Date: Sat, 02 Jul 94 18:35:15 PDT From: Paul Brians Subject: Preventing and Solving PageMaker Bad Record Index Errors When I recently had a PageMaker 5.0 file go belly-up on me because of a "'Bad Record Index'" error, I collected many tips on dealing with this ominous problem which I thought I would share. I am sending you a detailed set of instructions which may be of use to others for placing in the archives. Dealing with "Bad Record Index" errors in PageMaker. The main points are these: Prevention: 1. Update to PM 5.0a (but do turn off ALL inits first; the installer is a killer otherwise). 2. In Preferences, make sure "Save smaller" is checked. 3. Try to keep files small--30 pages or so. Divide longer projects into shorter files. 4. Be careful to be consistent when you apply styles in Word for documents you will be importing into PM. Don't create two different styles with the same name. 5. When typing directly into PM, always assign what you type one of your styles. 6. Never click-create a text block in PM without typing something, a space, at least. THEN you can delete it. Repair (test your document after trying each one): The first time you get the error message, save the document as another document. The new copy may be fixed. Hold down the shift and option keys while choosing Hyphenation. The document will be searched for problems. One beep means no problem, two means a problem or problems was repaired, three means an unrepaired problem. This is the only solution offered in the User's Manual, and doesn't seem to work very often. Command-click on each style name in the STyle palette to bring up the Edit styles dialogue box, then hit Return (or press OK). If you get an error message with one of them, you've found a corrupted style. Then command-click on "No style" and type the name of the bad style, exactly, except for any plus signs or asterisks). Use save as. (This tip from "Real World PageMaker 5.0: Industrial Strength Techniques," p. 253, from Random House--a great book.) Find any temp files with names like "aldtmpXX" (where XX are sequential numbers) and open them with PM. They may be earlier versions that are not yet damaged. If you have linked text or graphics, go to Links in the File Menu and break all links to the original. Follow the instructions below in the section called "CompuServe BADRIX.TXT" to remove any corrupted styles. This was the only thing that worked for me. As a last desperate measure, create a new publication and copy and paste your stories one by one from the old publication; though if the old pub was created by placed stories created elsewhere, it might be almost as easy to recreate the document from scratch, particularly in PM 4.2, which doesn't allow two documents open at once. Here are copies (slightly edited) of the documents and correspondence I collected, so you can see where this advice is coming from and get its full context. -- Via Usenet's alt.pagemaker newsgroup: Date: Sat, 02 Jul 94 13:26:55 GMT From: jason@heaven.demon.co.uk (Jason Crouch) Organization: mFifteen design To: BRIANS@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu Subject: Where are "Bad Record Index" errors discussed in PM5 manual? In article <16FE5120F2S85.BRIANS@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu> you write: > The first entry in the PM 5 User Manual under Troubleshooting on p. 464 > is"Bad Record Index errors, fixing 312. Trouble is, there's nothing > on that subject on p. 312. My 90 days of free support just expired > and I don't feel like paying to get solve a problem Aldus caused. > Can someone tell me the REAL page number on which "Bad Record Index" errors > are discussed? I'm afraid it _is_ listed on that page. In the beige box top left. (the bit about Option-Shift-Hyphenation).[Although the index points to this, the words "Bad Record Index" aren't used anywhere on the page, very misleading. PB] That's the extent of the information provided by Aldus. Here's a trasnscript of another message I sent regarding this issue. (after considerable discussion with Aldus Tech Support here in the UK). -- > I was working on my graduate project in PM 4.2 for the Macintosh when > suddenly got this error: "Cannot open file: Bad Index Table"! This means that the internal database structure of the PM file has become corrupted. There are ways to avoid this problem, but few to save data once it's sufficiently corrupted to fail to open. Avoidance techniques: 1) Backup regularly - including Save(ing) As ... Save As reconstructs the entire project on disk as a mirror to the document currently being worked on. Save, however, merely tags the past few changes onto the database. The example given to me by some tech from Aldus Tech. Support was: "Imagine you have a 100 page long document which you cut 99 pages of graphics and text from, you then Save. PageMaker's internal database then stores 100 pages and graphics which it then cuts the last 99 pages from before allowing you to work on it. Save As, however, re-writes the database in it's entirety to bring it in line with the project as it stands in memory and on disk." My preference is to keep at least 3 versions of any one project on the hard drive at any one time. 2) Check the document using shift-option-Hyphenation (if you can still open it that is). This " ... can automatically repair some corrupted publications. If the computer beeps once, PM found no problem, ... twice, it found and repaired a problem ... three times, it found a problem but was unable to repair it." PM5 users manual pp 312 re: bad record (table) index Although it's never beeped even once for me =] 3) If you can afford it, upgrade to PM5(a), which Aldus technical support assures us has an improved database structure. I have found problems regarding PM4 documents opened in PM5, Aldus suggest this is more likely to be a semi-corrupted PM4 file, whose errors have only come to light in the conversion process. This touching faith in the stability of the latest version of PM may leave a lot to be desired. =op 4) If you begin to get the bad table index message, immediately save as to another document. If the message re-occurs in this _new_ document then cut and paste the document into a new document, page by page. (Clearly only a real option in PM5). If this does not solve the problem then I have been advised by Aldus technical support that the _only_ way to recover the file is to re-build it in its entirety from scratch. Thanks Aldus. Recovery techniques: 1) Try and find any mini-saved versions of the document. Pagemaker creates such a file every time you turn the page, print, etc. There may be one on your machine that PM can open. On the Mac these are called aldtmpXX (where XX are sequential numbers), on the windows variety ~PMXXXXX.TMP. They are found in the Rescued items folder in the trash can on the Mac, and in the directory specified by the TEMP environment variable on the PC AFAIK. Open these as you would open a normal PM4 file. But with your fingers resolutely crossed. If the files are _very_ small (typically under 1k) then they, clearly, will _not_ contain the minisave you require. In some incidents you may find a variety of mini-save'd versions of the document, in a variety of states of disrepair. 