Sync Navigation elements not working

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WriterAndrew
Propeller Head
Posts: 50
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:43 am

Sync Navigation elements not working

Post by WriterAndrew »

Hi, all,
In my Flare project, all my HTML5 targets include the Advanced | Synchronize navigation elements with TOC entries option being set.
I configured my project this way, as my product has several workflows that include some of the same setup procedures.
However, if I'm navigation the output, when I get to one of the topics that I've included multiple times, my breadcrumbs jump to the other procedure.
For example, I have Task A and Task B that include the same topic in their setup.
If I'm navigating Task A, when I open the multi-used topic, the breadcrumbs jump to Task B.
According to all the Flare Help and other topics on this forum, I should have the correct settings for this - any suggestions on what I might be missing here?
Many thanks
robdocsmith
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 246
Joined: Thu May 24, 2018 3:11 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Sync Navigation elements not working

Post by robdocsmith »

Where a topic is included in the TOC more than once, Flare can't know which item to highlight in the output TOC so the first instance is highlighted. The only way I know around this is to put the shared content in a snippet, then embed that snippet into separate topic files. You get the benefit of single sourcing the content, but keeping TOC entries separate.

Cheers,
Rob
NorthEast
Master Propellus Maximus
Posts: 6354
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:33 am

Re: Sync Navigation elements not working

Post by NorthEast »

The Synchronize navigation elements setting only works when you navigate to the topic directly from the menu/TOC itself.
But it does not work when you navigate to that topic in any other way - from a link, search results, etc.
The feature works by adding extra information in the URL when you select a topic from the menu/TOC, so you'll notice that information is missing from the URL when you navigate to the topic any other way.
If you think about it, if you don't navigate via the menu/TOC, there would be no way of knowing which instance of the topic to highlight in the menu/TOC. It will always highlight the same instance of the topic in the menu/TOC, but it's unpredictable which instance it will pick (or at least I've not figured it out).

So if this is important to you, then the only solution is what robodocsmith suggests - create separate topics and snippets.

MadCap don't seem to cover this at all in their help - it should be in the Cons.
https://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare20 ... rosandCons
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