XP Service Pack 3

[_David_A_L_Baxter_]

I have been using FM version 6.0 under Windows XP service pack 2. An operation I perform regularly is to copy and paste an excel spreadsheet graphic into a FrameMaker document. This worked without any problems until I installed XP SP3 after which any attempt to paste into the target document just produces an empty frame. It is still possible to drag and drop or to copy the graphic into a Word document so it is being copied to the clipboard OK - it seems that FM can no longer paste it. I have checked this on another computer with SP2 and it works as expected. I suspect MS have crippled yet another feature in their never ending quest to fix 'security' problems I was not having. Short of un-installing SP3, does anyone know how to get my trusty FM software working normally?

Thanks

[Russ Ward]

David, it sounds like you are using OLE to embed Excel objects which is not recommended. It was never "trusty" to begin with and I think there actually was a discussion here recently about the same issue you've noted with SP3. The short answer is that you are out of luck, but the truth is that you've been just lucky so far. The only reliable way to handle graphic objects is to save them as a graphic or PDF format and import by reference.

Search this forum for "OLE" for more information.

Russ

[Russ Ward]

Here's one such discussion:

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b6a1d1/0

[Art Campbell]

David,
There are a number of other threads about SP3/OLE in different FM forums around the 'net going back to the SP3 release date. Because the cause is a Microsoft bug/fix, it's unlikely to receive much attention from Adobe because they can't control what MS is doing.
If I wre you, I'd try prowling through MS support for an alternative, but as far a getting FM working and stable again, I'd either take a snap of your Excel sheets and paste it in as a referenced graphic or set up an Excel-to-table workflow.

Art

[_Dorothea_Murray_]

For years, I have been copying drawings from AutoCAD LT and pasting them as OLE2 graphics into anchored frames in a FrameMaker document. The drawings are scalable, and I can resize them to fit from margin to margin on the page. Since installation of SP3 for Windows XP, I can no longer paste them into FrameMaker 7.2 documents. The images are on the Windows clipboard because I can paste them into a Word document.

Has anyone found a solution for this problem?

[Arnis Gubins]

Create a PDF from AutoCAD LT and then import the PDF by reference into
FM. It will be scalable and you won't lose any detail.

[_Dorothea_Murray_]

Thank you, Arnis, for your recommendation. I tried your solution, and it works. However, the lines and text in the PDF version are not as sharp as they were in the original AutoCAD LT drawing or the OLE2 object. Also, we prefer to embed images in the FrameMaker document. When graphics files are linked by reference, multiple graphics folders and the FrameMaker documents folder must always maintain the same file location relative to one another to preserve the links. Our archival system does not always preserve this relationship; sometimes, they misplace graphics files altogether. When we reopen the FrameMaker book, gray boxes are displayed in place of drawings and error messages complain about missing files.

I found a solution that works for now--until the next Microsoft service patch. Use Paste Special and select Metafile to embed the drawing as a Windows Metafile (WMF format). The drawing is scalable, and the lines and text are as sharp as the original AutoCAD drawing. I do not know if this solution will work for David's Excel spreadsheets, but it's worth a try.

[_Kenneth_Benson_]

> However, the lines and text in the PDF version are not as
> sharp as they were in the original AutoCAD LT drawing or the OLE2
> object.

Not as sharp onscreen, or not as sharp when printed? Text is text and
should not be more or less sharp when printed.

There are some good reasons to avoid embedding graphics and some other
good reasons to avoid metafiles, but those have been gone over pretty
thoroughly.

--
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

[Arnis Gubins]

Dorothea,

Unless you're AutoCAD LT graphic is rasterized to begin with, the PDF
when printed, or rendered to another PDF, will be every bit as sharp
as the original. Within FM, all imported PDFs are rendered internally
as EPS graphics and what you see on screen is just a rasterized
snapshot representation of the actual contents.

[Art Campbell]

As long as it works, you win.

However, it's likely the loss of sharpness in the PDF is a result of your job option selection when you create the PDF. If you picked a job option that downsamples and compresses, you'd lose sharpness. If you picked Press Quality or even High Quality Print, the sharpness would be preserved.

[_Dick_Wexelblat_]

Thank you Dorothea Murray -- this workaround (Paste Special + WMF) has saved me from having to convert my monthly newsletter to (ugh!) Word.