FM abruptly closes with no save

[Brewster, Christopher C]

As to why I'm inserting graphics with links, I explained this in a
couple of individual emails so I'll just say it again. I inherited this
project from an outside consultant. For now I have to stick with the
documents as they're currently done. The consultant company puts its
screen shots in a Powerpoint. Each Ppt slide is then copied into the FM
document using Paste Special, and using the "Linked document" option in
that dialog (and I mean the whole slide, not just the graphic on it).
The irony of all this is that my own company wants the whole thing moved
over to Word when it's possible. But right now I'm using FM documents
that have been APPROVED, which is (as you know) a corporate term meaning
they can't be changed other than adding new material.

-----Original Message-----
From: Combs, Richard [mailto:richard.combs at Polycom.com] 
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:32 AM
To: Brewster, Christopher C; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: FM abruptly closes with no save

Brewster, Christopher C wrote:
 
> I think the memory issue is indeed the cause for this. I did 
> my process again and saved after each insertion. No problems 
> occurred. But I think software should handle a memory issue 
> much more gracefully than simply closing without saving-such 
> as warning me, or refusing to execute the step that would 
> make it close. (Do Adobe people monitor this list?)

You're right, of course, FM should handle the problem much more
gracefully. 

But let me re-emphasize advice you got earlier and chose to ignore:
Don't use OLE! It's OK for one or two Visio drawings or PowerPoint
slides, but each time you do that, you're adding to the FM file all the
code needed to load the graphic's native application and edit it in
place. The overhead is huge and complex. 

You have Acrobat, right? Or at least Distiller, since it comes with FM.
You're much better off creating PDFs of your Visio or PowerPoint
graphics and importing those by reference (File > Import > File, Import
By Reference). Then, when a graphic changes, you just PDF it again (same
name and location, overwriting the previous version). FM sees that the
referenced file is newer, and your doc is updated automatically. 

HTH!
Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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