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Can I run two copies of FrameMaker at the same time?

New Here ,
Jun 07, 2008 Jun 07, 2008

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I am trying to learn Structured FrameMaker. Is it possible/legal/safe to start two copies of FrameMaker on my PC at the same time?

Specifically I want to have one copy open in Structured FM to experiment and the other copy in Unstructured to take notes on what I am learning. I am trying to see if I understand the concepts by writing up a tutorial but I do not want to be locked into structured mode when do not have a template which covers all of my needs ( I am still figuring them out) and I do not yet really understand what the structured templates do.

Will the documents save by the rules of the window they are in? What other problems will/could I encounter?

Thanks,
Marjorie
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Advisor ,
Jun 07, 2008 Jun 07, 2008

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Marjorie,<p>If your machine has sufficient disk space and memory, yes, you can run multiple copies of FrameMaker at once. To run the different user interfaces at the same time, you'd have to start both copies. Then, change the user interface in one copy. Since the change doesn't take affect until you restart FrameMaker, shut down that copy and start a new one (leaving the first user interface in effect in the other original copy.<p>All that said, I suspect you can do the testing you want in one copy of FrameMaker, using the Structured FrameMaker user interface. The structured user interface simply means you can work with structured documents; you can also work with unstructured documents. Each document is independently structured or unstructured; in fact, each flow is independently structured or unstructured. You might therefore consider using the structured user interface and opening one structured and one unstructured document in a single copy of FrameMaker. Or create a single document with side-by-side flows and put structured content in one and unstructured content in the other.<p>Just remember that some of the dialog boxes are slightly different in the two user interfaces. For example, the marker, anchored frame, insert table, and cross-reference dialog boxes all let you select an element tag. Since there are no element tags in an unstructured flow, the element tag text boxes in these dialog boxes shows <Unstructured>. If you are willing to ignore these differences, I recommend you do your experimentation in a single copy of FrameMaker.<p>--Lynne

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New Here ,
Jun 07, 2008 Jun 07, 2008

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Lynne,

I tried your "open both of them and change one" technique with no problems. Thank you.

I had done some careful experimenting before I got your reply, and what I did was to open a single copy of unstructured and open my unstructured files in it. I then changed the interface in the Preferences dialog box and then opened a second copy of FrameMaker which came up Structured.

I was careful to close all my structured files, convert the second window back to unstructured, and close the second window before I closed my first (unstructured) window.

Will this bite me on the ^$%^ or will it work? Do I need to be fanatical about closing one or the other interface first?

I am afraid I do not know enough about text flows to try the structured in one flow and unstructured in the other. I will try the multiple documents in the structured interface technique.

Thanks,
Marjorie

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Advisor ,
Jun 07, 2008 Jun 07, 2008

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Marjorie,

If you are running two copies of FrameMaker, one with each of the user interfaces, I don't think it matters which one you close first. If you close them both, the next time you start FrameMaker, it will be with the user interface of the version you last started. If that's not the one you want, you can change it again. And if you don't notice which one you start, the only case where there are potential problems is if you open a structured document with the unstructured user interface. Since FrameMaker will warn you if that happens, there really shouldn't be a problem.

--Lynne

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 09, 2008 Jun 09, 2008

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Marjorie,

I think your best bet would be to open FrameMaker in structured mode, and open one structured document and one unstructured document. As Lynne says, you can edit unstructured documents in structured mode. Because you are using the unstructured document to take notes, it is just overkill and confusion to have two instances of FrameMaker open at the same time.

Van

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New Here ,
Jun 09, 2008 Jun 09, 2008

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What I like most about having two separate copies of the program open, either both structured or one not structured, is that I do not lose sight of the practice document's structure view window when I change between my practice document and my note-taking document.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 04, 2019 Jun 04, 2019

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Something to watch for... I was training a new hire who somehow managed to have two instances of Framemaker 2019 running. She was trying to copy content from one document to another. The text copied over fine but none of the images copied over. Finally got it to work once we had both documents open in the same instance of Framemaker.

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