Maximize content reuse and streamline the creation of technical documentation and learning & development programs.
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Manage Your Entire Content Development Workflow with MadCap Flare
From importing and content creation, to subject matter expert contribution and review, to multi-channel publishing, translation and integrated cloud-based workflows, MadCap Flare is unmatched in its power, versatility, and ability to scale for any size team or organization.
The addition of the new eLearning functionality in MadCap Flare is a game changer for us. We can now leverage Flare’s inherent single source capabilities to create presentations with assessments. In conjunction with MadCap Central, Flare now gives us the capability to produce instructor-led, web-based and virtual training using a single solution.
Stephen J. Sauriol | CPLP Technical Communications Manager, Saab, Inc.
Importing
Easy Content Import
Flare offers the easiest and most advanced import of legacy content in the industry including support for a wide range of file types using an easy drag and drop workflow. Migrate your legacy content – such as Microsoft® Word and Excel, Atlassian Confluence®, Adobe® RoboHelp® and FrameMaker®, DITA, Author-It®, and more – using our patented WYSIWYG XML Editor to author content in a familiar visual user interface.
Plus, step-by-step import wizards offer advanced options to customize your import for added control to re-use your legacy content.
Import content from other applications directly into Flare.
Microsoft® Word:
Flare allows you to import any number of MS Word files simultaneously using the drag and drop functionality. For added control, you can import files using the import wizard. The import wizard allows you to break content into smaller topics for maximum content re-use and to get your Flare project organized quickly and easily. You can also choose to maintain a continuous connection using Easy Sync to automatically re-import Word files once a change has been made to the source file. This ensures any changes made to your Word documents will always be updated in Flare.
View the Import Guide
Microsoft® Excel:
Easily import Excel files including XLS, XLSX, or CSV files. No need to recreate your spreadsheets as these will be added and converted to tables in Flare. As with Microsoft® Word, you can link Excel files to Flare so that it recognizes when changes have been made to the source documents for a much more effective technical documentation process.
View the Import Guide
RoboHelp®:
As the original creators of RoboHelp®, nobody imports projects better than MadCap Software. Create a new project or topics by importing your legacy Adobe® RoboHelp® projects.
View the Import Guide
FrameMaker®:
Create a new project or topics by importing Adobe® FrameMaker® files. Import support for BOOK, FM and MIF files.
View the Transition From FrameMaker® Guide
Confluence®:
Import Atlassian Confluence® content, including HTM and Resource files, from the cloud and self-managed servers.
View the Import Guide
Author-it®:
Convert published XML output from Author-it® to a MadCap Flare project while maintaining all documentation projects and source files.
For detailed instructions and to download the Author-it® Converter Utility, visit our Redistributable Downloads.
DITA:
Create a new project or import into an existing project by importing DITA files.
Markdown:
Easily import files written in Markdown, including CommonMark, a rationalized version of Markdown syntax.
84.51° Replaces Traditional LMS with MadCap Flare and MadCap Central to Power Stratum Learning Center
Learn More
Authoring
Advanced Content Authoring
A completely customizable interface makes it easy to create technical documentation, interactive eLearning courses, learning & development programs and much more.
Ribbon Toolbar
Easy to customize, access and view common tasks
Content Explorer
Contains all content-related items in your project
Project Organizer
Contains all project-related items in your project
Visual Editor with Structure Bars
Visual WYSIWYG XML Editor with patented Structure Bars
Split View Editor with XML Code View
Synced split view of both the XML Editor and Text Editor
Dock Any Window Pane for Quick Access
Window panes can be docked, floated or hidden
Create Interactive eLearning Courses and Quizzes with Multiple Choice or Multiple Response Questions – All from a Single Source.
Maximize content reuse, reduce costs and improve collaboration between technical authoring and learning & development teams.
Topic-based Authoring and the Building Blocks of Content Development
Content in MadCap Flare is organized differently than other applications like Microsoft® Word. Instead your content is stored in topics and other files such as images and videos.
