Using FM's Project Window

[K.Daube]

Hi all, has anybody of You ever used the FrameMaker Project feature?

I try to use the Project feature in FM 11 and encounter very dumb behaviour:

• There is no Open > Project. I need to open the project file in the file system
• Using Open and the set the type selection to FrameMaker Project does not yield any results:
  
• There is no means to create a new folder (to put in various stuff) if there are already Locations defined. If I just use the Create Folder button then the folder is created in currently selected location (if locations exist, one is always selected).
• Even in a yet empty project it is not possible to define such a folder, the button Add Folder is inactive then.
• The only means to create such a folder is editing the xml file while the Project window is closed (see the first location):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<project>
<location name="FM-files" src="FM-files" isCloud="0"/>
<location name="ETB-icons-256" src="..\ETB-icons-256" isCloud="0"/>
<location name="Scripts" src="..\AllETB\Scripts" isCloud="0"/>
</project>​

• Adding an asset by Add Location and then using the Browse button to find the directory in question always shows the same folder ($HOME) as a starting point- and I need to navigate through the whole system to find what I want:
• Thanks my utility DirectFolders it's easy for me to go more directly to the target. But for one not having this utitlity the procedure is tiring.

With all these shortcomings it is my impression that nobody has used this feature yet...

[K.Daube]

I did not get any feedback to this on this forum - but two on the frameusers list. For information i copy them to this place. Bad for the feature: all feedback including mine are negative. I do not have a clue why pressed hard for this feature which was then implemented so meager - and nobody complained about it when introduced with FM-14 (2017).

Lin Sims:

I haven't even used the Folder or Group functions. I'm not sure what situations would call for them, either, although there must be something.

Studio Smalbro:

I have tried using the FrameMaker Project feature on several projects. But my experience was every time, that it was of little use.

• First of all - one cannot undo (Ctrl Z).
• There are no options to display images with thumbnails or text files with previews.
• All url's are getting truncated, making it impossible figure out where things are, unless you use "Explore". And if you do, you are better off with Windows explorer.
• There are no actual "project" features, like stages, notes, collections etc.
• There are no options for working with metadata for the project.

IMHO this feature is not used due to severe lack of functions. I really want to find out who had pressed hard to be implemented and then disappeared from the audience...