Interfacing with Microsoft Word

Question

Issues with taking Word to FrameMaker, FrameMaker to Word, and troubles with the Word and RTF import/export filters abound.

Answer 1

Interfacing with MS Word
Don't bother round-tripping from FrameMaker to Word unless you absolutely have to do it.
Checkout this valuable resource. Thanks, Tim Murray:
http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/public/word2frame.pdf.
FrameMaker does not work like Word. The two products have some features that overlap, agreed, but each has its own unique way of conducting itself.
If you go between FrameMaker to Word often, consider a third-party filter. Mif2Go (
http://www.omsys.com) and Filtrix (
http://www.blueberry.com) are two that others have praised. I have not used either.
If problems between MS Word and FrameMaker persist, consider removing all graphics before conversion. Reimport them later by reference.
Consider converting tables in Word to tab-delimited text before importing them into FrameMaker. Convert them back to a table after the import.
Consider getting rid of headers, footers, table of contents, and index, from Word before importing into FrameMaker--although the TOC and index might come in fine if the planets are aligned in your favor.
The FrameMaker MS Word and RTF import filters take a looooong time. This time gets especially long if you have some complexities in the source file. Often, Windows inaccurately reports the program as "not responding" when, in fact, the import is still on going. Give the filter a chance, an hour or so. Make a five-course lunch or otherwise occupy yourself, just to give the import filter a chance.