Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I'm supposed to be allowed to upgrade Professional Edition for free. How can I do that?

A: Please use this form: http://www.xmlmind.com/store/download.php , generally accessed through this page: http://www.xmlmind.com/foconverter/upgrade.html.

Tip: If you want to be sent an email each time a new version of XMLmind XSL-FO Converter is released, please subscribe to the xfc-announce mailing list. This is done by using the form found in this page: http://www.xmlmind.com/mailman/listinfo/xfc-announce .

Q: I would like to purchase a license for integration of XFC into a web application. This application would run on a server hosted in the Cloud. Can you please tell me which license I would need to purchase?

A: The Server License and Site License do not apply to running our software in the Cloud. They apply to well-identified, physical host machines (no matter their number of processors, processor cores or use of virtualization software), whether located at your offices or hosted by a “traditional web hoster”. The only license which applies to your case is the Developer License which is basically an unrestricted deployment license.

Q: The RTF, .docx, etc, files generated by XFC contain meaningless text. What's going on?

A: XMLmind XSL-FO Converter Evaluation Edition generates files containing random duplicate letters (which make these files useless for any purpose other than evaluating XFC). Of course, this will not happen with Professional Edition.

Q: I use the page-number-citation object to print the number of pages in my document, but the displayed value is always 0 when I load the document in MS-Word. How can I get the correct value?

A: Page references are implemented with fields (more information ) The values of these fields are not automatically updated when loading a document in MS-Word. The easiest way to update all field values is to force a repagination of the document, for instance by switching to the "Page Layout" view (sometimes called "Print Layout").

If after doing that, some fields have not been updated, for example, those found in the Table of Contents and in the Index, please proceed as follows:

1. Switch to the "Page Layout" view (sometimes called "Print Layout").
2. Type Ctrl-A ("Select all").
3. Press F9 ("Update fields").

Q: How can I get rid of the "[Compatibility Mode]" text appearing in the title bar of MS-Word 2013 or 2016 when a DOCX file created by XFC is opened in this word processor?

A: Pass option -docx.variant=15 to fo2docx. (Corresponding option for the .NET version is: /variant 15).

Q: My .fo file contains a fo:external-graphic element which points to an existing JPEG file, but this image is not showing in the document generated by XFC. Are there known bugs related to image support in XFC?

A: No, not all. This symptom is almost always caused by a problem in the .fo file or a problem in the image file:

• The src attribute of fo:external-graphic contains a filename and not an URI. Examples:
  • <fo:external-graphic src="pictures\screenshot.png"/> is incorrect. Replace this by <fo:external-graphic src="url(pictures/screenshot.png)"/>.
  • <fo:external-graphic src="C:\My Images\photo.jpg"/> is incorrect. Replace this by <fo:external-graphic src="url(file:/C:/My%20Images/photo.jpg)"/>.
• The specific image you are using has a problem. For example, it contains incorrect resolution information (e.g. 65535dpi). In such case, you need to open the graphic file in an image editor such as Adobe Photoshop or The Gimp, fix the problem and save the fixed image to disk.

Q: What is the option of XFC which allows to generate MS-Word documents making use of named styles (Normal, "Heading 1", "Heading 2", etc)?

A: Please refer to "XSL-FO extension for generating named styles". This feature requires using XFC v5+.

Q: Vertical space between blocks (e.g. <xsl:attribute name="space-after.optimum">0.75em</xsl:attribute>) is almost always incorrect. Is there a workaround for this bug?

A: This problem happens only when the XSL-FO file processed by XFC is indented (generally for debugging purposes). The workaround is to instruct the XSLT engine generating the XSL-FO file not to indent it, that is replace something like:

<xsl:output method="xml" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/>

by:

<xsl:output method="xml" encoding="UTF-8" indent="no"/>

This instruction is generally found at the beginning of the main XSLT style sheet.

Q: The generated file contains extra blank pages. What's going on?

A: Same answer as for the above question. Please make sure not to generate an indented XSL-FO file.

This instruction is generally found at the beginning of the main XSLT style sheet.

Q: I don't find xslutil_install_dir/bin/xslutil.exe, the executable file used to start XMLmind XSL Utility. Why that?

A: Your anti-virus software thinks that xslutil.exe potentially contains a virus. Therefore it has preventively moved this file to its “virus chest”. Three possible workarounds for this issue:

• Open the control panel of your anti-virus software and use this panel to a) mark xslutil.exe as being safe b) move xslutil.exe back to its original location.
• OR uninstall XMLmind XSL Utility, then reinstall it with your anti-virus “file shield” turned off. Once this is done, you may want to use your anti-virus software to scan the contents of folder xslutil_install_dir/bin/.
• OR use xslutil_install_dir/bin/xslutil-c.bat to start XMLmind XSL Utility.

Q: I cannot get the results that I want. Can you help me tweak my XSLT stylesheet?

A: I'm sorry but we definitely don't help our customers tweak their XSLT stylesheets. This would be a (expensive) service. We don't sell a service, we sell a (reasonably priced) software product.

What we do for our own stylesheets (which are often large and complex and nevertheless, work the same whatever the XSL-FO processor being used) is explained in this document "How to adapt your existing XSLT stylesheet to the specificities of XMLmind XSL-FO Converter" (PDF, RTF, WML, DOCX, ODT).

Q: XMLmind XSL Utility looks “fuzzy” on the HiDPI screen of my Windows 10 computer. I thought HiDPI screens were well supported by your desktop application. How to fix this problem?

A: Same problem with XMLmind XML Editor. Detailed answer here.

Q: I have successfully downloaded and installed your software using your .dmg distribution but now, I cannot start the application on my Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15. The error dialog box says: This software needs to be updated. Contact the developer and that's what I am doing. Please advise.

A: The .dmg distributions rebuilt on November 22, 2019 fix this problem. If you want to install a version older than v6.1, you'll find a workaround explained here.

Q: Following your instructions, I managed to install your software on my Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15 (using your .dmg distribution for that), however the File|Open dialog box and the File|Folder pane do not display any of the files found in my Documents folder. Is this a known bug?

A: Same problem with XMLmind XML Editor. Detailed answer here.