Import external file by reference

[Stuart Rogers]

kgrace4715 at aol.com wrote:
> Does anyone know of a way that I can "link" or "attach" a pdf or word 
> file to my framemaker file.  The "other" file that I would like to link 
> or attach is output that is being created at random, by another person. 
>   I would like to have them output their file to a common file location 
> and when I open my framemaker file I want to pull in the latest version 
> of their word or *.pdf file.  To make this even more challenging is the 
> fact that the document they are creating is a multipage document which 
> I dont see how to work with.
> _______________________________________________
> 

Your terminology may have confused other responders.  If I understand 
correctly, you want to import content into your FM document by 
reference, not to create a clickable hyperlink in your finished output 
that causes an external file to open.

When you choose File > Import > File in FM, you are given the choice to 
Import By Reference or Copy Into Document.

If you choose Copy, you are importing static content from the source 
document as it exists at that moment; there is no future automatic 
update.  The imported content is editable in FM.

If you choose Reference, then each time you open the FM document, FM 
will try to locate the external file of the same name/location, and will 
import it anew.  Changes in the external file will be reflected in the 
importing FM document.  The import is a text inset and is not editable 
within the containing FM document.

I personally would not attempt such imports with MS Word documents -- 
life is too short for the grief they bring.  Nevertheless, if both 
authors have rock-solid templates with identical style/tag names and 
never depart from them (and there's not a lot of tables), it is 
theoretically possible to import a .doc file in this manner.  Gives me 
the heebie-jeebies just writing about it.

You can easily import PDFs, but only by specifying one page at a time. 
A multi-page PDF would have to be broken up into many single-page PDFs 
(with reliably the same names from version to version) in order for your 
Import By Reference scenario to work.  There may be a quick way to do 
that in Acrobat (or a macro in Word?), but I don't know it.  In any 
case, if the page count of the source document changes, the workflow breaks.

You don't say whether your deliverables are print or softcopy.  If 
softcopy, it sounds like a clickable hyperlink to the PDF might be a 
better idea (note the advice on path relationships already posted).  If 
print, um... I dunno.  Maybe someone else has experience to share...

HTH,

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

"Developers explain How the Product Works.
Technical writers explain How to Work the Product."