Been there, done that... ... View more

It looks like an inadvertent text frame may have been created and landed on top of the regular text flow content. This is easy to accidentally create in FM. If you happen to hold the Ctrl-key down and select the text frame and make just even a slight move of the text frame (and have Snap on), FM will copy the object (the text frame) and snap it back to the original location when you release the Ctrl-key and mouse. If the content was blank when this happened, you'll never even suspect that there are now two superimposed frames on the same page. ... View more

Hi Lin, If that's the case, then I think that it's a bug in the way the Invisible colour is being handled by the output from the View. Are you using the new PDFL route (Publish) in FM2019 or trying to go through the old Disitiller/PDF route? It may be that the newer PDFL routines aren't properly honouring the historical intent of the "Invisible" setting in the Views. Arnis P.S. Happy Easter! ... View more

Stefan, Just for clarity, would not using the Invisible setting on a custom colour in Color Views also prevent the autonumber from appearing in the bookmarks? I have always understood that FM will not output any content that is rendered as Invisible in a specific Color View. To date I haven't come across a scenario where this is not true. [I don't currently have access to FM to test out Lin's scenario.] Arnis ... View more

Lin, Have you tried setting your custom colour to "Invisible" using the Color Views option prior to creating the PDF? FM should never output any item with a colour set to "Invisible". Using White, the (auto-)number would still be there if you do a copy&paste from the PDF (as Stefan indicatea), you just don't see it in the PDF. With the "Invisible" setting, the number should never get to the PDF in the first place. ... View more

If you want crop marks, you have to select a sheet size that is larger than your desired paper size, i..e for 6x9 you would enter something like 7x10 or whatever size your print shop recommends for the final output. Also, did you use the AdobePDF printer instance or some other print device? It's also a good idea to use Acrobat's pre-flight routines to check if everything in the PDF is as expected, i.e. all fonts embedded, the correct colour profiles are being used, white objects aren't overprinting, etc. ... View more

TO help diagnose your issue it would help if you describe (in detail) how you create the PDF from FM including which printer instance is used, what joboptions are used for the PDF and if the font is completely embedded in the PDF. If the font is coming out larger than you have from FM, it kind of sounds like you're getting a substitution at the printshop's end when they output. ... View more

Jang, I would recommend using the Invisible characteristic of Color Views instead of using White to make the text actually invisible, i.e. FM won't actually output anything for it. To get around extraneous white space for special case content like you require for the bookmarks, I have always used an anchored frame hanging outside of the text frame (or column depending upon your layout). The AFrame contains a text frame using Invisible text color for the special content. Since the AFrame is part of the flow, any reference to it always falls in the correct location (of the anchor). Hopefully, this isn't too difficult to do in a structured application. Arnis ... View more

Scott Prentice's MarkerTools allows you to export and re-import the marker content - this allows for the mass editing required using a text editor. emDex is no longer available. IXgen also creates an editable marker list, albeit in FM as an FM document. You can then use FM's Find/Change to make mass edits and re-insert the revised marker content. The revised link to Frank Stearns' IXgen is: Frank Stearns Assosciates - IXgen . See the Whitepaper on IXgen's capabilities. Either product has a demo mode to allow you to try it out so you can see which is more appropriate in your workflow. They're both excellent tools. ... View more

The PDF joboptions may need to be adjusted. The font options specify what to do if a font can't be embedded, i.e. fail the job or warn and continue. FYI, a font can have a permissions setting that forbids it from being embedded in a PDF. So check to see if the webfont forbids embedding using a tool such as FontDrop: https://fontdrop.info If your company created the font, then it should be able to adjust the permissions so that you can use it in a PDF. ... View more

Lin, If you're still curious about possible uses of Color Views, here are some links to other threads: https://forums.adobe.com/message/10819300#10819300 https://forums.adobe.com/message/6394655#6394655 https://forums.adobe.com/message/2591068#2591068 https://forums.adobe.com/message/7603651#7603651 https://forums.adobe.com/message/5459374#5459374 https://forums.adobe.com/message/6774129#6774129 https://forums.adobe.com/message/4464126#4464126 https://forums.adobe.com/message/2653759#2653759 https://forums.adobe.com/message/6105455#6105455 https://forums.adobe.com/message/3503638#3503638 ... View more

Hi Lin, Happy New Year! Adding to what Bob has said, you can think of Color Views as being an FM analogy to layers. The Invisible setting is the on/off toggle for the "layer" in a specific View. The nice feature of this is that FM still knows about any invisible content, though you will never see it in any output. This allows for a number of tricks to augment FM features that I have been mentioning for years. For example, you can create background grids to toggle on/off to check placement and alignment (of graphics, tables, lists, callouts, etc.). This is especially useful in template development. You can also create x-ref and hyperlink targets to anchored frames with alternate text contained in text frames (e.g. so you don't get a whole paragraph or a very long heading for an x-ref). Use your imagination and you'll find a lot of other uses for these FM "layers". The other nice feature is that they (Views) can be quickly changed (i.e. layers turned turned on/off even at the book level for all docs) using the <esc> v 1 to 6 shortcuts. They're probably more for unstructured docs than structured docs though. Arnis ... View more

