Deleting Conditional Tags at Book Level Crashes FM2015

[Urthie2011]

I wan to delete a bunch of unused conditional tags that were introduced via a template. If I try deleting the tags using the book level,  FM crashes every time. If I try to use all open documents, bulk delete does not work either and I end up deleting the tags individually anyway. So if I open 10 docs, I have to delete each unused tag 10 times.

Any suggestions?

I am also trying to teach FM to a colleague and find that I have more workarounds for features that don't work then straightforward using the product. The usability of this product gets worse with each release.

Thank you

[Urthie2011]

Is anyone getting their questions answered via the community? I see five answers for 60 questions - not a very good return rate, IMHO.

[Arnis_Gubins]

FWIW, bulk deleting conditional tags at the book level doesn't work in earlier versions either. As conditional tags are in each document's Condition catalog only, there is no direct operation at the book level to remove a tag from all documents in the book (same as for most other catalog items, paratags, character tags, colours, etc.). If this is something that needs to be done on a regular basis, then you would need to create a script that handles this. Otherwise, it's a grin/grimmace & bear it situation by selecting all open docs in the Condition pod and then going through the list and deleting the unused condition tags one at a time - a PITA operation.

The crash, if the book is selected in the pod, shouldn't happen and is a bug (this happens in FM12 as well) and should be reported via the Bugbase: https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm

You could also enter your requirement as a wish list item there as well.

[Urthie2011]

Then let me make a suggestion, please: don't put in features that don't work for the user. the expectation is that if I select the book level, then I should be able to delete condition tags at that level, otherwise, don't allow me to select the book level. this is frustrating as there is no error msg or warning that this doesn't work. FM15 just crashes. I should not have to create a script to perform a function that is clearly available in the interface. Also, the ability to bulk delete conditional tags is nonexistent - all tags must be deleted individually. Grin and bear it is not acceptable to customers who pay for the software, and have so for years.

I imported a template the other day and got 20 different character tags that I did not create - they just showed up in the destination document.

This product requires too many workarounds, scripts, etc, to be usable in a production environment.

[Arnis_Gubins]

If you imported content from a template and got unwanted character tags in your document, then they were in the template. FM uses an additive model for importing content into the catalogs. If the item has the exact same name [case-sensitive] then it is replaced, otherwise it is added as a new item.

[Urthie2011]

I'm sorry, but that is incorrect. I did not create character formats called frmt10, frmt11, frmt12, etc. So the template must have gotten corrupted somehow and created a bunch of formats that did not exist before. Why would I create character formats with names that have no context?

And I cannot mark an answer as correct when the correct answer is that the feature does not work, and has never worked in previous versions. Workarounds are not acceptable when the feature obviously has been broken for sometime but there is no effort to fix it.

[Arnis_Gubins]

Those particular formats [frmt10, frmt11, frmt12, etc.] perhaps were automatically created from formatting overrides if the File > Utilities > Create and Apply Formats option was selected at some point in the template or your current document.

Styles don't just magically appear in the Catalogs.

If crashes, bugs or incorrect behaviours don't get reported [via the Bugbase] then the engineers don't know about them and the issues don't get addressed to anyone's satisfaction. This Forum is not an official channel to the FM team - we're all users here.

[Framer]

Hi,

Deleting the condition tags at Book Level is not supported in FM2015 or earlier releases. But it should not crash either. Only Apply using Show/Hide Conditional Text is supported at Book Level.

Please let us know the below information about the crash:

In which mode of FrameMaker are you working?

Is the crash occurring consistently?

Is the crash occurring with other Books also?

Can you please share the files with us for isolating the issue at our end via dropbox or mail me at rakumarg@adobe.com

Regards,

Raj

FM Team

[Urthie2011]

If you cannot delete conditional tags at the book level, the trash can should be greyed out so that it is obvious that you cannot delete tags.

Unstructured FM15

yes

yes

What files do you need?

[Urthie2011]

Also, I noticed that if a book file is selected, but none of the files in the book are open, and you select the book level, the trashcan is greyed out. But as soon as I open a file in the book, the trashcan is active and you can select the book level to delete conditional tags.