Frame <-> Word conversions (long)

[John Gough <gough -at- AUSTIN -dot- ASC -dot- SLB -dot- COM>]

The FM <-> Word conversion issue comes up on this
list from time to time. A colleague just
tested conversion methods for:

* FrameMaker on Windows (5.0, 5.1) and UNIX (4.0, 5.1).
* Microsoft Word for Windows (6.0, 7.0)

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Paula Zamarra    zamarra -at- austin -dot- asc -dot- slb -dot- com

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In general, it is fairly straightforward to convert text
between FrameMaker and Word files and to retain formatting,
but I have noticed version dependencies which affect convertibility.

The version dependencies are summarized below.

I. FrameMaker to Word Conversions

In general the procedure for converting FrameMaker files to
Word format consists of:

        1) saving the FrameMaker file in a specified format
           (MIF or RTF),
        2) renaming the file with a specified
           extension (.rtf), and
        3) then opening the file in Word.

Here are the version compatibilities I've discovered:

FM 4.0 (Unix) to Word 6.0              Files need to be saved as MIF
FM 4.0 (Unix) to Word 7.0              and renamed to RTF


FM 5.0 (Windows) to Word 6.0           Files need to be saved as RTF.
FM 5.0 (Windows) to Word 7.0
FM 5.1 (Unix) to Word 6.0
FM 5.1 (Unix) to Word 7.0

II. Word to FrameMaker Conversions

In general, the procedure for converting Word files
to FrameMaker format consists of:

        1) renaming the Word file with a .msw, .w3 or .w4 extension
          (extensions seem to be interchangeable), and
        2) opening the file in FrameMaker.

Here are the version compatibilities I've discovered:

Word 6.0 (Windows) to FM 4.0 (Unix)     Doesn't convert.
Word 6.0 (Windows) to FM 5.0 (Windows)  Does convert.
Word 6.0 (Windows) to FM 5.1 (Unix)     Does convert.

Word 7.0 (Windows) to FM 4.0 (Unix)     Doesn't convert.
Word 7.0 (Windows) to FM 5.0 (Windows)  Does convert.
Word 7.0 (Windows) to FM 5.1 (Unix)     Does convert.

Paula Zamarra
zamarra -at- austin -dot- asc -dot- slb -dot- com
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--
John Gough                                gough -at- austin -dot- asc -dot- slb -dot- com
Technical Consultant                             johngough -at- aol -dot- com
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