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D
dorispavlichek
Participant
July 22, 2016
Answered

Quick way to fix mass broken cross-references?

  • July 22, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 529 views

I learned a lot today, but too late.

This morning I did a MIF wash of all the files in a book, saving them to a temp location. I then converted the files back (manually) and copied them back into the original location. Now all of my cross-references are broken (as were the links to my imported graphics, but I've fixed those manually).

I'm looking for a way to update the directory for all of these cross-references without fixing each one manually. Is there a way to do this?

For example, FrameMaker is trying to resolve "..\progref\<filename>" from "\\someserver\techpubs\thisbook\progref".

If I could tell it to change ".. "to "\\someserver\techpubs\thisbook", all would be well!

(Before you suggest it, I have already gone in and set "Suppress Automatic Updating of All Cross-References" (again, too late), and I have discovered the Package feature, which I'll use for moving documentation sets in the future.)

Thanks, D

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Bob_Niland

A couple of approaches that I've used are:

  1. Move the broken .fm file to a directory where the altered paths to the object are correct. Open it and re-save it to the original directory.
  2. Save as MIF. Learn enough MIF markup (which is pretty awkward for file paths), and use a plaintext editor to bulk change all the broken paths.

1 reply

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
July 23, 2016

A couple of approaches that I've used are:

  1. Move the broken .fm file to a directory where the altered paths to the object are correct. Open it and re-save it to the original directory.
  2. Save as MIF. Learn enough MIF markup (which is pretty awkward for file paths), and use a plaintext editor to bulk change all the broken paths.
D
dorispavlichekAuthor
Participant
July 24, 2016

Thanks,

Using option 1, I was able to recover and verify that all links now work. You saved me a lot of time!

D

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 25, 2016

re: Using option 1, I was able to recover and verify that all links now work.

Glad to hear it. I might add for people who need the tip in the future that you might need to create one or more directories so the path works, and the magic is that when you re-save, FM re-writes all the paths relative (or possibly absolute) to the final saved-in dir.

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