Open a document

1. Choose File > Open.

   

   The Open and Save Document dialogs are based the native Windows File Open/Save dialogs, which gives easy access to files on your system.

   Note: If you want to use the old Open dialog, deactivate the setting Use Windows File Browsers in the Edit > Preferences > Global > Interface dialog.

2. Locate the document and click Open.

Opening a document usually updates graphics imported by reference, text insets, cross-references, and system variables (if any exist). Recently opened files are listed at the bottom of the File menu.

Messages alerting you to possible issues with the file sometimes appear. You can click OK and resolve the problems later.

Text-only files do not contain graphics or formatting information. When you open a text-only file, you are asked to confirm that it is a text file.

1. Choose File > Open, and open a .txt file. The Unknown File Type dialog box appears.

2. Select the Text option.

3. Click Convert.

4. Select one of the following options:

   • To break the text into paragraphs only at blank lines, select Merge Lines Into Paragraphs. Use this option for a paragraph-oriented text file, such as a file containing document text.

   • To break the text into paragraphs at the end of each line, select Treat Each Line As A Paragraph. Use this option for a line-oriented text file, such as a file containing computer code.

   • To convert the text into a table, select the Convert Text To Table. Use this option if the content of your source file is tabulated.

     Select additional options in the Convert To Table dialog box, such as number of columns, cell separators, and heading rows, to obtain the data in the appropriate tabular form.

5. Select the desired Encoding scheme. By default, the ANSI (Windows) encoding scheme is selected.

6. Click Read. The text appears in a document that is created from a special template. You can customize the template so that documents created from text files are formatted differently.

A lock file (*.lck) is created every time you open a document. This lock file prevents others from changing the file while you work in it. A lock file is in the same folder as the original document and is removed when you close the document. You can turn off file locking.

If you try to open a document that’s already open and if you have write permission to the document, a dialog box displays the name of the document, who opened it last and when, and the computer on which it is open. You sometimes see this dialog box after a system crash when you open a document you were last using.

Open the file and do one of the following:

• If you want to look at the file but not change it, click Open For Viewing Only, and then click Continue. The document appears in View Only format.

• If you want to edit a copy of the file, click Open Copy For Editing, and then click Continue. A copy of the file is opened and when you save this file you are prompted to provide a new filename.

• If you want to edit the file and you know that no one else is using it, click Reset Lock And Open, and then click Continue. Use this option after a system crash to edit a document that was open at the time of the crash.

A document opens more slowly if it contains many cross-references to other files, large imported graphics, or many text insets. You can open a document faster by bypassing the update of imported graphics, cross-references, and text insets. However, if you use this method to open documents, keep in mind that FrameMaker does not warn you about missing items or unresolved cross-references. For this reason, it is best to occasionally open a document in the usual way.

1. Choose File > Open, and select the file you want to open.

2. Control-click Open.

After the file is open, FrameMaker imports and displays graphics as needed on a page-by-page basis. You can manually update cross-references and text insets by using Edit > Update References. If the page display is too slow, reopen the document in the usual way.

SGML, XML, MIF, and MML are all text formats, so they open as text in unstructured FrameMaker.

In the case of .xml or .mif files in structured FrameMaker, control-clicking the Open button opens them as text files. You are prompted to specify the text reading options in the Reading Text File dialog box. Opening these files as text lets you view or edit the markup.

Markup in an SGML file

If your system crashes, the file is saved automatically in the following situations:

• If you selected Automatic Save in the Preferences dialog box, autosave files (whose filename contains .auto) are created at the specified interval. This file is deleted when you save and close a file.

• If your system becomes unstable, FrameMaker tries to create a recover file (filename contains .recover) with your most recent changes.

An automatically saved copy of the file contains recent changes to the file.

1. Open the file you were working on last.

2. Do one of the following:

   • If a recover file exists, open it when prompted and check whether your latest changes are there. If they are, save the recover file with the same name as the document you were originally working on and then delete the recover file.

   • If no recover file exists, open the autosave file when prompted and save it with the same name as the document you were originally working on. The autosave file contains all the changes you made until the time of the last automatic save. The amount of work lost depends on the time interval you set between saves and when your system crashed.

You sometimes get an alert message that indicates the document you are opening uses unavailable fonts. Fonts can become unavailable for a few reasons:

• The document was edited on a different system using fonts that are not installed on your system.

• A font is removed or has become damaged.

• The default printer for your system has changed.

If the Remember Missing Font Names option in the Preferences dialog box is selected, FrameMaker preserves the names of unavailable fonts. Selecting this option causes the original fonts to reappear when you open the document on a computer that has the fonts installed, even if you save the document with substitute fonts.

To fix the problem of missing fonts, consider the following options:

Check for damaged fonts

Determine whether the fonts that are unavailable in FrameMaker are installed on your system and available in another application. If another application can use fonts that FrameMaker cannot use, the fonts may be damaged. Reinstall them using the original media. For more information on troubleshooting font problems, isolating damaged fonts or a damaged fonts folder, or reinstalling PostScript fonts, see the Adobe website.

Remap unavailable fonts

If you cannot install or reinstall the unavailable fonts, you may want to permanently remap the unavailable fonts to available fonts, so that the alert message does not appear when you open the document. You do this by deselecting the Remember Missing Font Names option in the Preferences dialog box before you open the file. However, be aware that doing this causes you to lose the original font information referenced in the document.

Switch printers

FrameMaker reads font information stored in the printer driver so that it can make fonts stored at the printer available for use within FrameMaker. In some cases, changing the default printer can change one or more fonts available in FrameMaker.

Obtain and install the missing fonts

For example, if you and a co-worker are editing the same documents, and you would like to use the same fonts as your co-worker, consider purchasing and installing copies of the fonts.