Paste text from Word into FrameMaker so that text is editable

 Issue

When you paste text from Microsoft Word into Adobe FrameMaker for Windows, the text is not editable.

Solutions

Use one of the following solutions:

Solution 1:

Use FrameMaker’s Microsoft Word file conversion filter to convert an entire Word file into a new FrameMaker document.

To convert a Word file into an editable FrameMaker file, do the following steps:

            a.  In FrameMaker, click File > Open.

            b. Select a Microsoft Word file in either “.Doc” or “.Docx” format and then click the “Open” button.

            c. Choose the appropriate Word conversion filter and then click the “Convert” button.

Solution 2:

Use the Paste Special command to paste the text in Rich Text Format (RTF).

To use the Paste Special command, do the following:

            a. Highlight and copy the text in Word to the Windows clipboard.

            b. In FrameMaker, choose Edit > Paste Special.

            c. Select Rich Text Format, and then click “OK”.
 
Solution 3: Modify the maker.ini file so that RTF is first in the ClipboardFormatsPriorities list:

Disclaimer: The maker.ini file (an initialization file) contains settings that define the FrameMaker product environment. Incorrectly editing the Maker.ini file can adversely affect the user interface or FrameMaker's ability to start.

To make appropriate the adjustments to the maker.ini file, do the following:

             a. Close FrameMaker.

             b. Make a backup copy of the maker.ini file.

             To make a backup copy of the maker.ini file:

                         1. Open the Run dialog box (keyboard shortcut: Windows key + R).

                         2.  In the Run field, type: “%programfiles%/Adobe” [without the quotes] and then press the Enter key.

                         3. Open the folder named for the specific version of FrameMaker you are using.

                         4. Locate the maker.ini file.

                         5. Copy the file by right-clicking on the maker.ini icon and choose “Copy”.

                         6. Choose a location outside of the original folder to store a copy of the Maker.ini file and then right-click with the mouse in that location and choose “Paste”.

             c. Open the original maker.ini file in a text editor such as WordPad.

             d.  Locate the following line of text: 
"ClipboardFormatsPriorities=OLE, EMF, META, DIB, BMP, MIF, RTF, TEXT"

             e.  Move RTF to the beginning of the list, so that the line appears as follows: 
"ClipboardFormatsPriorities=RTF, OLE, EMF, META, DIB, BMP, MIF, TEXT"

             Note: Entries in the list must be separated by commas.

             f. Save the maker.ini file in “text-only” format. 

Additional Information

When you paste text into FrameMaker, FrameMaker looks at the first item in the ClipboardFormatsPriorities line of the maker.ini file for information on how to treat the text. Text pasted in the default format, OLE, is not editable in FrameMaker. RTF text is editable in FrameMaker and retains its original formatting.

You can paste individual selections of RTF text using the Paste Special command. You can also make RTF the default format for pasted text by modifying the maker.ini file, so it lists RTF first in the ClipboardFormatsPriorities line.

OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) enables one application to link or embed objects from another application. To edit an OLE object, you must double-click it to start the application that created the object and then edit the object in that application.