Re: Mif2Go: FrameMaker to Word ... HELP!!

Subject: Re: Mif2Go: FrameMaker to Word ... HELP!!
From: Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca>
To: "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:53:04 -0800

Hi Nicole,

In 2008 I did a huge project where we converted a ton of Frame 7 files
to Word through Mif2Go. Jeremy Griffiths, the creator, is a really
good resource if you get stuck. I don't know why you think you have to
export one .fm at a time. I found Mif2Go to be light years faster at
converting entire books than Frame's built in RTF export function. Are
you sure you have Mif2Go installed correctly?

The first thing you have to remember is that because Mif2Go is meant
for one-way conversion (purely to provide reviewers with a Word
document for revisions and commenting), all numbered lists are hard
coded. This solved the initial problem, but creates additional work
for those who want to continue their maintenance in Word.

Fortunately for us, our Frame template and our Word template were
closely matched, because our team maintained documentation in both
formats depending on the needs of the particular division. Even still,
I spent a lot of time practicing with style mapping before converting
documents, and had to draw the line on nailing down every single style
on the list.

So, my recommended tips (based on 2 year old memory):
1) Make sure Mif2Go is installed correctly. You should see a File >
Mif2Go menu option.

2) Set your Word template up with standard styles, and make it look
like your Frame template.

3) Map your styles in the configuration file. This is dependent on the
different output settings, and I can't remember which one I used. All
I remember is Heading 1 is Heading1 (nospace, aligned with Word's
internal VBA constants: )

4) You need to uninstall and reinstall when you switch from the demo
to the paid version. For some reason the old driver that inserted
Jabberwocky text remained resident. I'd probably reboot between
uninstalling and reinstalling to ensure the file can be overwritten.

5) Even though with proper mapping, the layout will look the same, you
will want to hand format the text using keyboard shortcuts after the
initial conversion. I set up a secondary template with keyboard
shortcuts mapped to the styles and loaded it into my Startup folder.
This way I could use the same keyboard shortcuts in every document.

6) The reason you can't see the help files may be because of a well
documented Microsoft CHM bug. Check out this link:
http://tonychung.ca/www+microsoft+chm+"cannot+display+the+webpage";

If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

Cheers,

--
Tony Chung: Creative Communications
Cell: +1-604-710-5164
Email: tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca * Web: http://tonychung.ca
Skype: tonychung.ca * GTalk/MSN: tonychung -dot- ca -at- gmail -dot- com
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References:
Mif2Go: FrameMaker to Word ... HELP!!: From: Hales-Crotchett, Nicole

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