Tooling Around

Adding Files to a FrameMaker Book in the Correct Order

By Gloria McConnell, Contributing Editor

This month's column focuses on Adobe^® FrameMaker^® and Microsoft^® Windows^®. If you are a Windows (but not Frame) user, you may want to read the Role of Windows details, as they are not specific to this Frame issue. The information here applies to the most common versions of both Frame and Windows that are in use today. I'm not sure about versions from the distant past.

A big “thank you” goes out to the sharp members of the Adobe Framemaker user-to-user forum, where folks are always willing to share. If you are a Frame user and have never looked to this resource for help, I strongly recommend it. The site is www.adobeforums.com.

What It's About

If you have ever added several sequentially named files to a Frame book in alphanumeric order, you may have encountered unpredictable results when selecting a group of files. Instead of the files being added to the book as (for example) File1.fm, File2.fm, File3.fm, and so on, the files may have been added in a seemingly random order.

Some people work with literally hundreds of files per book; in this case a random result would cause havoc. Files will be added to a book in the order in which you select (Ctrl+click) them, but who wants to Ctrl+click hundreds of files? Talk about a repetitive motion injury! Even if you have “only” 20 files, Ctrl+clicking would be a pain in the, er, wrist.

The Role of Windows

First, the behavior in FrameMaker is partially due to Windows. If you drag files in Windows Explorer to another instance of Windows Explorer, the behavior will be the same as it is in FrameMaker, at least until you refresh the Explorer window. Well, you can’t refresh the FrameMaker Add Files to Book dialog box, so other solutions are needed.

Next, I’ve learned that Windows XP brings a sorting-order change that is hugely helpful for many of us, when dealing with large numbers of alphanumerically named files. Before Windows XP, file names were evaluated for sorting on a character-by-character basis, so that a list of files sorted by name might be as shown in the first column of the following table. The second column shows how XP sorts the files.

Pre-XP

Windows XP

File1

File10

File100

File20

File3

File1

File3

File10

File20

File100

(By the way, if you prefer the pre-XP sort order, you can make a registry change; check the WinGuides Network, Registry Guide for Windows Web site for details. The article is Change Sort Order in Windows Explorer.)

Frame Solution #1

Back to our Frame problem. You can drag a group of .fm files from Windows Explorer to the Add Files to Book Dialog box. If you are careful, the files will be added to your Frame book in the order needed. Here are the key steps:

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder containing your chapter (.fm) files. Select either List or Details as the type of view.

In either case, make sure that icons are arranged by name. (Select View > Arrange Icons by > Name).

Open your Frame book file. Size and position Windows Explorer and Frame so you can see both the file list and the book file.

In Windows, click the first file (first that you want in your Frame book), then Shift+click the last file.

Now comes the careful part:

a. Before you drag the files, make sure that your pointer is directly image of files list in numeric order

“over” the first file in the set.

        b. With the pointer over the first file name, drag the files
            to your Frame book. (A very slightly visible dashed line
            will surround the file name as soon as you click it).
            Your files will be added to the book in the correct
            order.

The cursor must be over the first file because of a Windows quirk (to be polite). Essentially, the files added by dragging will be ordered starting with whichever one the mouse is over when you begin to drag.

Frame Solution #2

If you prefer to add the files within Frame, complete the following steps to get the correct alphanumeric order. This procedure plays a trick on Frame, and apparently is the culprit in this instance.

Open your Frame book and select Add > Files.
In the Add Files to Book dialog box, change the view to be by Details. To do this, click the “View By” icon near the top right of the dialog box:

Note: You will have to do this every time you use the Add Files to Book dialog box, because (at least in my experience) it always opens in List view.

Here’s the key trick: make the sort in the Details view in reverse (descending) order by file name. To do this, click the Name column title until the files are in descending order:

Locate and click the file you want to be first in your book. It should be near (or at) the bottom of the list. For example, if you wanted your book to contain file1.fm through file104.fm, you would click file1.fm.
Locate and Shift-click the file you want to be last in your book. It should be near the top of the list. In our example, you would Shift+click file104.fm.
Click Add. Voilá! The files are added to the book in ascending order.

A Final Word

Finally, fooling around with Frame as I did in researching this issue (dragging files, undoing, adding files, undoing) ultimately caused a Frame crash (oops). So, if you decide to test this info out, use test files, and/or save frequently. Happy Framing.