Finding topics in the Content Explorer Window

[D in CA]

I have taken on a project from a person who left the company. They entered a large number of topics, and I am not familar with all the data. Is there a search or find function for the long list of topics that are in my Content Explorer?

[alaltenburg]

I do not think I understand what you are trying to ask. You want to search topics in the explorer window?

[carolynmwallace]

There is a filter function in the Content Explorer window (at least in v2.5, which is what I have). For example, you can filter the topics to find only those with "Setting" or "Feature X" in the file name. See the Help file "Content Explorer" (under "User Interface Elements - How to Use Each One")

Hope this helps!

[alaltenburg]

The topics should be in alphabetical order in Content Explorer, so I do not see what the need is to search for topics. Can't you just go to Edit>Find files?

Andrea

[D in CA]

I appreciate the suggestions very much! Unfortunately, there are many repetitive phrases in the text in our topics and many topics that will be similiar. I do not see a filter function on the Content Explorer (User Interface Elements). I do a help search and there are no appropriate results. Maybe the feature doesn't exist. I would also like to rearrange the topics in the Contect Explorer (just as you would in the TOC). I seem to be stuck with how someone else stuck topics into the Content Explorer.

I think a huge problem is that the search words used to try to find a feature for working from WITHIN the application are also words that refer features of the output of the application.

[alaltenburg]

Content explorer always has them lined up alphabetically. What you could do is put a number in front of the topic title that will force topics into a numerical order. In order to set up the TOC, just click "Open Master TOC" and then you can drag topics from the content explorer into the TOC. Then when you do a build they will be in correct order.

Hope I am understanding you correctly.
Andrea

[Andrew]

The topics should be in alphabetical order in Content Explorer, so I do not see what the need is to search for topics. Can't you just go to Edit>Find files?

Andrea

Unfortunately, if you use about 40 folders, and have, say, 6000 topics, alphabetical order is relatively unhelpful.

Using the File List pane with the filter and wildcards is marginally more helpful, but slow and cumbersome.

I'd love to see a nice search capability -- something similar to the Ctrl-Shift-H Style Picker, but a Topic Search.

[alaltenburg]

Flare 4.2 only allows you to go to Edit>Find in Files. That allows you to put in a keyword and searches all topics.

Other than that, looks like you will have to put in a feature request.

Andrea

[Andrew]

Flare 4.2 only allows you to go to Edit>Find in Files. That allows you to put in a keyword and searches all topics.

It's not that I don't know which topic some content is in. The really big issue for me is the amount of time it takes to navigate there when dealing with huge numbers of topics, or figuring out which folder I should look in.

Other than that, looks like you will have to put in a feature request.

Oh, I have...back around the 2.0 timeframe, if memory serves.

[LTinker68]

Flare 4.2 only allows you to go to Edit>Find in Files. That allows you to put in a keyword and searches all topics.

It's not that I don't know which topic some content is in. The really big issue for me is the amount of time it takes to navigate there when dealing with huge numbers of topics, or figuring out which folder I should look in.

If you're now in charge of the project, then you might want to reorganize the content in the folders to make it more logical. There is no meta data captured at the folder level that says what the purpose of the contents in that folder are. You don't want folder names to be too long because they are part of the URL, and I recommend not having spaces in the folder names either. But you can create new folders and build a hierarchy of folders, but again, don't go too deep (i.e., don't create too many levels). When you move topics and/or folders to new/other folders, Flare will ask if you want to update the links. Make sure you select Yes.

This will cause a bit of a problem if you have source control on the project. If you do, an alternative might be to create a file outside of the project (and by that, I mean not within the Contents folder of the project) that lists all of the folder names and what the topics within those folders are for, who is in charge of each folder, etc. In other words, maintain your own metadata in an Excel spreadsheet, for example. As long as it's not within the Contents folder of the project it won't be included in the output (online or print), but it's still kept with the project so all of the authors can see it and update it, if necessary.

[Andrew]

Thank you for the tips, Lisa; I'd like to reorganize the folders a bit to mitigate this problem, but I'm afraid poor organization is one of the less onerous problems. It's mostly a volume issue. Clicking around in the Content Explorer takes a lot of time because of the number of files, and simply the fact that we must click around a lot.

