Word / PDF Properties

[helen]

Morning

Is there any way to specify the properties of the Word or PDF outptut? I've got Word 2007 and whilst I still need to do some post-publishing I was wondering if there was anywhere to set the Word Properties (such as Author) in Flare - currently it always says MadCap until I change it! I've had a dig around but I can't find anything on it.

[NorthEast]

Nope, but you could put in a feature request.
I think it should really use the user name set in Word (which defaults to your Windows logon name), rather than stick in 'MadCap'.

[helen]

I agree, and will do. It seems a bit hasty being able to publish straight to PDF when those fields will need changing for anything that walks out the door.

[RamonS]

Well, you do not publish straight to PDF. You publish to Word, which is then instructed to publish to PDF. That may also be the deciding factor as to how much influence Flare has on details like the author's name. Flare would need to store that information in the project, but that falls apart as soon as two or more work on the same project. And for the data to be read from Word Flare needs to have the means to access that information, which may be buried in some proprietary file or a whacky registry key.

[NorthEast]

Yep, but either way, I'd rather have a blank field than 'Madcap' as the author.

[helen]

Fair point, but yes, I'd rather have a blank field than "Madcap" in there! I have submitted an enhancement request.

[scott]

Hi Helen,
You can change the author when you build a Word target. Flare "hides" this setting in one of its resource files.

To change the author when you build a Word target:
* Open C:\Program Files\MadCap Software\MadCap Flare V4\Flare.app\Resources\MsWordCompiler\Chapter.xml. I used Notepad.
* Change <o:Author>MadCap Software</o:Author> to whatever you want to use.

MadCap doesn't want you to change the resource files, so be careful in there.

hope this helps,
.scott

[helen]

Hi Scott

Thanks for your reply, I'll give it a go.

I've also found a little PDF tool which allows me to change the hidden properties in the file. I find going straight to PDF much easier these days as Word appears to ignore various aspects of CSS!