Create books

Introduction

With Adobe FrameMaker, you can combine multiple documents in a book file. You can also add Table of Contents, Index, and other automatically generated lists (e.g., a list of tables and list of figures). You can also create books and include other books and organize your book components in folders and groups.

Create a book

To create a book, do the following:

1. Choose File > New > Book. If a document is active, an alert message asks if you want to include it in the book. A new book window appears:

   Figure 1. Book window
   

   

   
   

2. Choose File > Save Book As or click the icon in the menu bar of the book.

Add files to a book

To add files to a book, do the following:

1. In the book window, choose Insert > Files or click .

2. Select the document file or files you want to add to the book, and then click Add.

You can also add files to a book by dragging them from Windows Explorer into a book window.

Associate a Structured Application with an XML file

To associate a Structured Application with the .xml files included in a book, do the following:

1. Right-click the .xml file in the book window and select Properties.

2. Select the Structured Application name from the Use Structured Application list box. Click Continue.

Add generated files to a book

To add a generated file to a book, do the following:

1. Open the book window and select the file next to where you want the generated file to appear.

2. Do one of the following:

   • Choose Insert > Create Standalone TOC or choose Insert > List of, and then choose a type of list from the menu.

   • Choose Insert > Standard Index, or choose Insert > Index of, and then choose the type of specialized index you want to create.

   The following generated list types are available:

   • List of Figures (LOF)

   • List of Tables (LOT)

   • List of Elements & Paragraphs (LOP)

   • List Elements & Paragraphs (Alphabetical) (APL)

   • List of Markers (LOM)

   • List of Markers (Alphabetical) (AML)

   • List of References (LOR)

   The following List of References (LOR) types are available:

   • Condition Tags

   • External Cross-Refs

   • Fonts

   • Imported Graphics

   • Text Insets

   • Unresolved Cross-Refs

   • Unresolved Text Insets

Add a child book

In Adobe FrameMaker, you can also add books within books. These can be unstructured book files or DITA maps. You can now include multiple child books at multiple levels in a book.

1. Open the parent book in which you want to add a child book.

2. In the book window, choose Insert > Files or click .

3. Navigate to and select the .book file you want to add as a child book. Click Add. Double-clicking the child book opens it in a separate Resource Manager panel.

   Note: You can click the Browse URL button in the Add File dialog box to select a book residing on a WebDAV server.

FrameMaker stores numbering and pagination information at a book level and for each book separately. Child books are placeholders within the parent book. You cannot edit the content of a child book from within the parent book view. All maintenance tasks must be performed in the child book separately.

A book update on the parent book does not affect the page numbering within the child book. When updating a parent book, make sure that you update the child books first. Then update the parent book.

However, if the files from the child book are already open, then they are updated but not saved. You should always explicitly save all open files after a book update command or after applying a book-wide command.

When saving a parent book file as a PDF, FrameMaker updates information for only those files that belong to the parent book. To ensure that the information is correctly represented in the PDF for child books as well, do one of the following:

• First, update all child books and then their parent books before saving a book file as a PDF.

• Open all files, including the files in the child books, before saving the parent book file as a PDF. After creating the PDF, ensure that you save all the open files to preserve any updates.

Direction of a book

When you create a book and add documents to the book, the direction of the book depends on the direction of the first non-generatable chapter or component in the book. The direction can be left-to-right (LTR) or right-to-left (RTL).

For example, if a book contains some RTL documents and some LTR documents, FrameMaker takes the direction of the first non-generatable document in the book as the book direction. The direction of the generated lists and indexes in a book is based on the direction of the book.