Adobe FrameMaker 8: Track Changes

by Barbara Binder

 
Whether you are a new Adobe FrameMaker user or a veteran, you will be
pleasantly surprised to learn that FrameMaker version 8 allows you to track your
text edits without having to leave the program or install a third-party
extension.
 
Here is how the track changes feature would work…
 
Let's say that Kevin creates a FrameMaker document and e-mails it to Jennie
for editing. Jennie can open up the document in FrameMaker, enable Track Text
Edits and then proceed to edit the document (adding, deleting and replacing
existing text).
 
When Jennie returns the FrameMaker file to Kevin, Kevin can see what
changes Jennie has made, and can choose to accept or reject her changes, both on
an individual basis or throughout the entire document.
 
To enable the Track Text Edits feature:

  1. Open up a FrameMaker document in FrameMaker version 8.
  2. Enable Track Text Edits by choosing Special > Track Text Edits
    > Enable
    (you can also choose View > Track Text Edit
    Bar
    to open a floating toolbar and click the first button on the
    toolbar to enable Track Text Edits)

    Track Text Edit Bar

  3. Try adding a word, deleting a word, and replacing a word with Track Text
    Edits enabled.

    The green/underline colors you will see are used to show
    additions, and the red/strikethrough shows words that are marked for
    deletion.

    Tracked Changes

  4. Once you have finished entering in the edits, you can use the next two
    buttons on the Track Text Edit Bar to review your
    work.

    The right pointing red arrow takes you forward to the next edits,
    and the left arrow takes you to previous edits.

    The buttons with the
    green check marks allow you to accept a change, or all changes, respectively,
    and the buttons with the red Xs allow you to reject one or all
    changes.

    The last three buttons control the display of a document that
    still contains Track Edits information (which means that you have not accepted
    or rejected all edits).

    Here is what those last three buttons
    do:

    Preview Final. All red/green indicators are hidden,
    and the document shows all of the suggested edits.

    Preview
    Original.
    All red/green indicators are hidden, and the original
    document is show, without any of the suggested edits.

    Preview
    off.
    All red/green indicators are shown, and the document shows all of
    the suggested edits.

When you are ready to print or create a PDF, pay attention to the Preview
status-what you see on the screen is what you will get when you print or view
the PDF (complete with red/green indicators, if they were left on).
 
Next week: Change Bars 




Want to learn more about Adobe FrameMaker 8? Come to Barb's Introduction to Adobe FrameMaker 8
class next week (it's not too late to register). All you need is a computer with
fast Internet access, a headset and the current version of 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.


 

About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and
founder of Rocky Mountain Training.
Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and was recently recognized by
Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide for 2007.

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