Convert text inserts to editable text (when the target file cannot be resolved)

[Rsfl]

Hi, I am working on a large document full of text inserts that cannot be resolved (evidently there used to be a separate collection document for re-used text lines). I would like to simply convert everything to plain editable text. However, when I select an insert and try to choose Edit -> Insert properties -> Convert to editable text then an error message is displayed because the target cannot be resolved.

Any ideas ho to solve this?

[Bob_Niland]

Firstly, make a backup copy of the file. If FM "forgets" what the content of the inset was, it may be gone permanently.

If you don't get a better answer, I'd be tempted to:

1. save the file as MIF to .mif
2. open with plaintext editor (notepad suffices)
3. find the <PgfLocked Yes> tag at the inset
4. change it to <PgfLocked No>
5. save the file back to the .mif
6. re-open in FM and see if you can do anything with the inset

And no, I don't think the <PgfLocked> tag is documented anywhere. It can become a problem when your entire Flow A is one giant inset.

[Rsfl]

<PgfLocked Yes> is not found in the MIF file only <PgfLocked No>. But I found that can search for the path in the MIF file and change it (i.e. create a new source file at another location and point the reference to it). BTW, saving as RTF crashes my Framemaker every time even with small files.

I feel there really should be a way to fix unresolved inserts in the Framemaker UI. Doing this manually for a large number of inserts in a large number of files is quite painful.

[Bob_Niland]

re: BTW, saving as RTF crashes my Framemaker every time even with small files.

That's because RTF is not a plaintext format. RTF files contain markup metadata that FM is not coded to handle other than via an import filter, which would then result in the MIF being treated as content rather than markup. When editing MIF, always use a Unicode-capable plaintext editor, or other editor that can save as plaintext (you may need to save as .txt then rename the filename extension).

In RTF, What appears as a file containing just:
hello world
will actually contain something like:

{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Calibri;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.21.2510;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sa200\sl276\slmult1\lang9\f0\fs22 hello world\par}

[CEI_TechWriter]

Hey Bob,

Thanks for pointing out the problems with RTF. I hadn't considered that. When I am faced with a problem like Rsfl has I would make the changes in Word (ugh) and then re-import into FM.

Clark

[CEI_TechWriter]

As Bob mentioned - ALWAYS make a backup before trying anything else

I had a few minutes to play around and found, after creating a new file with a referenced text insert then deleting the source of the insert, saving as a RTF seems to save the text.

Hope this can work for you.

[Stefan-Gentz]

Not sure, what the problem is here. I have tried to reproduce this:

I have created a "Container" FM document and have referenced two text insets (also FM files) into it.

Now I save and close everything and delete the two insets.

Fire FM back up and open the container document. FM tells me, the insets are missing. Fine. Now I go to the first inset, double-click it and select "Convert" from the "Text Inset Properties" dialog. I select "All Text Insets" and click convert. Works fine and now all insets are editable "normal" text.

How many text insets do you have in this document? Have you tried to make a copy of the container document and then reduce it, so that it contains only a few insets? Does it still happen?

[Rsfl]

Thanks for the efforts, this pointed me in the right direction!

When I double-click an insert that is unresolved, then the "Text Inset Properties" dialog does not open. Instead I receive an error message stating that the source file xyz cannot be found.

BUT then I had the idea to simply insert an additional, resolved insert. When I double-click this then the dialog opens correctly and from there I can convert all inserts, including those that are unresolved. SUCCESS! Thanks again.

[Stefan-Gentz]

By the way, you can also go to FrameMaker Menu > View > Pods > Insets. When the Insets pod shows up, you can select "List All", "Text Insets" or "Graphic Insets" from the second drop-down. You can filter even deeper with the third drop-down for "All Insets", "Resolved Insets" or "Unresolved Insets". Clicking on the list entries will take you to the corresponding inset.