2.6 Establishing a conversion environment

If your FrameMaker files are on a network server, you might find that FrameMaker sometimes has trouble accessing those files. It is best to make a local copy, and use Mif2Go to convert from that copy.

Follow these steps to establish a working environment for your conversion project:

1. Establish a conversion project directory. Unless you specify a directory, Mif2Go places output files in the same directory as the FrameMaker files to be converted. We strongly advise you to create a separate project directory for each conversion project, under the directory where your FrameMaker files are located (see §3.3 Creating a Mif2Go conversion project). If you plan to convert the same FrameMaker document to several different output types, create a separate project directory for each, to avoid overwriting files.

2. Decide about a configuration file:

New project:	If you are setting up a brand-new conversion project, remove from the project directory any existing configuration file intended for the same output type.
Existing project:	If you want Mif2Go to use a configuration file already created for the document, or one based on a different FrameMaker document, place that configuration file (or a copy of it) in the project directory.

Restart FrameMaker between conversions

3. Restart FrameMaker. If you have already set up a Mif2Go conversion in your current FrameMaker session, close FrameMaker and restart it. Sometimes Mif2Go “remembers” settings used in a prior conversion, causing unexpected results (such as crashes). Whether this is likely to happen seems to depend on your operating environment and on Mif2Go configuration settings. In some situations you might be able to get away without restarting FrameMaker, especially if you delete output files and conversion files (but not project or configuration files) between runs; see §C.2.4 What not to do with conversion files. You should never have to reboot the system, unless you have hit the Windows 9x/ME GDI resource-leak wall; see §8.6.2 Avoiding the GDI resource leak.

4. Close previous output files. If you are converting to Word, close any RTF files from a previous conversion that you have open in Word. Mif2Go cannot write a new version if Word has the old one open.

5. Select a book or document. In FrameMaker, open and select a book or document file.

6. Start Mif2Go. Follow instructions in §3 Converting a book or document.

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