Topic-based authoring is what makes Flare so powerful.
By organizing content into reusable chunks (e.g. topics) content can be assembled and used to create deliverables for different audiences and users, such as:
- Student and Instructor Guides
- Getting Started and Quick Start Guides
- Beginner and Advanced User Manuals
- Policy and Procedure Manuals (based on city, region or country)
- Employee Handbooks (Exempt and Non-Exempt, Full-Time and
Part-Time) - Administrative and Programmer Guides
Micro Content Authoring to Improve Search, Feed Chatbots
Micro content is what it sounds like–short, concise information that stands alone, maximizes and expands re-use of content beyond topic-based authoring, and is easily consumable by machine learning and AI applications.
All micro content in Flare (new or existing) is tagged with unique XML extensions, making the content easy identifiable and ingested by machine ready and AI applications appropriately. Leverage micro content for use in your output and applications.
Use Pre-built Project Templates to Create Professional Print, Online and Mobile Content in Minutes
With dozens of pre-installed project templates–and a growing library of new modern responsive top navigation templates–you can publish gorgeous web and print-based outputs in minutes. Create stunning, professionally designed print brochures and books, interactive eLearning courses, online Help systems, knowledge bases, self-service support sites, eBooks, user manuals, and more without the need for any additional CSS development or creative resources.
Multiple Authoring Layout Modes for Different Output Mediums
Unlike other authoring solutions in the industry, MadCap Flare allows you to author content in different layout modes within the WYSIWYG XML Editor. This unique authoring capability not only makes it easy to see how your content will look in different output formats, but also allows you to dynamically switch between views. Authoring modes include: Web, Tablet, Mobile, and Print (WYSIWYG PDF).
Responsive Layout Editor for True Responsive Content
The responsive layout editor allows you to control the layout of your technical documents or any content for any device, without the assistance of a web developer or requiring any coding knowledge.
Style Inspector to View and Edit Your CSS Properties
A Style Inspector in the Formatting window pane lets you view and edit the style details for your content (topics, snippets, etc.) in real time, rather than having to edit styles in the stylesheet.
Advanced Stylesheet Editor with Multiple Medium Views
The advanced stylesheet editor includes multiple medium views (such as web, print, mobile, tablet – or any number of custom views), and offers complex selectors, media queries and more.
Preserve Tracked Changes in Microsoft® Word and PDF Outputs
Tracked changes are now preserved in both Word and PDF outputs for enhanced review, collaboration and audit trail.
Accessibility Support for Technical Documentation
Create effective technical documentation that is accessible to users with visual and hearing impairments, using assistive technologies such as Microsoft Windows Narrator, Connect Outloud, and Job Access With Speech (JAWS). HTML5 output is Section 508 and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant.
Accessibility guidance features in Flare include:
- Insert alt and title attributes to links, images, QR codes, equations and more
- Receive the following compiler warnings when alt and title text is
missing:
- Image elements are missing alternate text
- Equation elements are missing alternate text
- QR code elements are missing alternate text
- Tables are missing captions and summaries
- Tables are missing header elements
- Form elements are missing labels
- Frame elements are missing titles and names
Open Standards-based Architecture for Flexible and Future-proof Content
With Flare, you will never be locked into a proprietary system. Flare is built on open standards with support for XML, CSS, and HTML, all designed to keep your content completely open, transparent and accessible.
Open Architecture
All Flare files are separate XHTML, XML or CSS documents – topics, TOCs, browse sequences, targets, skins, snippets, glossaries, destinations, condition tag sets, variable sets, and more – meaning the document can be opened in any editor, including Notepad.
Standard XHTML Content with W3C Schema Compliance
Flare content conforms to industry standard schema requirements from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Flare’s code adheres to the W3C XHTML Schema specification, making it easy to integrate with other XML or XHTML applications.
Content Management and Source Control Support
With MadCap Flare’s extensible open architecture, you can utilize any source control solution. Instead of using proprietary files and databases, all content and project files in Flare are stored as independent XML files.
