Task 2: Structured Conversion

Creates structured BOOK and FM files from the unstructured source files.

After completing any preconversion cleanup, the next step is to apply the conversion table to the documents.

Note: For FrameMaker 7.2 users, menu items indicated on the StructureTools menu can be found on the File menu.
  1. Open the book and all files from Task 1: Preconversion Cleanup.
  2. Apply the conversion table to the book.
    • Open conversion table file
    • Place focus on the book
    • Choose StructureTools > Utilities > Structure Current Book. In the dialog, select the conversion table from the list and specify the output folder as out subfolder (created in Task 1). Select to overwrite the old files.
    • FrameMaker Log may report errors, check the console, probably nothing useful or important though.
    • This creates structured FM binary files from the unstructured files.
  3. Close the original unstructured book and files. Don't save when closing.
  4. Open all structured files.
    • Place focus on the “structured” book, press Shift and click File > Open All Files in Book
  5. Review all files, verify that all have a <dita> root element.
    • If some files don’t have a <dita> root, determine what didn't convert properly. You’ll either need to fix some invalid tagging in the source file or possibly update the conversion table. Fix things and start over at step 2.
    • Note that you can’t “validate” the files at this point since there is no structured application assigned to the files.
    • If the conversion table was recently modified or you are processing a new book, review extra the first time. Check the resulting structure to make sure everything is getting wrapped and tagged properly.
  6. Save and optionally close all files in the book.
    • Place focus on book, press Shift and click File > Save All Files in Book
    • Place focus on book, press Shift and click File > Close All Files in Book
  7. Optionally save the out folder to a new name (out-1?) to make it easier to roll back to this point in case something goes wrong.