Enhanced Toolbar for FrameMaker 9 p250
Shlomo Perets from MicroType provides the ToolbarPlus Express for FrameMaker/Win 9.0 files to add useful commands and menu items. This page is about the integration of these commands into a toolbar for FM-9 and a modification of the appearance of all tool bars.
Overview
Precondition
Toolbars
Workspaces
Difference to MictoType's implementation
Context menu "Insert special symbols"
Documents
Installation
Uninstallation
"Standard" in this text refers to the original FrameMaker installation. $HOME is
the installation directory of FrameMaker.
Precondition
The installation of the Enhanced Toolbar requires that the ToolbarPlus Express has been purchased. This is checked during installation.
A complete description of the Enhanced Toolbar can
be found in FM9-etb-en.pdf.
Toolbars
The standard toolbars of FM-9 are gray in normal state and coloured only when hovered over. Hence it is difficult to recognise buttons on a large screen instantly.

The
Enhanced Toolbar exchanges the icons in the standard toolbars so that
the normal appearance is coloured and the buttons are gray in hovered state: align_object,
object_properties, para_format, quick_access, table_format, text_format and trackchanges.
To cope with the additional capabilities of the ToolbarPlus Express and to save space on laptops, new toolbars are defined:
|
|
DDD quick access lt |
|
DDD paragraph bar |
|
DDD character bar |
Character catalogue, copy ƒ format, repeat last ƒ command, character format drop down list, convert text to lower case, mixed case, upper case. |
| DDD tables bar | Standard table commands + copy column width |
DDD extra |
|
Tool tips for all toolbars show keyboard shortcuts where applicable.
Vertical toolbar
With the Enhanced Toolbar the vertical toolbar is back to FM-9. For better handling the switching has been changed from 4 to 2 levels. Unfortunately no tool tips are available, hence this description of the buttons. The top right button is a dummy. To leave the toolbar click on the X-button.
Workspaces
Two additional work spaces are defined: DDD_LT for laptops
with at least 1200 pixels width, and DDD_WS for workstations
with larger screens.
DDD_LT
DDD_WS