For me, this may just be an issue of what we used to have in RoboHelp -- in the Topic List tab, you could start typing the topic title, and RoboHelp would bring you right to it. I now perceive any system that is slower than that (and clicking and scrolling around in the CE is *much* slower) to be subpar. Waiting for mouse clicks and stuttery scrolling makes the software much more painful to use.

[KevinDAmery]

I actually find it quicker and easier to find my topics by looking in the TOC than in the CE. 'Course, this would only be the case if most / all of your topics are in the TOC....

[LTinker68]

You want to turn on the Show Files feature in the Content Explorer (it's the icon to the right of the folder icon at the top of the Content Explorer). It splits the Content Explorer into two panes. On the left is the folder structure. When you click on a folder in the left pane, its contents are displayed in the right pane. This feature allows you to select multiple files in the right pane and move them or modify their Properties simultaneously. If you're in the right pane and you start typing a topic name you'll jump to that topic or the closest to it (in case you typed it wrong or there are multiple files that start with the same name).

So you can have the same functionality as you do in RoboHelp -- you just have to turn the feature on.

[Andrew]

You want to turn on the Show Files feature in the Content Explorer (it's the icon to the right of the folder icon at the top of the Content Explorer). It splits the Content Explorer into two panes. On the left is the folder structure. When you click on a folder in the left pane, its contents are displayed in the right pane. This feature allows you to select multiple files in the right pane and move them or modify their Properties simultaneously. If you're in the right pane and you start typing a topic name you'll jump to that topic or the closest to it (in case you typed it wrong or there are multiple files that start with the same name).

So you can have the same functionality as you do in RoboHelp -- you just have to turn the feature on.

Sorry to say, that's exactly how I have my CE set up. That only works if you have just a few topics in the CE folder (say, less than a screen or two's worth). With 100+ topics in the CE folder, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the folder before you can type-n-find (like you could in RH, except RH lets you do it with the whole project). And I have 40 folders...I could live with Go to folder > type-n-find if it worked, but it doesn't. I reported this issue (among other CE file performance issues and glitches) to MadCap back in v1 or v2. They certainly resolved the worst of the performance problems and UI glitches, but they've never solved this one.

I'd just like to be able to get to any topic in the project by typing a few letters of the topic's name and selecting from a list, without taking my hands off the keyboard. I understand why many folks with much smaller projects don't consider that to be a priority, but it would make my life much easier, and I have to assume, the lives of anyone with several thousand topics. I also don't think it would be all that difficult a functionality to add -- we already have a database. Merely add a table that lists the topics int he project, lists where the topics are located, index the names, and add a style picker-like popup that will return the top 10 results from the table as you type, enable you to arrow-key through and select the one you want, then open the topic based on the location listed. Perhaps many people aren't like me, though, and don't remember at least the beginning of nearly all of their topic names (we use fairly strict naming conventions), so no one really sees value in this. I dunno.

Obviously, you are not the audience for this complaint, Lisa, and I appreciate your suggestions -- I know you are trying to help me!

[KevinDAmery]

I also don't think it would be all that difficult a functionality to add -- we already have a database.

Just to clarify, no we don't: Flare was specifically *not* designed to use a database (they had too many troubles with RH dbs getting corrupted to make that mistake again). Everything in Flare is a flat file.

[Andrew]

I also don't think it would be all that difficult a functionality to add -- we already have a database.

Just to clarify, no we don't: Flare was specifically *not* designed to use a database (they had too many troubles with RH dbs getting corrupted to make that mistake again). Everything in Flare is a flat file.

Sure we do. The database is the integrated Analyzer database -- the SQL Compact database Flare uses for the various integrated Analyzer functions such as finding broken links, topics not in the TOC, condition tags, etc.

[EileenP]

I know this topic is years old, but it describes exactly what I'm trying to do -- find one topic (by title in the Content Explorer) among MANY that are divided among many folders and sub-folders.

And only about half of the topics are in the TOC, so searching the TOC for the title is not an option.

Hope someone can post how to find a topic quickly! Thanks.

[SteveS]

At the right hand side of the content explorer is a dialog box launcher. Clicking it opens a filter.

Enter your topic name, the filter will accept wild cards.

To remove the filter set it back to all files *.*

HTH