Replacing the default font used by Framemaker with a specific proprietary font

[zornitzad80431241]

Hi there,

I am running Structured FM 17.0.2.431 and have a request to replace the default font used by Framemaker (which is Calibri) with a specific proprietary font.

The new font is PxC GillAltOneMT, V2.000 and its format is .OTF.

I tried to change the font type in the FrontMatterTpl.fm but the change is not implemeted after publishing.

I reviewed the maker.ini file but I can't find where it can be changed.

Would you please help me with some information about how to do it.

Thanks a lot!

Zornitza Doneva

[Bob_Niland]

Do you mean the font in FM dialogs,
or the font in the factory-supplied templates?

The templates can be revised (with suitable filesystem permissions).
What FM uses internally I tend to doubt (if only because the new font might need to populate the entirety of Unicode BMP space).

[zornitzad80431241]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply.

I don't know where I have to change the font in Framemaker: templates, Ini files or else.

My project is to change the font of all our documents for our software with a specific one (we are part of another company now and we have to update to their proprietary fonts). This will apply to all existing and new documents. So, I  started with the templates.

Also a week ago I sent a request for support to the Adobe Technical Support and the TS representative is still searching for an answer.

Should I ask him to provide me with permission to revise the templates?

By background, I am a Mechanical Engineer/  Technical Writer using Structured Framemaker and don't have programming experience.

Regards,

Zornitza Doneva

[Bob_Niland]

When you open a default FM document, they are probably coming from:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2022\Templates\
With suitable permissions, those files can be edited to suit enterprise needs.
Doing bulk font changes can be challenging without external scripts or MIF hacking.

It more commonly the case that the FM factory defaults are so far off entity needs, that your enterprise document architect will create entirely separate defaults for various uses. For my own work, I actually create a template.fm file for each project, which contains not only the document layouts/formats/variables/etc, but notes and instructions related to why & workflow.

[mk-will]

Hi, Zornitza Doneva ( @zornitzad80431241 ),

to clearify: you are talking about technical documentation (manuals etc.)?

First thing you have to do is to identify the used FM template(s) when the structured content is going to be published.

Then you open that template file(s) and change the font setting in all defined paragraph formats, character formats, objects on master pages and reference pages as needed.

If that is done you can change existing documents by importing the mentioned things into the existing FM files.

But then you must open and controll/rework that documents as line-breaks/page-breaks will change.
And depending how text for graphics has been done the text-boxes in that graphics must be inspected and the size possibly changed.

Regards

Stephan

[FrameMaker-dk]

Won't they have to edit the EDD as well? I did a major font conversion "thing" a couple of years ago, and font use was described in the EDD. Changing the referenced font in the EDD and the reimporting the EDD did the trick.

[Bob_Niland]

Another thing to watch out for on this template/default transition is that proprietary font (PxC GillAltOneMT, V2.000). How much of Unicode BMP space does it populate, and does it cover all the code points your documents require?

After the font change, be sure to check a variety of output workflows, looking for unexpected instances of question mark characters [?]. FM does not have font fallback, nor does it throw any dialogs when a font in use doesn't have a character called for by the text.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

It sounds like you would like to update existing company documents with new branding requirements, and create new docs that follow those standards as well. Is that correct?

If so, it's helpful to know that unstructured FrameMaker templates aren't physically connected to your documents like they are in structured documents, or in other unstructured applications. 

You'll want to update the stored definitions in your template(s) with the Paragraph Designer and Character Designer as needed as you need, and then use File>Import>Formats to  bring in the updated styles from your template file into the content documents.

-Matt