FrameMaker 2017 and Anchored Frames

[QuintinSeegers]

We recendly upgraded from FM 11 to FM2017 and I'm getting extremely frustrated with anchored frames. In FM11 we used Anchored Frames to insert images into our documents. There is no consistent size with the images - some have their DPI set to 120, some to 200, some to 800. In FM2017, the DPI seems to be attached to the Anchored Frame, which results in all of our images being resized to fit the default anchored frame size. This was never an issue in FM11 - how do we stop FM2017 from enforcing this horrible function. This is causing us to manually resize close to 500 images in just one document alone. There must be a way to stop this from happening every time we update the styles.

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

Have you tried using the old File > Insert > File workflow? I believe that will give you the behavior you're used to.

Also, consider creating Object Styles to ensure consistency across your images.

-Matt

[QuintinSeegers]

Hi,

Using File > Insert > File is how all the images were added to the document.

Using Objects Styles for our images is simply impractical as we'll end up with a ridiculous number of styles to cater for our different image sizes/DPI's.

In FM11, we would create the anchored frame, insert the image using the File > Insert > File workflow, set the DPI appropriate to the image, then using the shortcut Esc m p to auto resize the anchored frame to the image size.

After upgrading to FM 2017, ​all of our images have been resized to fit the default anchored frame size. How do we stop FM 2017 from doing this and continue to use the more proper way it did in FM11?

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

It sounds like something else is going on with your files. I work between various Fm versions constantly and haven't ever seen an image "just change size" when opened in another version.

Do you have custom plugins installed?

Can you provide screenshots and/or files to help with context?

[QuintinSeegers]

Hi,

No plug-ins. Just the standard, out of the box, install.

Unfortunately, providing the files would prove difficult as I'd need to provide you with several source files included in the document.'

I'm also having bizarre behaviour with text inserts, which only started happening after we upgraded to 2017. I'm beginning to regret doing that.

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

One other thing...if you're using the Insert > Image workflow, the image will be shown at 100% if it fits the column, but will be reduced to fit the frame if it is larger.

For some folks, that saves a lot of grief, but applying an object style to those larger graphics to set size or PPI might give you a more manageable workflow as well.

-Matt

[QuintinSeegers · Accepted solution]

Well, what a learning curve this was. Turns out, it was the Remove Overrides option when importing formats that was causing the issue. When removing overrides, it was applying the default size to the Anchored Frame we use for images, as well as resizing the images to then fit the new Anchored Frame.

To fix it, we checked all our images and made sure they are not attached to an Anchored Frame so we could set the DPI independently. Also, when updating our formats, we'll import Object Styles separately and not remove any layout overrides.