Difference
to MictoType's implementation
In the D+DD implementation a variant of the MicroType menu is integrated into the Help Menu and some additional documents are available also. The superfluous original menu items Clip Art and Samples are removed, because they just open a folder, while the Enhanced Toolbar offers better access. Clip art for scales and grids for diagrams is added.
Context
menu "Insert special symbols"
The standard button for inserting special symbols is removed from the toolbar, because the new context menu offers a much larger set of symbols from the FM-7 Character set.
In the D+DD implementation the menu Insert Special Character is extended with the following four symbols:
left single quote \xd4 right single quote \xd5 “ left double quote \xd2 ” right dobule quote \xd3
Documents
The ToolbarPlus Express and the Enhanced Toolbar provide additional documentation, which partly is standard FM-9 documentation, but hidden. For curious people even some still valid documents from FM-7 are provided.
| Title in menu | MT | D+DD | Description (partly form the document) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Function Key Chart (PDF) | yes | yes *) | Table with all functions and commands of the MT customization. The second page lists all buttons with their commands which are specific to the MT customization (and hence the Enhanced Toolbar) |
| Special Characters Chart (PDF) | yes | yes | Five pages with the set of characters and symbols which can be reached with ESC sequences and special short cuts, such as CTRL+Q, x. The following fonts are considered: Windows standard characters; Symbol; Dingbats; Wingdings and Webdings. |
| Standard Shortcuts | yes | yes *) | PDF with list of shortcuts by category (Navigating, Files, Tables, Graphics, Quick Keys and Text Editing) |
| Escape Shortcuts | yes | yes *) | PDF with list of ESC commands by category (Files/Documents, Pagination, Para. Formatting, Tables, Char. Formatting, Special, View, Highlighting, Close Dialog Box, Find and Replace etc.), 2 pages |
| Structured Escape Shortcuts | yes | yes | PDF with list of ESC commands in structure view by category (element, view, focus in, close, validate, move insertion pt, select and miscellaneous). 1 page. |
| Templates, Samples & Clipart | yes | yes | Read-only FM file with hyperlinks to the various sample files and
clip art files (MT special). |
| Getting Started Guide (FM-9) | yes | yes | PDF with the same content as chapter 1 in the User Guide |
| User Guide | yes | no, already in Help | Link to PDF with the same content as the Help system. |
| Character Sets (FM-9) | no | yes | This document describes support for the Unicode character sets in
Adobe® FrameMaker® 9 |
| MIF Reference (FM-9) | no | yes | MIF (Maker Interchange Format) is a group of ASCII statements that create an easily parsed, readable text file of all the text, graphics, formatting, and layout constructs that Adobe® FrameMaker® understands. Because MIF is an alternative representation of a FrameMaker document, it allows FrameMaker and other applications to exchange information while preserving graphics, document content, and format. |
| MML Reference (FM-7) | no | yes | FrameMaker ® includes support for a markup language called MML (Maker Markup Language). You can use any standard text editor to create an MML file. Later, you can open the MML file as a FrameMaker document or import it into a FrameMaker template. In a department where different people are responsible for writing and formatting documents, writers can use MML statements to mark up manuals in progress; at the same time, graphic designers can create the formatting specifications in FrameMaker templates. |
| Customizing FrameMaker (FM-7) | no | yes | This manual describes how to customize Adobe® FrameMaker® by changing settings in initialization files and creating custom menu configurations. This information applies to the following platforms: Windows® 98; Windows NT® 4.0 and later; Windows ME; Windows 2000; Windows XP |
| ToolBar Plus UG | yes | yes *) | Installation procedure for the ToolbarPlus Express 4.0 installation (relevant only for the MT flavour) |
*) Since some of the commands are no more valid, this PDF displays them with strike through.
Installation
- You may wish to read the documentation (1MB) before you decide about the installation.
- The ToolbarPlus Express is a prerequisite. Purchase it here (USD 25.-) .
- Download Express Customization for FrameMaker/Win 9.0 from Kagi Store, but do not follow further installation advice from the e-mail you got from Kagi/MicroType!
- Expand the downloded ZIP to any location (to be memorised).
This will only store one file
FM9-Customization-MicroType.zip. - Close FrameMaker. if necessary.
- Download
Inst-FM9-toolbars-en.zip(3.5MB)
Version Date Changes 1.4 2010-02-17 Structure the items on the toolbars more logical (?); more individual icons for the new functions. 1.3 2010-02-10 Installation: support multiple FM-users; remove option "install without MT enhancements".
Tool bars: correct handling of characters "degree" and "multiply"; vertical tool bar added; description enhanced1.2 2010-01-15 Toolbars slightly modified; description modified 1.1 2009-12-21 Change installation process to protect MT's work; remove alternative installation of MT package 1.0 2009-07-24 First issue of installation program - Expand the downloaded ZIP to any location. This will only store one file
Install-FM9-toolbars-en.exe - Execute this self extracting archive, which expands its
files to
C:\SystemMods\FM9-toolbars-en\and then starts the the installation program.

File structure set up in
C:\SystemMods\FM9-toolbars-en\DDD
Icons
Toolbars
WorkSpaces
FM-puzzle.ico
Install-FM9-etb.exe
- Fill in the location of the MicroType ZIP file from step 4 (or browse for its location).
- The password for the Force option is only communicated to known people for special cases, because I do not want to sacrifice the work of Shlomo Perets for the Express Customization.
- A message box indicates successfull installation (see first note below).
Notes
- Although step 11 may indicate successful installation, it sometimes happens that the self extracing ZIP does not extract all files properly. In such cases just repeat the installation.
- To install the Enhanced Toolbar for another FrameMaker user on the same machine, see the documentation.
- All software from D+DD is Donationware - if you find it helpful for your work, think about supporting my work.
What is installed on your computer ?
- A shortcut
(De)Installation FM9-tool bars enis placed in the Start Menu folderAll Users\Programs. You may move the shortcut to any sub folder. - The Microtype file is moved to
C:\SystemMods. (to keep it) - The following files are copied to the required locations:
- The toolbars to
%APPDATA%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9\toolbars - Additional icons to
%APPDATA%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9 - The workspaces to
%APPDATA%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9\WorkSpaces\UnStructured - The customisation file and documents to
$HOME\fminit\configui - The vertical tool bar to
$HOME\fminit - The additional clip art to
$HOME\clipart
- The toolbars to
%APPDATA% is the symbolic name for the User area C:\Documents
and Settings\username\Application Data.
$HOME is the installation directory of FrameMaker.
Uninstallation
If you want to get rid of the enhancement and go back to the original FM installation:
- Start the installation with the shortcut in the Start Menu and click Reset FM-GUI to original .
- All files of this installation will be removed (toolbars, work spaces, icons, config files, clip art, add. documentation).
- FrameMaker 9 will copy the original toolbars into the user area at its next start.
- Since this is not a Windows un-installation, you must delete the installation directory and the short cut manually to get rid of all items. On the other hand this allows to install the Enhanced Toolbar again later.
