problems creating pdf files from FM11

[Art Campbell]

Ken,

A comma has never been a legal character in a Windows file name, AFAIK. Nor
UNIX or Linux.... MS kind of says it's legal in a long file name, but
whether FM tripped on it or Windows did is kind of irrelevant...

See
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa368590(v=vs.85).aspx
for
more info.

My $0.02 would be to use the strictest file naming convention, UNIX or
Linux, because you never know when your files may end up in HTML, even if
you're not doing that currently. Much easier to be tighter on file names
from the beginning than have to rename them later...

Art Campbell
          art.campbell at gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and
a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                                                      No disclaimers apply.
                                                               DoD 358

I support www.TheGrotonLine.com, hyperlocal news for Groton MA.


On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 11:48 AM, Ken Poshedly <poshedly at bellsouth.net>wrote:

> To Art, Jack and all others,
>
> First, many thanks for the suggestions, but as it turned out, it was the
> smallest thing that tripped us up -- an "illegal" character in the
> FrameMaker filename.
>
> In this case, the guy who created the files -- and has worked with FM for
> some years -- included a comma in his filename. Our filenames include the
> projected date-of-release of a manual. Thus, the filenames are (section
> name) (product name) (manual type) (date).fm
>
> In this case, Introduction - SRC885 - SOM - August 21, 2013.fm (For those
> interested, it's the Introduction section of a "Safety, Operation &
> Maintenance Manual" for an 85-metric ton lifting capacity rough terrain
> crane to be released on August 21, 2013.)
>
> I also sent this Introduction section file to my own FrameMaker guru, Tim
> Murray, here in Atlanta. He got back to me almost immediately that the file
> prints to postscript and then distills to pdf beautifully with the comma
> deleted from the filename.
>
> However, I recall in years past that a pop-up would occur if an "illegal"
> character was used in a filename, but I never see that anymore. At least
> now we know not use commas in a FrameMaker filename. Aare there any other
> such characters I should know about? (Mine is a Windows XP platform with
> FrameMaker 8 and we have 3 Windows 7 platforms with FrameMaker 11).
>
> Second, I sent this e-mail asking for help on Wednesday, August 21, but it
> didn't appear at all until today, Sunday, August 25. And this has occurred
> in the past as well.
>
> With not seeing my message here on Wednesday, I posted it to techwr-L the
> same day and got suggestions the same day.
>
> I guess that if things don't change, I'll simply lurk here but depend on
> techwr-L for immediate (or at least same-day) results.
>
> As for Tim, he does great FM and other software contract tech writing and
> has been a wealth of support to me. His website is just great as well; it's
> at http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/
>
> Give him a try, you won't be sorry.
>
> -- Ken in Atlanta
>
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Art Campbell <art.campbell at gmail.com>
> *To:* Ken Poshedly <poshedly at bellsouth.net>
> *Cc:* "framers at lists.frameusers.com" <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 25, 2013 10:22 AM
> *Subject:* Re: problems creating pdf files from FM11
>
> First.... the two-step process you're doing is unnecessary and may
> contribute to the problem.... Instead, try printing to the Acrobat printer
> and in the FM Print dialog box, check Generate Acrobat data but UNCHECK
> Print to file. Distiller will automatically generate the PS file, distill,
> and delete it.
>
> Second... are automatic updates turned on? It's possible some Adobe files
> either in FM or in Acrobat changed. In any case, check manually to confirm
> that both applications are fully patched.
>
> Third, some trouble shooting -- Can y'all create PDFs from other
> applications, such as Word, using the Acrobat printer instance? Are you
> getting any error messages during PDF creation?
>
> Art Campbell
>             art.campbell at gmail.com
>   "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
> and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
>                                                       No disclaimers apply.
>                                                                DoD 358
>
> I support www.TheGrotonLine.com <http://www.thegrotonline.com/>,
> hyperlocal news for Groton MA.
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 11:13 AM, Ken Poshedly <poshedly at bellsouth.net>wrote:
>
> The subject line says just what it is.
>
> Background:
>
>    - I'm on a Windows XP terminal with FM8 and Adobe Acrobat 9
>    Professional.
>    - The other three writers are on Windows 7 terminals with FM11 and
>    Adobe Acrobat 10 Professional.
>    - We create pdf files by printing to the Adobe "printer" to get a ps
>    (postscript) file, then running that through Distiller.
>
>
> All worked OK through Wednesday, but not today (Thursday).
> While I _can_ continue to successfully create pdf files as described, at
> least two of the other three guys can't.
>
> What we've done:
>
>    - Saved a sample file down to mif version 7 onto our network drive for
>    me to open in FM8.
>    - I open the sample file in FM8 but still can't create a ps file
>    (always "0 kb" file size results) from that sample file.
>    - This is true whether I try it straight from the mif file or save it
>    as an FM8 file and then try it.
>
> Nobody had consciously changed anything on their terminals over the course
> of Wednesday to cause this today.
>
> And yes, I've made sure that the "Rely on system fonts only" checkbox is
> UNchecked when they and I try to create a ps file using the sample FM11
> file.
>
> My suggested fix is for the three to remain on Windows 7 but reinstall FM8
> since we here only output pdf files for hardcopy distribution anyway.
> That's a losing battle, however, even though it would increase our
> productivity immensely -- at least in the short term.
>
> Help please.
>
> -- Ken in Atlanta
>
>
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