- Git, Perforce, Apache Subversion, Microsoft® Team Foundation® and Visual SourceSafe® are directly integrated and accessed from Flare (third-party plugins not required)
- Mappings can be made to any local, network, or SharePoint™ resource
- Plus, integration with all industry source control systems that use the MS SCC API interface
Limited IT Resources?
Not using source control? Flare’s External Resources feature allows files and folders to be mapped and shared among any number of projects or users.
Learn MoreSingle-source Images and Videos with Capture and Mimic
Maximize content reuse by applying the same rules used for text to movies, callouts and images to your projects. By adding variables to callouts and images, there’s no need to recapture or reinsert images into your documentation when text or version changes are a requirement.
MadCap Capture
Screen Capture and Image Editing
MadCap Capture offers advanced screen capturing and image editing features to make it easy to incorporate images into your content. Easily re-crop and re-capture images, add captions, single source images using custom mediums from your Flare projects, batch replace image libraries, store common image settings in profiles and much more.
MadCap Mimic
Interactive Demos, Videos, Tutorials and Software Simulations
MadCap Mimic is an easy-to-use technical documentation software simulation and multimedia tool that lets you create fully interactive movies, eLearning videos, simulations, presentations and tutorials or user guides of a software product or system.
SUBJECT MATTER
EXPERT
CONTRIBUTION & REVIEW
Streamlined Team Collaboration, Including Contribution and Review in the Cloud
With a streamlined approach to team collaboration, Flare provides workflows designed to make your content development smooth and efficient.
Cloud-Based Contribution and
Review
with MadCap
Central
Allow anyone in your organization to contribute and review Flare content using MadCap Central’s cloud-based editor. Subject matter experts, authors and other non-Flare users can easily create and review content using an integrated cloud-based workflow.
Benefits of this review workflow include:
Cloud-based Editor
Subject matter experts do not need to download and install any software product. The contribution and review workflow is simple, completely integrated and takes place in the cloud.
Concurrent Multi-User Authoring and Review
Multiple SMEs, authors and non-Flare users can contribute, make changes and add comments to the same topic or snippet simultaneously.
Easy-to-Use Interface
The lightweight editor offers a streamlined interface, and SMEs only see options and features that are relevant to the contribution and review process.
Team Collaboration
Collaborate with SMEs (and other authors) by viewing and working with the same Flare content and projects concurrently.
Desktop-Based Contribution and Review with MadCap Contributor
If a cloud-based review workflow is not ideal for your organization, you can take advantage of Flare's built-in topic review and contribution features (for Flare authors) and MadCap Contributor (for subject matter experts).
Benefits of this review workflow include:
Send Reviews
You can email review package files containing topics and/or snippets to other individuals for their feedback and/or changes. Alternatively, you can use SharePoint integration or the external resources feature to store the review package files.
Receive Reviews
Using Flare, you can review documents sent to you by other Flare authors via email or other methods.
Contributions
Subject matter experts, authors and other non-Flare users can use MadCap Contributor to create and review content.
Translation
Multi-language Authoring, Translation and Publishing, Including Bi-directional Support
Deliver good documentation to your global users with Flare, with support for multi-language authoring, translation and publishing. Flare supports Unicode language characters, double-byte Asian languages and Eastern European languages, as well as bi-directional language authoring and publishing including Hebrew, Arabic and Persian.
Advanced single-sourcing features make translation more seamless in Flare, with easy access to content, snippets, variables and more. Integration with MadCap Lingo provides unparalleled support for the translation and localization process.
Multilingual web and print publishing from a single project
The multilingual publishing feature allows for multiple languages to be published in a single output for both print and online content.
Controlled Language/Simplified Technical English support
Through integration with Acrolinx and Etteplan | Tedopres HyperSTE, Flare allows authors to use a standardized vocabulary and style to improve consistency, eliminate ambiguity and reduce complexity. Ensure compliance with corporate terminology and style guide rules using an advanced interactive checker and quality measurement features.
