When/Why/How Many MS-Word Import Files To Use?

[bobwiker]

I have a WebHelp project whose pages will come from imported MS-Word documents. I've been experimenting with the Word Import Editor file, trying to figure out how to use it and how to configure it. Some questions:

[In all scenarios I want to retain a link between the original MS-Word files and the Flare pages.]

If I import 5 files today, and another 8 files tomorrow, and 12 more next week, should I have a separate Word Import file for each of these import batches in the Project Organizer-->Imports folder? Are there scenarios when I would have separate files and when I wouldn't?

What if the Word documents in batch 1 are formatted the same as those in batch 2, which are formatted the same as batch 3--in other words, they were all created from the same basic Word template--does that affect whether I'd have multiple Import files?

What if I import a batch of 12 Word documents, and then tomorrow I need to re-import 3 of those original 12 documents because of edits to the 3 Word documents. Do I use the original Word Import file or create a new one? If using the original Word Import file from my 12-file import batch, do I remove the other 9 filenames from my batch before re-importing the 3 I want to re-import?

If I am going to import several different batches of Word files, each with its own Word Import file (.flimp), and I want to use the same Word Import settings, can I duplicate or clone a .flimp file? Is there a "Save as..."? Or, is there some other way?

Thanks in advance for helpful, illuminating answers and dialogue.

[KevinDAmery]

I haven't got any direct experience with the workflow you're describing (whenever I need to import from Word I do it once then maintain the content in Flare from then on - one of the joys of being a lone writer and having ownership of the documents...) so I can't answer everything. But as far as the number of imports to have, I would think you would break them out according to a) formatting, and b) reimport schedule. In other words, every Word file in an import should have the same format so that your style mappings match, and any files that you need to import at the same time should be in the same import. (Now, if the order of importing is going to change each time, this could get mucky....)

[bobwiker]

My workflow is likely to be in batch mode. The Subject Matter Experts will send me a batch of Word documents ("OK, here's all of Chapter One!"), then a week or two later send me another batch of Word documents ("OK, Chapter Two is finished; here's the Word documents!") and so on.

Should I have a Word Import document for each batch? If so, how do I clone/duplicate an existing Word Import document that I've already set up?

A related question: Your thoughts on this workflow?

1. Import Word docs from Subject Matter Experts into Flare
2. Make necessary changes/additions in Flare (such as Index entries and the like)
3. When Subject Matter experts need to make changes, output Flare topics to Word documents for their perusal/markup
4. Import Word document from Step 3 back into Flare ?????

What I'm wondering about is the last part of this workflow--once I have imported the Word docs into Flare, how best to deal with update requests from Subject Matter Experts who ask me "Can you give me a copy of the topic so I can mark it up with my changes"?

[wclass]

Importing - the trade-offs

Here is a list of issues I have discovered when importing Word documents. Generally I would vote for a separate import for each document required.

Format - ALL files in the import have to have the same heading level structure because the setting to break documents into topics is set at IMPORT level not file level.

Styles - if you attempt to "preserve Word styles" then they better be the same across all documents in the impot. But I would suggest you spend time setting up both the Word template styles and the Flare CSS so that you can map them on import - this is more likely to ensure consistency.

Re-import schedule - on any re-import ALL files are updated even if some have not changed. In theory this is not a huge problem, but it adds excess processing time, and you always have to have access to the original documents.

File naming/location (this is a deal breaker for me). On import, all files are uploaded into the same folder. A number of my Word documents have the same heading structure, like "overview", "procedures", "reference", etc. Depending on how you split the files, the first document in the import will be split into Overview.htm, procedures.htm, and then next one will have topics called overview1.htm, procedures1.htm. As you can see the generated file naming relates to the headings and does not incorporate the document name, which makes it hard to find specific files. Since each import creates a separate folder, this works better for me.

There are options for setting up Word fields to specify what file name a topic is assigned. This works but is fiddly, and is best to automate with a macro as a pre-processing step.

Generated TOCS. TOCs are generated differently depending on whether there is a Word TOC or not. If some files in the import have a TOC and others don't then only the ones with TOCS end up in the Flare one. If you have separate imports, then you can create a master TOC and link in all the generated once.

You can create an "import skeleton" file and copy/paste it to create extra import files. You can also set this up as part of your project templates. Be aware if you copy/paste one that has already run the import, and it be flagged as "re-import" - you might need to get your hands dirty editing the XML in order to create a skeleton that includes all the paragraph mappings as well (can be done but not for the feint hearted).

[wclass]

... A related question: Your thoughts on this workflow?

1. Import Word docs from Subject Matter Experts into Flare
2. Make necessary changes/additions in Flare (such as Index entries and the like)
3. When Subject Matter experts need to make changes, output Flare topics to Word documents for their perusal/markup
4. Import Word document from Step 3 back into Flare ?????

I don't think the "round trip" works smoothly.

Step 4 will clobber any changes made in Step 2. You can insert index entries in Word and they are imported OK.

At step 1 you probably have styles like "Normal" and "Heading 1" and other standard Word styles, but these get mapped to "p" and "p.something" and so on. At Step 3, when you export back to Word all your style names are different, so mapping them on re-entry is a whole new ball game. There are a few possible ways of approaching this - only let them edit the original Word document and re-import as needed, or when you do import, don't try and map styles but preserve the Word ones, creating new style sheets each time. This also works, but you lose the power of the Flare CSS.

Personally, I find that I import once and edit in Flare, generating Word for review, but I manually update the changes. I reckon I have to view the document carefully anyway to make sure styles have not changed, and the wording makes sense, so I don't see the manual process as a problem. Your mileage may vary on this one.

[KevinDAmery]

I'm inclined to agree with Margaret. Flare does seem to work best if you bring the content into Flare then manage it from there.

The other reason I'm not inclined to just import document revisions from SMEs is that SMEs are usually very good at their subject matter but not so good at writing. Odds are they don't pay much attention to the style guide, there's probably in-line formatting all over the place, and they frequently don't organize the information in an easy to follow way. Part of our job as technical writers is to translate from SME-ese into real-people language

[bobwiker]

Thanks for the dialogue and suggestions. Among the recommendations/tips, these caught my eye:

• If possible, use consistently-styled Word documents as the source, so CSS and style mapping work best.
• Do separate imports for each (small) batch of Word files, using separate Word Import files (.flimp), for a variety of good reasons.
• If possible, import only once into Flare and then manage the pages within Flare.
• Handle revisions/reviews by outputting to Word, letting SMEs review & mark up, then manually enter those changes into the Flare-based pages.

[LTinker68]

Another revision/review (even content creation) option is MadCap's X-Edit software --> http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/xedit/