Re: FrameMaker to Word or RTF

[jeremy@xxxxxxxxx (Jeremy H. Griffith)]

On Wed, 24 May 2000 11:46:27 -0500, Mary Holder <mholder@mesahq.com> wrote:

>I'm using FM 5.5.6 on NT 4.0 and Word 2000. I imported a Word 2000 document
>(including tables and graphics) into FrameMaker and now I need to return it
>to Word format. Sometimes I can do this and sometimes not: either frame
>encounters some type of error, or it just hangs up. 
>
>Does anyone have any experience in doing this type of conversion? What might
>be the problem(s) I'm encountering? Thanks for your help. BTW, if I can't
>resolve this issue quickly, we have to go back to Word company-wide (ugh),
>so I really need some help. Thanks in advance.

The quickest and easiest way we know of to produce Word docs from FrameMaker
is to use our Mif2Go plug-in, which generates Word RTF (as well as WinHelp,
HTML, HTML Help, JavaHelp, and XML).  It's $295 for a single-seat license.
We don't have a demo, but will run one sample file; for more details, see:
  http://www.omsys.com/
and please be sure to read the page on sample files before sending us one...

You should know that the Word RTF we produce is intended for use by reviewers
who lack FrameMaker, rather than for use in ongoing document development. So
the xrefs and autonumbers in it are plain text, not "active"; Word is so very
different from FrameMaker in these respects that live references are just not
reliable.  Similarly, since Word lacks many of FrameMaker's layout features,
like sideheads, we emulate the original appearance using methods that would
be hard, if not impossible, for an editor to duplicate within Word itself.
Graphics placement is also likely to change in unexpected ways if much text
is added or deleted from the Word document.  Word is not Frame.

This also means that it's best not to use a workflow that depends on importing
modified Word documents back into FrameMaker.  It just won't work.  You will
need to review any corrections made in the Word doc (Word's revision-tracking
methods are very good for that), then make the corresponding fixes in Frame.
If necessary, you can copy from Word and paste *as plain text* in FrameMaker,
but you don't want to infect your Frame doc with Word formatting...

We hope this illuminates some of the issues you will encounter, and wish you
the best of luck!

-- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
   (jeremy@omsys.com)     http://www.omsys.com/
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