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Subject:Multiple versions of same manual From:"Jay J. Mahler" <jay -at- MAHLER -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 1 Jun 1998 13:57:01 -0400
Import the document to FrameMaker and use conditional text. I've written
many single source documents that output two or three different versions
based on FrameMaker's conditional text capability. It's the only way to go
on a project like this - forget Word!
Jay Mahler
Mahler and Associates
3001 Plymouth Rd., Suite 103
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: (734) 665-0014
Fax: (734) 665-0122
jay -at- mahler -dot- com
www.mahler.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Technical Writers List; for all Technical Communication issues
[mailto:TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU] On Behalf Of hm chou
Sent: Monday, June 01, 1998 12:16 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Multiple versions of same manual
setup: a product i am working on comes in three flavors -- Local,
Networked, and Enhanced Networked. i wrote a manual for what has ended up
being the Enhanced Networked product -- when i started there was only going
to be 1 product, not 3. now that it's 3 separate but similar products, i'm
being asked to create a separate Local manual and Network manual b/c we
don't want the Local customers thinking they're getting a stripped down
product. it's a fairly messy job, since many of the features intertwine
throughout the three different products.
question: is there a way to print the 3 manuals w/out actually having to
write 3 separate manuals? i'm worried about updating the manuals since in
many places they share the same information, and would then have to be
updated 3 separate times (since i'm a contractor, the job of updating hte
manuals will likely fall to someone else, either contract or permanent). is
there a way to tag sentences and paragraphs as belonging to one manual and
not another (like BUILDTAGS in WinHelp), and during printing, enable or
disable these tags? and lastly, is there a way to do this in Word 97
(blah!)?
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Fetchez la vache!
Hsuan-min Chou
hchou -at- interaccess -dot- com
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