Table of Contents Broken Links

[blitza4life]

I am using Framemaker 7.1 and have created a Table of Contents for a book. When I open the PDF created for this book the links in the TOC go to the corresponding pages for the first few chapters but nothing after those works. In Framemaker when I use ALT+CTRL to try to test the link I get an error saying that it cannot find the files for the links that do not work. Does anyone know what causes this error? The files are in the folder and at the location it is looking for them. This has me stumped.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What happens when you update the book? Are you still getting broken link messages? Maybe the files have gotten locked as Read-Only. Try opening all files in the book first before updating – that can often give you better error reporting as to what’s happening rather than the silent opens that FM does when updating unopened docs.

[blitza4life]

Updating the book doesn't fix it and I have tried opening the links in FM with the chapter open. I am pretty sure the files are not read-only. I tried updating with all the files open but I am still getting the error saying the files does not exist even though it does.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Are you seeing any other error messages in the console window when updating?

[blitza4life]

No

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, what about creating a fresh book and filling it with the .fm files and then creating a ToC and IX?

[blitza4life]

Tried to make a new book and encountered the same errors

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I’m thinking something has gotten damaged in your FM install – test that out by creating 3 dummy lorsum .fm docs and package them in a book. Try to create generated files (ToC/IX) – if that bombs, it’s your install. If it doesn’t, then there may be something messed up in your files. Try MIF-washing them to see if that fixes them.

[blitza4life]

What is MIF washing? I have not had a problem like this yet and it works for some of the chapter files so I think it may be with these specific files. If this will fix those files this may be the preferred method.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Just do a search on “MIF wash” in the FM forums – there’s a bunch of explanations out there with instructions. Here’s one – “A MIF-wash is the process of saving the FM file as a MIF, then opening the .mif version and re-saving it as the binary .fm file.”

[ReneSteph]

blitza4life,

You didn't mention whether any conditional text may exist in the document. However, I have seen this happen when conditional text was used in a book and pages got edited with the conditional text hidden. If this is the culprit, the cause would be a bit of text or end-of-paragraph marker adjacent to a heading that has a condition tag applied that is set to hide at when the book is generated. If you want to rule this out, here's how:

1. Open all files in the book.
2. Set all conditions to show with indicators.
3. Update the book.
4. Save all files.
5. Save all files as MIF. (yes, in addition to...)
6. Close the book and all its files.
7. Open the book.mif file, save as .book;  and then open all the MIF files associated, then save those back to FM.
8. Check the TOC links to see if they work. If they do, when you land on the linked text you'll be able to see and either remove the condition tags or delete the tagged text. Then, update the book again and the TOC should be accurate.

Another potential root cause of this problem could be text insets, but that's more complicated and less frequently the issue. Please update this string when you find a solution.

Thanks