FM 8 - Can't Delete Color Definitions

[Combs, Richard]

mbradley at techpubs.com wrote:
 
> I have some FM files that were created in Word some time ago, then
> imported into FM more recently.
> 
> In FM, we were able to remove all the artifacts from Word except for
the
> color definitions. We are not using any of the Word colors in the FM
> files, but we can't delete them from the files' color catalogs,
either.
> The colors are listed in the Color Definitions window and in the
> Character Designer window. They are labeled "RGB <RGB_number>", such
as
> RGB 177,197,218. The usual FM procedure for deleting colors simply
> doesn't work; nor did Toolbox (it threw errors -17 and 12).
> 
> It appears that the Word colors are embedded in the FM files in a
unique
> way that prevents them from being deleted. Any ideas on how we can
> delete them?

Those colors don't come from Word as such, they come from 256-color PNG
graphics files. Each color defined in the palette is named according to
its RGB values, and each palette-based graphic can add up to 256 such
colors to your FM file. 

The solution is to open the PNGs in an appropriate graphics app and save
them as 24-bit color (16.7 million colors) instead of palette-based (256
colors). The size increase is surprisingly small. 

It's been a while since I had that issue (and Word wasn't implicated in
any way), so I don't recall whether, once the offending graphics are
gone, the colors disappear after saving or whether some other step
(MIF-wash, maybe) was necessary. 

HTH!

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