TechNote (Archived)

How to 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

Do one of the following:

Solution 1

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

1. Copy the text in Word.

2. In FrameMaker, choose Edit > Paste Special.

3. Select Rich Text Format, and then click OK.

Solution 2

Modify the Maker.ini file so that RTF is first in the ClipboardFormatsPriorities list:

Disclaimer: The Maker.ini file (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.

1. Make a backup copy of the Maker.ini file that's in the following location:

-- FrameMaker 7.0:

Windows 2000 and XP

/Documents and Settings/[user profile]/Application Data/Adobe/FrameMaker/7.0

Windows NT 4.0
/Winnt/Profiles/[user profile]/Application Data/Adobe/FrameMaker/7.0

Windows 98 and Me
/Windows/Profiles/[user profile]/Application Data/Adobe/FrameMaker/7.0 (for individual profiles)
/Windows/Application Data/Adobe/FrameMaker/7.0 (for shared profiles)

-- FrameMaker 6.0 or earlier:

/Program Files/Adobe/FrameMaker[version]

2. Open the Maker.ini file in a text editor such as WordPad.

3. Find the following line:

ClipboardFormatsPriorities=OLE, EMF, META, DIB, BMP, MIF, RTF, TEXT

4. 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.

5. Save the Maker.ini file in text-only format.

6. Restart FrameMaker.

7. Copy the text in Word, and then paste it in FrameMaker using the Paste command.

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.