Congratulations! You’ve decided to transition your content from FrameMaker® to Flare. As you know, single-sourcing FrameMaker® content is time-consuming and tedious. And buying licenses for separate conversion tools gets expensive. Now you can use one tool to author and single-source your content.

So why are you so nervous? Because you have volumes of FrameMaker® content, and you’re wondering how you’ll get all of it into Flare.

Never fear. The following tips and best practices will help.

1. Set up a directory for your Flare projects.

Keep your original FrameMaker® directories intact and start fresh with a new directory for Flare projects. This directory can also store new, non-imported Flare projects.

Create a subdirectory for the FrameMaker® files that you plan to import. Copy and paste the files, maintaining their structure and dependencies.

Add a Templates subfolder. You’ll use this to save Flare project files as prototypes.

2. Start with a relatively small FrameMaker® book.

Don’t expect to import all of your FrameMaker® content at once. Choose one or two relatively small books (50 to 100 pages) or a long chapter file as pilot projects.

3. Clean up your source files.

Ensure that your FrameMaker® files are completely tagged and free of formatting overrides. Flare will convert tags to equivalent CSS classes. If it finds a lot of overrides, it will create a class for each one. That’s a maintenance headache.

4. Indent your TOC sublevels.

A TOC plays a key role in Flare projects. To ensure that Flare can build a TOC from FrameMaker, the sublevels in the Frame TOC must be indented.

Before you import, use Frame’s Paragraph Designer to add any needed indentation to the second- and third-level TOC tags. Click the Basic tab, then set the First property to a specific value. For example, level 2 might be .25 inches and level 3 might be .5 inches.

5. Map FrameMaker® content to Flare topics.

FrameMaker® is a linear writing tool. Flare stores information as discrete, modular topics (think DITA). This may be a bit disorienting at first.

To control how Flare names your files during import, do this in FrameMaker:

1. Add a custom marker to each chapter file.
2. Name the new marker Filename.
3. Insert the new marker in each FrameMaker® chapter name and topic heading.
4. Add the expected file name to the marker definition.



During import, Flare creates a file for each topic using the name that you pre-assigned. You’ll know what’s in each file because you created the names.

6. Specify Adobe Distiller settings to optimize FrameMaker® images.

Flare uses Adobe Distiller to convert images, so you can tweak Distiller’s settings to optimize images during import. After specifying settings, you can save them as a custom .joboptions file.

In Distiller, select Settings > Edit Adobe PDF Settings, then specify the following settings for the Images folder:

• Set each Downsample setting to Off.
• Set each Image Quality setting to Maximum.
• Save the file using a custom name (example: flareimport.joboptions).



Distiller uses the last saved .joboptions file, so it will use your custom file.

7. Create a style sheet with equivalents of your FrameMaker® styles.

Flare uses XHTML and CSS to give your content a consistent appearance. One import challenge is mapping symbol characters such as bullets to equivalent Flare styles. I recommend creating a set of custom Flare styles with equivalent FrameMaker® tag names. This can help to ease your transition.

Example A: This span class translates a bullet character style used in FrameMaker:

span.fm_Symbol

{

font-family: Wingdings;
font-size: .55em;
color: #000;

}




Example B: This paragraph style references the custom character style and produces a bulleted list item:

p.fm_Bullet

{

margin: 0 0 0 52px;
padding: 0;
font-size: .90%;
mc-auto-number-format: 'l ';
mc-auto-number-position: outside-head;
mc-auto-number-offset: 16px;
mc-auto-number-class: fm_Symbol;

}




Example C: This style maps a FrameMaker® cross-reference style to a Flare X-Ref style. It can represent any incrementing number such as chapter, figure, or table:

MadCap | xref.AutonumberAndPage

{

mc-format: '{color indigo}{i}{paranumonly}{/i}{/color} on page {page}';

}




Note: I used the fm_ prefix to distinguish mapped styles from other styles that are not specific to FrameMaker® importing. The mc- prefix denotes a non-standard MadCap extension.

8. Establish your custom import settings.

You’ve laid the groundwork! Now you’re now ready to start importing.

Start the Flare Import Wizard with this menu path:
File > Import Project > Import FrameMaker® Documents…

Importing Tips for each Wizard screen:

• Reuse Previous Import Data:
  Since this is your first import, you won’t yet have saved import settings. During the first import, Flare will save your settings in an import file (.flimp). You can use this file as a template for subsequent imports.


• Select FrameMaker® documents:
  
• Clear the Link Generated Files To Source Files box. This setting is useful only if you want to continue authoring in FrameMaker® (not recommended).
• Click the Add Files… button to browse to your FrameMaker® directory. If you want to import an entire book, choose the book file.


• Enter Project Info:
  Name your project and choose its location.


• New Topic Styles:
  Select the styles that Flare will use to start new topics. I typically use ChapterHeading and Heading1 styles for starters. If you have set up Filename markers as recommended, use the styles in which you inserted the markers.


• Options:
  
• Select Generate Images for Anchored Frames when needed and Preserve Image Size.
• For an explanation of all of the settings, click the Help icon (question mark) in the upper right of the window.


• Stylesheet:
  Click the Stylesheet button and navigate to your saved stylesheet file. Flare will copy the file to your new project.


• Next three screens (Paragraph, Character, and X-Ref Style Mapping):
  Map FrameMaker® styles on the left to Flare styles (CSS) on the right.


• Start the import.


9. Examine the results and adjust your import settings.

How did everything turn out? If you’re unhappy with the results, you can always delete the project and start over.

Before you take any further action, open Flare’s Project Explorer and look in the Imports directory. You’ll find the FrameMaker® import settings file (.flimp) that stores your settings. Open the file in Flare, change the settings if necessary, save the file, and copy it to your Templates directory. You can use it for future imports.

10. Try another import.

Armed with your new knowledge, re-import the same files or import different files to a new project. This time you can select your previously saved import settings.

Once you’ve set up a project with optimal settings, you can save the entire project as a master project template (Project > Save Project As Template).

Conclusion

I wish you success in making the move from FrameMaker® to Flare. I hope the process I’ve provided here will help to ensure a smooth transition.