Re: Single-sourcing with Word (an extension to Large Documents in Word)

[Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Frame has had boolean control of conditions since at least FM 10, and even
lets you create a saveable expression so you don't have to set it up each
time.

I looked over Geoff Lane's list, and am slightly mortified to say that I
have no idea what he's talking about with respect to hiding text based on
styles, nor how to use document properties to mimic conditional processing.
As for the last two, I've never done a mail merge (no idea how I managed to
bypass that), but setting up multiple subdocuments for the text to be
imported sounds like a lot of work; and setting up a database ain't
happening here.

I was on the word-pc list years ago, but dropped off when my work
environment returned to FM. If they decide to use Word, I'll rejoin it,
because I will need a LOT of help.

This information, however, is going to help a lot in the decision process.

On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 8:24 AM, Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- nuot -dot- com> wrote:

> Sue Gallagher already brought up one Word method for conditional text,
> which is the use of IF fields for bookmark (variable) values. Fred Ridder
> posted on TECHWR-L in 2006:
> "In reality, Word's IF field code is more powerful than FrameMaker's
> conditional text implementation because it supports Boolean operators."
> Word still has that capability, but it's possible that FrameMaker has
> caught up in the meantime.
>
> Geoff Lane posted four additional methods on TECHWR-L in 2004:
> http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/0411/techwhirl-0411-00373.html
> My preferred method is the first one in his list (conditional text styles).
>
> All that said, I agree with David below: Word-PC is where the experts go
> to play. If they haven't created a macro yet for Word to bring you your
> newspaper and slippers, they will soon. Worth a visit.
>
> -- Dan Goldstein
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Farbey
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2014 2:56 AM
> To: TECHWR-L (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
> Subject: Re: Single-sourcing with Word (an extension to Large Documents in
> Word)
>
> Technical writers often find things like conditional text very useful.
> FrameMaker offers such features as standard, whereas in Word the features
> may be there but they aren't obvious or easy to use.
>
> If you have the time and the inclination to investigate the more advanced
> features in Word - or don't have the budget to invest in FrameMaker -
> there's an enormous amount of information available to help you learn,
> including a dedicated mailing list (see
> http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/word-pc.html).
>
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-- 
Lin Sims
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