You can get the auto-numbering to work in the graphic frame using a round-about approach using an auxialliary small anchored frame. 1. Place a small anchored frame located outside of text flow (or column depending upon your page layout) in the appropriate location for the numbering sequence. 2. In that anchored frame insert a text frame containing the autonumbered paratag for that figure. 3. Apply a character style that uses only a colour set to "Invisible" in the Color Views settings. 4. In the graphic frame text frame use a cross-reference to the figure paratag in the text frame of the anchored frame to pick up the autonumber. 5. Use the Color Views to set the View to make the colour for the anchored frame paratag "Invisible". This will prevent the anchored frame's text from being seen, but FM will always know the content. To create an "Invisible" colour: 1. In the Colour Views setting: a) select a View number (I usually use View 6) b) move a colour that you want to represent Invisible into the Do Not Print (right-hand) column (I usually use Magenta for visual contrast on the page when viewing in "Visible" mode) 2. To work with colours in the "Visible" mode stay in the default View mode (View 1). 3. To make the colour invisible, switch to View 6. [Use the shortcut <esc> v 6   -- this also works at the book level for ll documents in the book!] 4. To switch back to a "Visible" to edit/add more invisible text, use the <ec> v 1 shortcut. ... View more

Well, if all users are "sharing" the same computer and you are license compliant, then yes it would make sense to make such "global" changes in the FM directory version. However, in most cases, each tech writer is usually working on their own machine [unless you have something like shifts and machines are shared]. I think I'll defer to Stefan to provide an official Adobe response to this one. ... View more

Hi Sean, Keep in mind that FM reads the user version of the maker.ini last and will then add or overwrite any directive in the FM directory version. So go with what Stefan says and leave the original untouched. Klaus Daube has a great resource on the internals of the maker.ini content at: https://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker65.html Regards, Arnis ... View more

Ted, You could use the Apply Master Pages function to apply a custom Master page with a continued footer as Barb shows. Create additional paratag names for longer lists that you know will probably break across pages and then use the Apply Master Pages function to add the continued footers on lists that span pages. ... View more

Hi Heather, Yes, I did read all of your posts and the entire thread. You stated that you used the same template for all files without any specifics about how. You didn't specifically state if you re-imported the colours from the template to the entire book nor if you tried creating a new book file. You also state that you added screen captures imported by reference. FYI, FM looks at the colours used in these every time the graphic file is opened (i.e. when FM imports these by reference), so even fixing inconsistent colours once, could add or mess them up the next time the FM file using those graphics is opened, e.g. during a book update. Also, it doesn't matter whether a colour is actually used in a document. FM looks at the definitions for all of the colours defined in the FM document's internal colour catalog and compares them to those in the Book file's catalog. However, as has been mentioned in several messages, inconsistent colours is not an error that will prevent FM from creating output. So, if you're having issues with creating a pdf, then the book log error message about the inconsistent colours is just a red herring. Just trying to help and provide some background info on the mysteries of FM's internal workings. ... View more

Heather, The FM book file picks up the information from the first file in the list of files of the book and uses this to populate the internal definitions for colours, fonts, etc. of the book. This info in the book file is then used to compare against the other files in the book for consistency. Adding the cover last as the first file of the book, could have introduced the inconsistency. That is why re-importing the template colour definitions to all files in the book and removing any overrides on those should re-set the book to a uniform state for the colours. The inconsistent message in the Book error log when updating the book is just a warning and not the cause of an error that would prevent the pdf from being created. I have several projects where a custom colour is re-defined in a single file to accommodate a client's wishes and I get that message all of the time. However, the PDF always comes out with the correct colours as expected. I strongly suspect that there is something else going on to prevent your pdf from being created. If you set the cover to Exclude in the book, does creating the pdf advance further? Sometimes the Book file does get borked and the internal definitions are out of whack with the those of the files. It's easier to create a new Book file instead of trying to fix it and then try to create your output. ... View more

Which version of FM are you using? Have you imported the colours only from the template into all files (not just the inconsistent ones) of the book removing overrides? ... View more

Heather, The inconsistent colour message is a FrameMaker warning, not an actual error. FM will happily proceed with processing once you acknowledge and ignore the message. If FM is hanging, then there is something else going on to cause the error. To clear this warning, try importing only the colours from the original template into all files of the book. ... View more

and?? What did the error message say? What operating system are you using and is it all patched up? Did you install as administrator? etc. More details would be beneficial if you want some help on this issue. ... View more