2) Never found any other way that worked, Further advice, anyone? ============================================================================ This advice may or may not be of help to you. =) -- internet | "Each day, death strikes and we live e-mail : jason@heaven.demon.co.uk | as though we were immortal. This is jason.crouch@almac.co.uk | what is the greatest marvel" jason@mfl.org | Yudhhishthira -- >From CompuServe's Aldus PageMaker forum: Date: Jul 1, 1994 6:01:22 PM Subject: #119762-Solve Bad RIX error? From: John Cornicello [sysop] 76702,1410 To: Paul Brians 76136,1300 (deletable) My manual does have a possible fix mentioned on page 312. There is a side bar that says hold down Option-Shift and select Hyphenation from the Type menu to do some internal file repairs. When you do this, though, you should have the pointer tool selected, but no objects selected on the page. There is also a file called badrix.txt in Library 3 here that talks a bit about Bad Record Index errors. It is a couple of years old, but some of the things in there may still apply. BadRix can also have to do with linked text or graphics. You might go to Links in the File menu and break all links to the original text if they exist. JC Date: Jul 2, 1994 6:24:29 AM Subject: #119762-Solve Bad RIX error? From: Dave Saunders [sysop] 76702,1306 To: Paul Brians 76136,1300 (deletable) As John says, the tip box on page 312 is what you need to attack your Bad Record Index problem. But, be sure to have the pointer tool active and nothing selected when you do it. I've just had a flood of bad record index problems to deal with, myself. I've found that sometimes I have to do the diagnostic recompose two or three times intermixed with resaving the file before the problem finally disappears. Another good thing to do (that forces PageMaker to take a good hard look at the file) is to hold down the shift key and select "Go To" from the Layout menu. This will give you a "slide show" view of your document, as PM shows you each page in turn -- click the mouse to stop it. My advice is to let PM wander through the document completely before stopping it. Make sure that you have "Save Smaller" activated. Save Faster, the alternative, creates files that have not been cleaned up -- in my view, the larger the file, the more likely it is to have trouble. 300 pages is also rather large for a single file. I work on 700 page books, but I use the book feature to divide the document into chapters of about 30 pages each. Hope you find some help in here somewhere. Dave -- Downloaded from CompuServe Aldus Forum Library no. 3: When I try to edit or remove styles from my style sheet, PageMaker gives me the message, "Internal error: bad record index." [Note: in my case the error message occurred only when I attempted to print. PB] What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it? In this situation, the message "Inernal Error: bad record index" means that the paragraphs in a story that you typed from scratch in PageMaker--not one that you placed--are trying to use a style that's not in your style sheet. (In PageMaker, a "story" consists of all the text between an empty windowshade handle and a whindowshade handle with a # in it.) This happens when you create an insertion point to start a new story then accidentally press the Backspace (or Delete) key before typing any text. Although your currently selected style (which could be "No Style") remains highlighted in the style palette, any text you type after hitting the Backspace key uses a non-existent style. You don't have a clue that anything is wrong until you get the "bad record index" message when trying to edit or remove a style. To prevent this in the future, avoid pressing Backspace until you've typed some text, even a single character, into a new story. To repair your publication's style sheet once you get this message, you must use the style palette and the process of elimination to check each story you created with PageMaker's text tool. Be forewarned that this can be time-consuming if you publication is large. Here's what to do: 1. Make a backup copy of the publication. Use the backup to isolate the problem paragraph(s), and fix the original afterward. 2. In the backup of the publication, create a new style named "My Style." 3. Use the pointer tool to select "My Style" in the style palette. 4. With the text tool, create an insertion point on the pasteboard (be sure you're not clicking inside an existing story). 5. Type, "This is My Style." 6. Click an insertion point in the story you created on the pasteboard so that "My Style" is selected in the style palette. 7. Click an insertion point in the first paragraph of a story you typed in PageMaker and check the style palette. If a style other than "My Style" is highlighted, the selected paragraph is okay. If "my Style" remains selected, the paragraph is formatted wih a nonexistent style. (When PageMaker can't determine which style is applied to a paragraph, it leaves the style palette unaltered, so the palette will still read "My Style.") If that happens, chose "Select all" from the edit menu, click "No style" in the style palette, then apply appropriate styles to each paragraph in the story. 8. Note where you correct the backup publication because you'll have to update the original one later. 9. Repeate 6 through 8 for each story. 10. After you've checked all the stories you typed in PageMaker, try to remove "My Style." If you still get a "bad record index" message, You've missed one or more problem stories- continue cleaning up the publication. Once you've found and corrected all the problem stories, correct the original publication and resume your work. Here are a few tips to help you speed your search for the problem stories: Only check all stories-headlines, captions, body text, or others-you created by typing with PageMaker's text tool. Begin with a preliminary search of the master pages and the pasteboard, because those frequently have running heads, page numbers, and other stories you typed in PageMaker. If you have to check the regular pages and you publication is long, subdivide the backup into two smaller publications(make two copies, delete half the pages from one and the other half of the pages from the other copy). Next, try to edit a style in each half of the publication. If you receive a "bad record index" message in either one, continue to subdivide that half-publication util each partial publication with a "bad record index" message contains only one or two pages. Then check those carefully, as described above. Paul Brians, Washington State University, brians@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu