Possible Solution for Color Definition Cleanup

[Pinkham, Jim]

Interesting situation today, folks: I was working on several books built
from an old, cluttered template and running into the zillion color
definitions with RGB numbers, and I was running into them on almost
every file. Recently, I've been circumventing this problem, when the
definitions won't delete nicely, by creating a new file from our clean,
new template and pasting the old content into the new document . Presto!
The bad color definitions don't carry over, so all is well.
 
I had 51 chapters from four different books in the "master book" I was
working on, so I thought I'd check the Web again and see if, on the
archives or elsewhere, there was an approach less tedious and
labor-intensive. I stumbled across the following from Adobe: "Color
Definition in a FrameMaker Document Can't Be Deleted and Has a Strange
Name <http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/323/323771.html> ".  Going at the MIF as
described in the Adobe item sounds plausible, but again it did not seem
to reasonably well address the need for handling that many files
efficiently.
 
However, part of my clean-up process also includes a "Wash All Files in
Book via MIF" step. I did that first and then repeated my effort to
delete the cantankerous color definitions using Toolbox - Format -
Delete All Unused Color Definitions. They all disappeared without a
further squeal of protest.
 
I haven't attempted to replicate this on any other files yet, though I
most certainly will be doing so in the not-too-distant future. I pass
this along, though, in the hopes it may prove to be a solution for
others in a similar situation. 
 
- Jim