Different page sizes when PDF a book - help!

[RickNAZPhoenix]

I'm a fairly new Framemaker user.  I develop tech manuals for a high-tech equipment manufacturer using FM8.  I have no direct training in FM8, but decades of computer background in other products.  FM8 is running on WXP Pro with all updates, yadda yadda yadda

Some of the electrical and mechanical drawings that go into these tech manuals are in 11x17" format.  The chapters that include these drawings are usually at the back, or NEAR the back of the book.

My problem is trying to PDF the entire book in one step, and having the 11x17" content actually get PDFd in that size.

I've aleady gone to the Format->Document->PDF Setup for each individual chapter, and set each chapter's individual settings to the correct size.  I can PDF the 11x17" chapters individually, and that produces the correct result.

The problem is trying to PDF the whole book.  No matter what I do, the PDF process defaults the 11x17" content to 11x8.5" - it seems to be smart enought to know that it should be Landscape... it just can't seem to figure out that those chapters use Ledger-size page size - even though it's specified in the PDF setup of the individual chapter.  So the content gets chopped off.

When I use File->Save As PDF, I get the same dialog box as the individual chapters.  It has the fields for Page Size Width and Height, just like the individual chapters.

The problem is that I can't seem to find the super-secret combination of characters to use in these two fields so that the PDF process knows to use individual chapter page size settings, and not try to use something global.

I've tried leaving the fields blank, but the dialog won't allow that - I get a message box saying the entry needs to be a positive number.  That's not necessarily true - I can type any gobbledy-gook in those fields I want - they just can't be blank, OR have a negative number.

Since there isn't a drop-down box with a selection saying "Use File/Chapter Settings" (or something similar), I'm now asking the community here if there's some combination of characters or a command to enter into the Page Size Width and Height fields that will instruct the PDF process to use the page size of the individial chapters.  I mean, it lets me SET individual page sizes; somehow I need to make it LISTEN and USE the individual page sizes.

Any help?

[Van Kurtz]

I have heard that one can do this:

When you print the book, in the print dialog, click the button to setup the Adobe PDF printer, which you should use to create the PDF. In the setup dialog box, select 11 by 17, landscape as the paper size. In other words, choose the largest paper size of all the documents in the book. WHen you print, FrameMaker will trim each page down to its document size, so that 11 by 17 pages will be 11 by 17 and letter will be letter.

Rejoinder: I tried this a few times with version 7.2 of FrameMaker and had mixed results. Have never tried it with version 9. So, it may not work.

[RickNAZPhoenix]

Excellent - this is just the kind of help I was looking for.

Unfortunately, I can't test your exact sequence...  On my computer, the "Generate PDF" option in my Print Book dialog is greyed-out.  I inherited this job and this computer from someone who was a software development guy and not a documentation guy.  It has no other Adobe software on it - not even Acrobat Reader.  (What the heck is "Foxit"?)  My predecessor has/had a bunch of HIS favorite little apps all over the place.

I don't even know what to look for on this machine to see what software is missing to get this thing 'up to code'.  Any links to help me determine what software I'm missing?  I'd like to get my FM8 installation up to spec...

Now... about your suggestion:  I did try setting the page size to 17"x11" for the whole book using the "File->Save as PDF" option.  That gave me an entire book of ledger-size pages in portrait and landscape - no trimming took place.

Again, this is FM8

Also interesting - just for giggles, I moved the file/chapter containing the 17x11" content to be the FIRST file in the book (instead of being the last file in the book).  I put junk characters in the Page Width/Height fields of the "PDF Setup for Selected Files" dialog.  When I PDFd that arrangement, the resulting document came back with the 17x11" content CORRECT, including orientation, and all of the 8.5x11" content was neatly trimmed and properly oriented.  How interesting.

So I tried moving the the ledger-size file/chapter down in the book again, and the magic was gone - it was back to the cropped content on 11x8.5" page size.

It's clear that I need to get this computer tuned up with the right Adobe parts and pieces.  Any assistance on determining what I'm missing will be greatly appreciated.

[RickNAZPhoenix]

EDIT: Looking through the Windows Add/Remove program app, I found that I do have the Adobe PDF Creation Add-on, version 8.1.0.

Do I need to install Acrobat to activate the PDF setup section of the Print Book dialog?  The newest version of Acrobat I could find in this building is 4.0 and I'm SURE it's not going to play nicely with FM8...  am I wrong?

[Van Kurtz]

Rick,

I do not have the PDF Creation add-on, so I cannot comment about the graying out of the button. The best bet is to use a complete Acrobat installation.

I think in theory, the Acrobat 4 should work, though it is many years out of date. I doubt that it will give you an Adobe PDF printer, which is what the newer versions have. With the Adobe PDF printer, you just print to that printer to create a PDF, not save as PDF.

But with the older version of Acrobat, you may be able to print to Distiller and select save as file to generate the Postscript file. I recall being able to do that years ago. Then distill the Postscript file. If you cannot do that, then you need to print to a Postscript printer and save the print file. Then distill.

When you select the generate Acrobat data, Frame adds Postscript code to create bookmarks, links, etc. The older versions of Acrobat may not be able to interpret that code. But that has nothing to do with the page size printing issue you have.

Since it would cost nothing, I would try installing the older version of Acrobat and see what happens. If you have problems, it might be a good idea to convince the company to upgrade to the latest version of Acrobat, which is probably a good idea anyway.

Good luck,

Van

[Arnis_Gubins]

Rick,

Check your list of printers to see if you have and AdobePDF printer instance. If so, then you have the PDF Creation add-on already installed. The Generate Acrobat Data ANd PDF Setup  options are greyed out because your system default printer, when using FM, is not a postscript printer. You can  use Sundorne's SetPrint utility (available at: http://www.sundorne.com/FrameMaker/Freeware/setPrint.htm ) to automatically set the AdobePDF as your default when running FM.

[RickNAZPhoenix]

Okay, guys, thanks.

Thanks to Van for the suggestion to use the PDF option in the File->Print menu/dialog instead of the File->Save As PDF option.

Thanks to Arnis for pointing out that I needed to have PDF set up as my default printer.

Once those two things got cleared, the rest was a matter of making sure I had the right page sizes indicated in the right dialog boxes.  The last thing that wasn't necessarily intuitive, but didn't take long to figure out, is that using the File->Print dialog produces a .ps file, and then you need to convert the .ps file to a PDF directly.

No shortage of mouse clicks to make it happen, but it DOES work.  My tech manual has each page correctly sized and oriented.

Very-much appreciated.

I put together a quick & crude PDF of how to do it to help out the other staff here in my company.  I've uploaded it for anyone else who may find a step-by-step with pictures and arrows useful.

Thanks again, folks!