Fully-integrated translation workflow with MadCap Lingo
- Seamless transfer of content between Flare and MadCap Lingo using Project Packager
- Use MadCap Lingo to translate content or package content for translation
- Gain visibility with reports such as word and segment count, exact matches already in translation memory, content requiring translation and more
Plus: Language and business services with MadTranslations
- Complete end-to-end authoring, consulting, translation and publishing services
- Tools and expertise in maximizing content re-use, from initial authoring stage through final translation stage
Multilingual Web and Print Publishing from a Single Project
The multilingual publishing feature allows for multiple languages to be published in a single output for both print and online content. Right-to-left (RTL) languages are supported in all outputs except FrameMaker®.
Publishing
Publish Fully Responsive HTML5 Websites, PDFs, and More
Ensure your content is accessible to your end users, wherever they are, and however they prefer to consume your content.
For inspiration and real-world examples view our customer showcase.
Supported Formats
Publish your content to popular formats including HTML5, PDF, Microsoft® Word, Clean XHTML, EPUB, and Eclipse Help; as well as legacy output types such as WebHelp and DITA for example.
Fully Responsive Websites
Flare utilizes responsive web design that automatically adjusts the display of your content depending on the device.
User-Friendly Web Design
Create stunning HTML5 web content that is user-friendly, easy to navigate and visually impressive for your end users.
Page Layout Support for High-end Print
Flare offers advanced capabilities for high-end print publishing needs, including CMYK support, OpenType Fonts, vector graphic support and more.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Learning Record Stores (LRS)
Generate SCORM-compliant (SCORM 2004, 1.2) and xAPI-compliant (Tin Can) content directly from MadCap Flare to upload to any external LMS or LRS.
Combine the Benefits of On-Premises Authoring and Publishing with the Convenience of the Cloud
Limited or no IT resources? By combining the power, security and no need for internet dependency of MadCap Flare’s on-premises authoring with MadCap Central’s cloud-based hosting, content and project management, there’s no need to invest in expensive web and publishing servers, project management software, analytics and other non-integrated solutions to manage your content delivery workflow.
- Hosting
- Project Management
- Contribution and Review
- Translation
- Publishing
- Analytics
Easily Host and Manage Your Projects and Content in the Cloud
MadCap Flare makes it easy to publish your documentation projects and other content directly to MadCap Central in just a few clicks. Once published, you can manage your outputs and set the status for each, including whether the site is live, if the site is private with password protected user access, whether the site can be crawled by search engines and much more.
Repurpose and Reuse Content Anywhere
Break down silos and take advantage of direct integration and publishing to popular Help Desk, CRM and other third party support applications. With Flare, you can publish directly to Salesforce®, Zendesk® and ServiceNow® with the MadCap Connect plug-ins. In addition, repurpose content to any other platforms, third party applications and content management solutions using MadCap Flare’s Clean XHTML output.
Adaptable Platform for a Rich Variety of Content and Document Types
Flare’s publishing versatility is unmatched: Content developers, from technical writers and documentation managers to eLearning specialists and instructional or user manual designers, can create and manage a rich variety of content from a single application.
Employee Handbooks and Policies & Procedures Manuals
Online Help, Documentation and User Assistance
Medical, Regulatory and Compliance Documents
Training Manuals and eLearning Guides
API and SDK Documentation
Knowledge Bases and Corporate Intranets
User Guides, Installation Guides and Quick Start Guides
Support and Troubleshooting Documentation
Administrative, Programmer and Internal Development Documentation
Proposals, Contracts, Reports and Audits
Marketing and Corporate Communication Documentation
Illustrated Parts Catalogs and Maintenance Manuals
AUTHORING AND REAL-TIME ACTIONABLE ANALYTICS ON YOUR OUTPUT
Improve Content Accuracy, Reliability and Overall Customer Satisfaction with Analysis and Reporting During Content Creation and Real-Time Actionable Analytics on Post-Production Usage
By taking advantage of built-in authoring analysis and reporting during content development, plus real-time end-user statistics on how your users are interacting with and finding your content, you can improve content quality, overall customer satisfaction and self-help, and enable a continuous workflow of content improvement for maximum ROI.
