Need Help Automating FrameMaker / PDF Processes

[Shlomo Perets]

Loren,

You wrote:

>Our company currently has a documentation set of 53 FrameMaker books that 
>we PDF for easy access. We create PDFs using the TimeSavers utility to 
>preserve link integrity. To do this we first have to open each book 
>separately. Then we must run UPDATE BOOK on each FrameMaker book.  Each 
>book must then be saved as an individual PDF file.
>
>Is there a more automated way to create PDFs from 53 FrameMaker books? Or 
>is there a quicker way to set up this process from FrameMaker? Are there 
>any programs that could help automate these processes? Do your companies 
>hold any best practices that we could benefit from?

Testing the links in FrameMaker (regardless if/automated)  is of very 
limited value (and basically a waste of time), as often the links are 
functional in FrameMaker but are damaged during the conversion to PDF (or 
not carried over properly to PDF).  If the end product is a set of  PDF 
files, the links should be tested in Acrobat.

There may be various reasons for the bad links in PDF, but a common reason 
for random bad links is having "Create Named Destinations for All 
Paragraphs" turned off in FrameMaker's PDF setup, Links tab.

Another issue that of the path. If all your PDFs are going to be placed in 
the same folder, I recommend using the "Remove Path" option in TimeSavers 
(Settings, Links/General tab, under Cross File Links).  This way, your 
FrameMaker files/books can still be in their current locations, yet in the 
"PDF world" links won't have path info anymore.

To test links in PDFs, I recommend using the  link checker (PDF Linker) 
included with ARTS PDF Aerialist.
I provide a license for ARTS PDF Linker plug-in as part of the course 
materials in my Testing PDFs and FrameMaker-to-Acrobat Advanced Techniques 
courses.


Shlomo Perets

MicroType, http://www.microtype.com
Training, consulting & add-ons: FrameMaker, Structured FM and Acrobat