Whether you plan to migrate your workflow, or you just need to edit a few FrameMaker documents in InDesign, MIF Filter is the right choice.

MIF Filter is the only InDesign import filter for Adobe FrameMaker documents. It was developed in close cooperation with InDesign and FrameMaker experts and a broad base of beta users ranging from single person design studios to biggest corporations. In the long the filter has already converted over 10.000.000 unique pages of documents, giving us enough feedback to get closer to our goal – nearly 100% identical document after conversion.

FrameMaker uses two equal document formats – FM and MIF; only the latter is supported by MIF Filter. Documents saved as FM have to be saved as MIF in order to be opened in InDesign. With MIF Filter installed, InDesign opens FrameMaker MIF documents the same way as InDesign documents.

Conversion fidelity and further development

MIF Filter is a complex software, and even though we invested a great amount of effort to make it perfect, it will be continually improved. If your documents are converted incorrectly, please do not save the result in InDesign to avoid being charged and contact us, preferably with a sample source document and issue description attached.

Pricing model

To keep the price affordable for every user, MIF Filter is paid on the per-page basis instead of per license – the very same model is used for pre-paid cell phones. The price per page ranges between 0.35 – 0.18 EUR depending on the volume purchased. Conversion is charged only upon saving the document – if the conversion result is not acceptable, do not save the document and there will be no charge.

The page credit is not needed to open FrameMaker files, to assess and test MIF Filter’s functionality and usability. It’s only necessary to save converted and approved documents. Page credit is available in the following pre-paid coupons:

• Page credit for 100 pages: 35 EUR (0.35 EUR per page)
• Page credit for 500 pages: 150 EUR (0.30 EUR per page)
• Page credit for 1.000 pages: 250 EUR (0.25 EUR per page)
• Page credit for 5.000 pages: 1100 EUR (0.22 EUR per page)
• Page credit for 10.000 pages: 1800 EUR (0.18 EUR per page)

The page conversion credit can be purchased in our webstore, or directly from InDesign menu File -> MIF Filter -> Page Credit. Monthly plan purchasing can be set up for larger volume users – please contact sales@dtptools.com.

Features supported by MIF Filter

• Colors
  Both spot colors and process colors are supported.
• Paragraph styles and character styles
  All paragraph and character attributes are supported.
• Anchored frames
  All types of anchoring positions are supported.
• Tables
  All table attributes are supported. Table title, missing in InDesign, is interpreted as additional table header/footer row.
• Graphics and Layout
  All graphic objects are supported. Graphic frames are interpreted as grouped objects.
• Sideheads
  Sideheads are interpreted using margin in text frames and new anchored text frames.
• Auto numbering (in CS3)
  FrameMaker’s auto numbering feature is transformed into Lists in CS3. Named lists are supported.
• Variables (in CS3)
  All system and custom variables are interpreted into CS3’s variables or custom variables.
• Cross-References
  The entire cross-references functionality can be preserved using DTP Tools Cross-References PRO Plug-In for InDesign.
• Extensive font substitution options
  It’s possible to substitute font families and font faces during the conversion, especially when converting documents from Mac OS 9.
• Extensive character encoding support
  Supported character encodings: Western, East Europe, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Baltic

With CS4 Adobe added support for conditional text to InDesign. From CS4 up MIF Filter does convert conditional text into InDesign format.

Conditional text

From CS4 up MIF Filter does convert conditional text into InDesign format.

Conversion limitations

• Equations
  Mathematical equations are not supported; nevertheless, we are considering creation of supporting plug-in similar to the one for Cross-References.
• Floating objects
  An attribute “floating” for anchored objects and tables is not supported.
• Anchored objects
  Anchoring position “At Top of Column” is not correctly interpreted (such object can’t have text wrap).
• Sideheads
  Text within sideheads can’t flow to another page.
• Auto numbering
  The definition of autonumber format can’t contain more than one tab and non-incrementing blocks (<n>)

Cross platform conversion

MIF Filter converts between cross-platform files too. You can open Windows documents on Mac and vice versa. All non-European language text is converted correctly between any combination of platforms.

Benefits

High fidelity conversion

MIF Filter precision is beyond the capabilities of human designer. It would take hours of work, before the redesign result would be at least visually identical to the original document. Not mentioning the fact that such redesign has to be made by an operator experienced with both applications.

Seconds instead of days

Even the most complicated FrameMaker documents are converted within seconds. Redesign of such documents would take days. Estimates of the re-design work are hard to make and even harder to fulfill. With MIF Filter, you can convert the documents at the very moment you need them.

Cents instead of Dollars

Using MIF Filter means having a complete control over migration costs which will never exceed a few cents per page. Manual re-design of the documents means you will pay $20 per manhour for designers work*. Even the easiest layout can not be redesigned to for less then the price of MIF Filter conversion. You can select form a range of pre-paid coupons or time-plan contracts to have the lowest rates or the fastest ROI in your process.
*Graphic designer average hourly wage was $21.19 in 2001, according to Occupational Employment Survey of Employers by EDD/LMID.

Continuous software improvement instead of disclaimers

We know your time is too valuable to spend on fixing minor errors in the documents. Send us the concerned document and we will start improvement work right away. Our goal is to have a perfect tool, which we plan to achieve by close cooperation with customers and rapid reaction to feedback.

Improving InDesign to improve conversion results

We will not consider our development done until the converted documents will be 100% identical. If the features used in the document do not have their match in InDesign, we will create a plug-in to substitute it like we’ve done with Cross-References. Please contact us to find out more about the planned improvements.

Improving InDesign to improve conversion results

We will not consider our development done until the converted documents will be 100% identical. If the features used in the document do not have their match in InDesign, we will create a plug-in to substitute it like we’ve done with Cross-References. Please contact us to find out more about the planned improvements.