Enhance for FrameMaker

by Lance-Robert, Programs VP, San Diego Chapter

Sandybrook Software's Enhance for Adobe FrameMaker® is a powerful FrameMaker add-on that helps you to view, edit, print, and create FrameMaker documents in outline mode, similar to what comes standard with Microsoft Word®. This is especially helpful when you:

• Work with really long documents
• Work with documents imported from Word
• Create indices using another tool, such as IXgen® by Frank Stearns Associates
• Want to make sure your headings are at the right level
• Want to make sure your headings display properly
• Want to make sure your document has parallel structure

Enhance for FrameMaker costs $99.95 for a single license, and is available for purchase and download from:

Sandybrook Software
C/O Vines Technology
415 Congress St, Ste 301
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 773-4293 x101
(508) 749-7100 fax
info@sandybrook.com
http://www.sandybrook.com

A trial version is also available.

Once installed, Enhance is added as another item to FrameMaker's menu:

To use it, select Enhance View from the Enhance menu.

The first time you view a particular document in Enhance, the program asks you to define the hierarchy of the heading paragraph tags, especially if your document uses tags other than the standard ones that come with FrameMaker, such as Heading1, Heading2, and the like:

To move tags from the Body Formats to the Outline Formats, double-click them.

To make one or more tags have the same level of hierarchy, such as a Heading1 and AppendixHeading1, click Set Secondary Level...

When you finish, click OK. The outline version of your document opens:

You will not need to define the hierarchy again the next time you open the document, provided you save it before closing FrameMaker.

You can show or hide the paragraph format names (Heading1, Heading2, and the like) by clicking Show/Hide Paragraph Names:

You can change the number of levels that are displayed by clicking the level you want:

You can promote, demote, or re-order headings as needed. For example, let's demote the second and third headings (1.1.4 and 1.1.5 in this example):

To do this, highlight them with the mouse and click Demote:

The second and third headings are now demoted:

Enhance is especially handy if you have imported a document from Word. When you do that, it is not uncommon to have leading or trailing spaces or tabs in your headings:

Having these does not affect the readability of the document in FrameMaker, but it can cause visual misalignments if you use FrameMaker to generate a Table of Contents or an Index. To remove them, simply delete them as you would any unwanted characters from the Enhance screen.

Index and other markers are displayed as a red T where applicable:

If you like, you can generate a document that contains just the headings you have selected by clicking Generate Outline Document.

The program gives you a variety of display options for the generated file:

Once created, the generated file looks something like this:

Printing out the generated document is also handy when creating an index from paragraph tags using IXgen, and saves you from having to switch between multiple screens.

After you finish making your changes, click Return to FrameMaker to incorporate your changes into the document:

Remember to save your document at this point!

This is just a short list of Enhance's many features. I hope that you give the program a try, and that you find this information helpful!