getting confused about xref variables and paragraph tags

[Deirdre Reagan]

Hi all:

FM 8.0 on Windows XP.

I have inherited a multi-chapter book template and it's giving me trouble.

On the title page, most of the lines of text are variables.  I double
click the text, up pops the variable dialog box, I change the generic
information to the specific information, I close the variable dialog
box and update the book.  The variables update cross references
throughout the chapters just fine.  The source variable has a fat
black T in front of it, indicating that it's being used as the source
of a cross-reference somewhere else.

One line of data is not a variable.  It is simply a line of text that
has it's own paragraph tag -- Company Name.  We changed this line from
generic text (Client Name) to specific text (Joe Blow Airways).  We
also erased the fat black T at the start of the line.  Now the other
pages don't update.

That fat black T seems to be the answer, but -- the source line is
still tagged Company Name and the cross references are still pointed
to the source tag called Company Name.  So why won't the cross
references update without the fat black T?

My question is three-fold:

1.  If we are crossreferencing back to paragraph tags, and we change
the source paragraph tag, do we have to keep the fat black T?  That
seems awfully picky, since we just want to double click the line of
text and type in our new text.  To keep the T, we would have to click
and backspace.  Plus that T doesn't preceed the original cross
reference.  It appears only to indicate that this line of text has
already been cross referenced. So it's absence shouldn't affect FM's
ability to update cross references, right?

2. What was the original writer doing, making this line of text a
paragraph tag and not a variable, like every other line of text on the
page?  Is there a good reason for this? (Probably a rhetorical
question, but I thought I'd throw it out there, in case there is
something everyone but me knows.)

3.  Shouldn't I get rid of all these cross references and change them
all to variables?  That way I can update the variable once and it
changes everywhere and there are no fat black Ts to worry about and no
broken cross references for me to get super frustrated over. Or would
I have to change the variable in each individual chapter?

I'd appreciate anyone's advice.

Frustratedly yours,

Deirdre