Adobe FrameMaker: 10 Things You Should Know

by Barbara Binder

The following 10 items should be included in any short-list of important FrameMaker features.

1. You can follow any hyperlink in FrameMaker by pressing Control+Alt as you click on the link.
   
   You can do this with manual hyperlinks (i.e., a link to a web page) or automatic hyperlinks (i.e., a cross-reference, or an index page number).
   
   
2. You can hide and show all imported graphics in an image by simply unchecking/checking Graphics under View > Options.
   
   
3. You can quickly create a new single-sided portrait document by pressing Control+N, Alt+P.
   
   
4. You can insert a user-variable by pressing Control+0 (zero, not the letter O) and typing the first letter(s) of the desired variable.
   
   
5. You can select two consecutive paragraphs with different paragraph formats and change both of them at the same time. (When you pick Update All, the Global Updates dialog box opens when you have two or more paragraphs selected.)
   
   
6. You can unlock an accidently-locked document by pressing Esc F l k. (Shortcuts are case sensitive so you need a capital F and lower case l k.
   
   
7. You can shrinkwrap an anchored frame and position it at the insertion point by pressing Esc m p.
   
   
8. You can add a tab within a table cell by pressing Esc Tab.
   
   
9. You can type an inch mark, even with smart quotes on, by pressing Esc Shift '.
   
   
10. You can pose questions on the FrameMaker General Discussion forum and FrameMaker experts will rush to answer them (because they earn Adobe "community points" for each question satisfactorily answered).

If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Introduction to Adobe FrameMaker 9 class. Too elementary for your skill level? How about the Advanced FrameMaker 9 class? Hope to "see" you there.

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

Comments

[Matt Watson]

I have been upgraded from Frame 7 to Frame 9. How do I link Frame 9 to my existing structured templates?

[rose]

I just upgraded from FrameMaker 7 to FrameMaker 10. What is the right way to convert existing documents?
I tried saving each file as a .mif in Frame 7 and opening it in Frame 10 and saving in Frame 10 but when I try to open the file from the book file, it says it's opening a release 7 version of the file??

[Barb Binder]

You can just open each chapter into 10, and save the file. You won't be able to update your book until all the chapters have been saved as v10 files.

[Barb Binder]

Rose: you can simply open each FrameMaker 7 document in FrameMaker 10, and save the file. (Or open the book, and use Shift + File > Open All Files in Book, followed by Shift + File > Close all Files in Book.) Once they are all saved as v10 files, you will be able to update your book.

~Barb