atw: Re: PC-to-Macintosh Framemaker files

Geoffrey Marnell:
> Is it possible to open a FM file created with FM for PC with a
> Macintosh version of FM?
> If not directly, can you do it via MIF (in other words, will a
> Macintosh version of FM open a MIF file created by a PC version
> of FM? Or is there some other way?

Peter Martin:
> MIF is the answer..   best compatibility version to version....
There are two issues here. One is cross-version compatibility, and the other is cross-platform compatibility.
Generally, FrameMaker will open any document saved in the same version or an earlier version. So for example, Frame 6.0 will open any document saved in Frame 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0, etc. format. It will also open a document that was created or updated in a later version of Frame such as 7.0, as long as it was saved in 6.0 format.
FrameMaker's file format is the same on Mac, Win and UNIX. This means that any document that will open in, say, Frame 6.0 on Windows will also open on Mac and UNIX. Years ago I worked on Frame docs on Solaris at the office during the day, then saved them (to a floppy!) and worked on them at home on Windows in the evening.
If the document uses fonts that aren't installed on both operating systems, you will need to tell Frame how to handle the missing fonts. This is done with a simple mapping table. For example on your Windows PC you might add an entry saying to use Arial instead of Helvetica.
AFAIK saving to MIF is only necessary if you want to open a later Frame doc on an earlier version of Frame. You will lose any formatting that depends on the later version, but other than that the document should come through OK. For example, Frame introduced side heads at some point (I can't remember when). If you have a document created in Frame 6.0 that uses side heads and you 'save as MIF' and open it in Frame 4.0, obviously those side heads won't be formatted correctly, but other formatting should be OK.
One final note: after 7.0, Adobe stopped releasing new Frame versions on Mac.
So the answer to Geoffrey's question is yes, but you'll need to set up the mappings from Windows fonts to equivalent fonts on the Mac, and if your PC version of Frame is 7.1 or later you'll also need to save as MIF. 

Regards

Stuart
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