Adobe FrameMaker 8: Copy Special

• Character Format. Pick this one when your cursor is sitting inside a Character format. Then, highlight a word or phrase and tap Control + v (it's always Paste, never Paste Special with a Copy Special) to paste the Character format onto the selected text.
• Paragraph Format. Pick this one when your cursor is anywhere inside a  paragraph. The paragraph format is copied to the clipboard and you can paste it onto any paragraph that needs the same format applied.
• Conditional Text Settings. You can use this to avoid the notoriously-difficult Conditional Text dialog box to apply Condition Tags.
• Table Column Width. If your cursor is in a table, you can copy the column width value, select one or more columns, and paste to make them all the same.

If you are still following me, you are most likely thinking that these commands just represent another way to do something you are already doing, like using the Paragraph Catalog to apply Paragraph formats. So what's so cool about Copy Special?

I like to use it in conjunction with the Find/Change dialog box. For example, let's say I import a Word file that includes bulleted paragraphs. The bullets come in to my Frame document, but they show up using a format imported from Word called List Paragraph and not the one I created in Frame called BulletList.

1. Place my cursor in the first bullet paragraph
2. Open Find/Change and select Find: Paragraph Tag (this puts the current paragraph format name into the text box on the right, in my case it will say List Paragraph)
3. Open the Paragraph Catalog and assign the BulletList format to the first item in the list
4. Choose Edit > Copy Special > Paragraph format and copy the BulletList format to the clipboard
5. Return to the still-open Find/Change dialog box and select "By Pasting" from the Change menu

Having been burned by global Find/Change sequences over the years, I now prefer to begin cautiously. I click the Find button.

Want to learn more about Adobe FrameMaker? Come to our upcoming Introduction to FrameMaker 8 classes on October 7-8 or November 3-4. Both classes will be held in a virtual classroom–so you can attend this live, interactive class from anywhere in the country. All you need is a computer with fast Internet access, a headset and the current version of the FrameMaker (the 30-day trial version of the software works fine). You can ask all the questions you like because all virtual classes are led by a live instructor–this is not pre-recorded content.