Authoring analysis and reporting
Find and Fix Issues with Powerful Project Analysis and Reporting
MadCap Flare offers powerful project analysis and reporting that can help find and fix issues with your projects. Run tests before you publish to find critical technical issues, such as broken links, duplicate stylesheets, missing images and more.
Scan your project to find and fix critical technical issues, including:
- Broken Links
- Duplicate Styles in Stylesheets
- Duplicate TOC Items
- Broken Image Links
- Broken Bookmarks
- Undefined Variables, Condition Tags,
File Tags and Conditions - Non-XML Topics and More
As well as used and unused items including:
- Snippets
- Topics
- Styles
- Variables
- Map IDs
- Images and More
Plus, improve
content quality and reuse by
identifying suggestions, including:
- Markup (XHTML)
- Index Keywords
- Cross-references
- Local Styles
- Snippets
- Variables
- Accessibility
The Power of MadCap Analyzer Is Now Built Into MadCap Flare
MadCap Analyzer’s features and functionality are now included in Flare. Find and fix critical issues quickly, get content suggestions for snippets and variables, meet accessibility guidelines, generate custom reports, and much more.
Find Elements
Quickly and easily find files containing particular elements such as custom tags, MadCap-specific features (drop-down text, concepts, equations), markup, inline styles, style classes, and more.
Text Analysis for Readability, Average Sentence Length and More
A text analysis tool built into Flare allows you to run reports on your project content. Scores are based on the “Flesch Reading Ease” and “Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level” tests, and reports can be run on topics, documents, entire projects or compared side-by-side to other documents.
Reports include Readability scores, average sentence length, punctuation density per sentence, and number of unique words.
REAL-TIME actionable ANALYTICS on POST-PRODUCTION OUTPUT REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOUR CONTENT IS LOCATED
Maximize Customer Self-Help and Improve Content Usefulness by Gaining Valuable Insight Into User Interactivity
Are your end users finding the content they need? How many times did a user search for content that provided no results? Should you create micro content for particular search phrases? All of these critical questions can be answered with data analytics on your Flare-generated content.
- Don’t “drive blindfolded”, take the guessing out of your content quality strategy
- Easy set up in just minutes so you can start gathering data analytics immediately
- Track usage on any hosted website or desktop output
- Content can be hosted anywhere, not just with MadCap Central
Analytics Reports Available
Search
Search Queries
Search Queries with No Results
Content
Topic Views
Context-Sensitive Help Calls
Demographics
Browser Statistics
Operating System Statistics
Gather Usage Data On Any Content – Online, Hosted or Even Local Desktop
Unlike most data analytic solutions, your Flare-generated content can be hosted anywhere — including desktop-based content — to capture data quickly in just a matter of clicks. Your content can be hosted using MadCap Central’s easy online hosting feature; use a third party hosted website, server, or even on your own internal desktop accessible only to you or your employees and internal network users.
We use the output analytics feature in MadCap Central and find it easy and convenient. We use the analytics for all of our MadCap Flare projects, regardless of whether they are hosted with MadCap Central or not.
NIGEL LONGLEY | Learning Material Consultant, Construction Industry Solutions Ltd (COINS)
Micro Content and Data Analytics Are Changing the Content Development Game
How can you make sure you are giving your end users the information they need and want the most? By combining micro content from MadCap Flare and data analytics from MadCap Central, you can improve your content quality and ensure your users are finding the most relevant and accurate content they need quickly and easily.
We love the micro content feature in MadCap Flare, and we have created hundreds of specialized micro content pieces in our Learning Center.
Casey Schroeder | Lead Content Strategist, 84.51°
