Importing Multiple Topics

[AlanFisk]

I need to import a large number of topics from an existing Flare project. The Getting Started Guide only gives instructions for importing a single topic. Is there any way to import a batch of topics in one go?

[KevinDAmery]

Just copy them into your Content folder in the new project and add them to a TOC. Flare will see the copied topics when you open the project or when you refresh the content explorer and they'll be available to use just like any other topic.

[AlanFisk]

The old project that I inherited shows all the topics in the TOC, but they don't appear in the Content Explorer. The creator of the project isn't available for me to ask him how he put it together. How do I copy over the topics, so that I can (a) finally get some help authoring done, and (b) stop bugging you with silly questions?

[KevinDAmery]

If you right click on one of the topics in the TOC, in the basic page is a field called "Link." This tells you the path to the topic file. I'd make sure that it's pointing to the location you think it's pointing to (since you aren't seeing anything in the CE, I'd suspect it may be pointing somewhere else).

Also, are the topics in the TOC good, or do they have red exclamation points next to them? If they do, that means the underlying topic isn't where the TOC expects them to be. (Reason I ask is earlier in the week I recommended you copy the topics from one project to another--if you moved them instead of copying them, that might explain why they aren't showing in the CE anymore. Worth double checking at any rate.)

[AlanFisk]

Yes, a lot of the topics in the old project have blank "Link" fields, but none of them have red exclamation marks. In "View Output", the TOC appears in the left-hand pane, with all the topics listed, and the topics all open when selected. Flare is finding them somehow. I can't imagine how my colleague set up this project, but all I want to do is to copy the folders and topics into my new project.

[KevinDAmery]

Ok, in properties dialog from a TOC item, click the Open Linked File button. That should open the topic into the XML editor. Once you have the topic open, you can use the Locate in Content Explorer button in the toolbar to locate the topic file itself (the icon is under the gap between the Format menu and the Project menu). Make sure that the topic is focussed (i.e.select some text or something) then click on that icon--it should open the content explorer to that topic.