it.
Text flow A too narrow for a single character.
I just testet it again, and it works.
Best regards
Winfried

Hi, Winfried:

What version of FrameMaker are you using? I seem to recall that this strategy worked in early releases of FrameMaker, but it failed somewhere around FrameMaker 6, 7, or 8. I don't have FrameMaker available right now, so I can't test it in FM9.

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Report · Mar 08, 2010

Hi Peter,

I tested this with FrameMaker 8.0p277.

The first test did not work. Only after I deleted the second page

and added text again, text flowed from page 1 to page 3 and from

page 2 to page 4.

Best regards

Winfried

Report · Mar 08, 2010

Winfried Reng wrote:
Hi Peter,
I tested this with FrameMaker 8.0p277.
The first test did not work. Only after I deleted the second page
and added text again, text flowed from page 1 to page 3 and from
page 2 to page 4.
Best regards
Winfried

Hi, Wiinfried:

Where were you a few years ago when there were a few of us who tried to figure out how to make this method (large flow A and tiny flow B on one facing master page, and tiny flow A and large flow B on the opposite master page) work in a later FrameMaker release like it worked in the early releases? The consensus was that something that was a "loosely enforced property check" in the early releases was changed to a more-strictly enforced property check in the later releases. In other words, an early bug was "fixed" and the technique was lost.

Nobody discovered this simple, yet understandable, requirement, i. e., design the master pages with the small/large and large/small flows on the facing master pages, but begin the document with only one body page!

Thanks for sharing this "missing-link" solution.