Good Morning, Everyone,
I have been using FrameMaker for over 15 years now, and as a tech writer who has inherited LOTS of graphics-intensive documents from previous writers, I have often struggled with identifying source files for embedded graphics. (I prefer to embed graphics in my documents, but that is a topic for another discussion ;-) ) More often than not, graphics have been named something that made sense to the original author at the time, but is nothing more than cryptic code to me now.
As a result, over the years, I have developed a personal "system" for naming my graphics files that identifies/names each file as the document number in which it resides followed by a sequential number. For example, if a document number is UM345-123, then my graphic files are named UM345-123_0001, UM345-123_0002, etc. I then include a small (hopefully unobtrusive) 8-point text frame in the lower right-hand corner of the graphics frame that indicates the file name for the base graphic. I create an Art# tag that includes an autonumber for the Document Number (e.g., UM345-123,) which is then inserted into the text frame, and I assign the next sequential number to the graphic/file. The advantage to this is that in the future, files are easily identified if someone wants to use my graphic and all they have is a pdf copy of my document - anyone can easily locate the source file and either update it or forward it on.
One disadvantage is that in some situations, fitting the text frame/graphic number into the graphic frame is tough - to the point where it detracts from the graphic itself. I am now wondering if it is possible to somehow utilize Anchored Frame Attributes to store the graphic number in these situations. Perhaps create a new attribute specifically for the Art Number? Has anyone else done something similar?
Thanks in advance for your help!!!
Nancy