Working with cross references in unstructured document

[FrameMaker-dk]

I am working on a big book which has been made as a structured book. I am working on in unstructured FM2020. The cross references are a challenge. They are made using elements, and I can't make them update. Changing the cross reference format to paratext does not seem to help. Is it possible to make them work in unstructured mode?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

IIRC you can't (successfully) work on a Structured doc in Unstructured FM (but I think that the reverse is true - work in Structured FM on an unstructured doc provided you don't introduce any structure elements).

[Lynne A. Price · Accepted solution]

You can edit structured material in unstructured FM. However, as FM warns you, if you do, structure will be removed from the documents. This is often a significant loss of data. It won't be possible for anyone else to work with the structured version again because it won't exist. Similarly, it won't be possible to save the book as XML if that is a requirement of the work flow. Therefore, make sure you will not need the structured version of the book and its book components before proceeding.

That said, as you have noticed, when structure is removed from a flow, element-based cross-references become unresolved and have to be recreated.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Thanks @Lynne A. Price - I thought there were "bad things" that happen when you use unstructured FM with structured docs - but only being an unstructured person myself, I couldn't tell anyone what they were!

[Lynne A. Price]

Jeff,

   After all these years, you should try structure. You might get hooked.

           --Lynne

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

LOL - so far, so good!