FrameMaker 7.0 Tutorial:
Introduction

This tutorial is provided for advanced documentation students on a free, as-is basis, without guarantee of accuracy. If you find any errors or think we should include other tasks, let us know!

This tutorial discusses the following topics:

• Opening FrameMaker
• Creating and Saving Documents
  
• Standard Word Processing Features
  
• Exploring the Document Window
  
• Helpful Hints

Subsequent tutorials focus on tags, tables, anchored frames, graphics, templates, master pages, reference pages, cross-references, tables of contents, indexes, variable text, book building, conversion techniques, and structured documents. These tutorials provide an overview of each topic discussed. If you required information about advanced FrameMaker topics, refer to the Adobe FrameMaker User Guide or Adobe FrameMaker Classroom in a Book for the current version of FrameMaker.

Note: For the sake of brevity, we use an abbreviated style for menu commands throughout this lesson. For example, "Select File > New" means "Select New from the File menu."

Opening FrameMaker

To open FrameMaker:

1. Click Start located on the Windows taskbar.
   
   
2. Select Programs > Adobe.
   
   
3. Select FrameMaker 7.0 > Adobe FrameMaker 7.0.

Creating and Saving Documents

To create and save a FrameMaker document:

1. Select File > New > Document.
   


2. From the New dialog box, click Portrait.
   
   A new document is created based on the default FrameMaker template.
   
   

   Note: A template is a FrameMaker document with a predefined page layout and set of formats. For more information about templates, see Templates.

   
   
3. Select File > Save to save the file.
   
   
4. In the File name box, type introduction, and click Save.
   
   

   Note: If you are working in the TCM computer lab, save the file to your lab account. If you do not have a lab account, please contact your instructor.

Standard Word Processing Features

FrameMaker provides standard online help and word processing features such as text formatting, document printing, spell checker, find and change, thesaurus, and word count. The following table lists the menu selection for each item.

Exploring the Document Window

FrameMaker provides menus, visual guides, and navigational aids within the document window. You can customize your document window by displaying or hiding portions of the standard menu and displaying or hiding visual guides. Visual guides include the following items:

Borders	Borders are the boundaries for text areas within the document window. Text areas include areas such as the body of the document, headers, and footers. Borders are represented as dotted lines.
Text Symbols	Text symbols include ¶ (paragraph symbols), (tab symbols), and other symbols, such as cross-reference markers.
Rulers	Rulers appear at the top and on the left side of the document. They provide guides for placing items, such as text frames, images and diagrams.
Grid Lines	Grid lines are horizontal and vertical lines used for drawing, resizing, and aligning graphics.

The following table lists the menu selection for displaying and hiding menus and visual guides.

The icons listed in the following table are located at the bottom of the document window. You can use these icons to navigate your document. The following table lists the icon to select for each item.

To:	Click:
Zoom in
Zoom out
Zoom to a percentage
Go to the previous page
Go to the next page

Experiment with these options to familiarize yourself with the document window.

Helpful Hints

The following table lists useful keyboard shortcuts for features mentioned in this section.

Information and programs provided by hcexres@prismnet.com.