Manage formats

FrameMaker provides features to manage various paragraph, character, and table formats from the respective designers and catalogs.

Update formats

You can change format properties and then use them to redefine, or update, the stored formats and all the text in the document tagged with them.

When you update a format, you can update all properties or just one group of properties. For example, you can change the default font family for all formats in a document without changing any other properties.

Importing paragraph or character fonts is also possible through the File > Import > Formats command.

Update a paragraph or character format

1)For paragraph format changes, indicate the scope of the changes you want to make by doing one of the following:

To update one paragraph format or all paragraph formats in the document with a prop­erty group from a paragraph, click in that paragraph or select consecutive paragraphs.

To update more than one paragraph format but not all paragraph formats, select consec­utive paragraphs that use the formats you want to update.

2)Choose the appropriate designer.

3)Display the properties by doing one of the following:

To display the properties of a paragraph including any overrides, click in the paragraph.

To display properties of a format stored in the catalog, choose the format from the Para­graph Tag or Character Tag pop-up menu.

4)Change any properties, and then click Update All. FrameMaker asks whether you want to remove overrides.

tip:   If you change properties in a designer and then decide against updating the format, you can cancel the operation and reset the properties by clicking in text. You can also choose Reset Window From Selection from the Commands pop-up menu in the designer.

Update specific format properties or single property group

1)Choose one of the following:

If you are updating specific properties, set Window to As Is; then change only properties you want to update.

If you are updating a single property group of a paragraph format, choose Format > Para­graphs > Designer, and delete the tag from the Paragraph Tag box if the box is not empty. Deleting the tag sets the box to As Is; FrameMaker does not change the tags of the formats that you update. Then display the property group; change the properties as needed.

2)Choose Global Update Options from the Commands pop-up menu.

3)Click the current property group in the Use Properties area.

4)Do one of the following:

To update all formats in the document, click All Paragraphs And Catalog Entries or All Characters And Catalog Entries.

To update all paragraphs or characters in the selection and all paragraphs or characters with the same tags, click All Matching Tags In Selection.

To update formats with a specific tag, click All Tagged and choose a tag from the pop-up menu.

5)Click Update All in the Designer dialog box.

Rename or delete formats

When designing a template or importing a catalog from a template, you sometimes must rename or delete a format.

Deleting a format from a catalog does not affect any paragraphs or characters that have the same tag. The paragraphs or characters simply have a tag that isn’t in the catalog.

1)Choose a designer, and choose the format to rename or delete from the Paragraph Tag or Char­acter Tag pop-up menu.

Do this even if the format you want is already displayed. This step ensures that the properties do not include any format overrides or As Is settings.

2)Do one of the following:

To rename, enter a new name in the Paragraph Tag or Character Tag box and click Update All, and then OK.

To delete a format, click Delete, and then Select the format in the scroll list and click Delete. Click Done.

To delete all unused formats from a catalog, click Delete. Then click Delete until all formats have been removed, and click Done. Choose File > Utilities > Create And Apply Formats, and then click Continue. Any paragraph or character format used in the docu­ment is added back to the catalog.

To avoid creating paragraphs for every override in your document, import the formats from your template. Importing formats from a template overrides any changes to paragraph and character tags and does not create additional tags in your document.

Apply formats

Paragraph formats apply at paragraph level, character formats at character or word level, and table formats apply to complete tables.

Paragraph and table formats: Place the cursor inside the paragraph or the table, and select a format from the catalog.

Character format: Select the text and click a format from the catalog.

Tips for creating new formats

When working from a stable template, you rarely have to create a format. If you’re designing a new template or if the template you’re using is incomplete, you may have to create new formats. The easiest way to create a format is to modify the properties of an existing format.

When you’re creating new formats, consider these suggestions:

Use consistent naming conventions for similar kinds of paragraphs or text items within a para­graph, such as Head1 and Head2.

To apply formats by using the keyboard, name the formats so that often-used ones are unique or alphabetically first in their letter group, such as “H1 Head2” or “H2 Head2.”

Give each format a name that’s easy to remember, recognize, and type. If you assign a tag based on its use and not its appearance (for example, Emphasis rather than Italics), you can later change the format properties without having to change the tag.

Be aware of capitalization. Tags are case sensitive. Also, you sometimes want related tags to appear together in the catalog, with names such as Body and BodyIndent.

If you have many formats, precede them with a period to avoid excessive scrolling in the cata­logs; an initial period brings often-used formats to the top of the catalog. To force occasionally used formats to the bottom of the catalog, precede them with a z or a tilde (~).

Specify formats for the paragraphs that follow

Well-designed templates often connect formats so that FrameMaker automatically applies a format to the paragraph that follows the current one.

1)Click in the paragraph.

2)Display the Basic properties of the Paragraph Designer, and choose a tag from the Next Pgf Tag pop-up menu. FrameMaker applies this tag when you press Return to create a paragraph.

3)Click Apply To Selection.

Add graphics to paragraph formats

A paragraph format can include a line or other graphic that appears above or below a paragraph. Perhaps all top-level headings in a document rest on a long thin line.

1)On a reference page, draw or import the graphic in a reference frame, or locate one already there that you want to use.

2)Click in the paragraph you want to change. To place a line above or below several adjacent paragraphs, select all the paragraphs.

3)Display the Advanced properties of the Paragraph Designer, and choose the name of a refer­ence frame from the Frame Above Pgf or from the Frame Below Pgf pop-up menu. All refer­ence frames appear in the pop-up menus.

4)Click Apply To Selection.

tip:   Because the Frame Above Pgf and the Frame Below Pgf settings can’t place graphics to the right or left of a paragraph, you can’t use these settings to place boxes around text. Box text by using a single-cell table with outside ruling.


September 30, 2016

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