PDF of ONE topic

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hldrake
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PDF of ONE topic

Post by hldrake »

Hi, I want to create a PDF of a SINGLE topic. No index, no TOC (in output), etc. Just a PDF of ONE topic. How do I do that?
Nita Beck
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by Nita Beck »

Hi, and welcome to the forums! :)

Your question is barebones, and I can't infer how much you might already know about Flare. I'll assume not a lot (without meaning any offense; rather, just to make sure I'm covering the bases you need).

First, you'll need a page layout, if there isn't one in the project yet. You can learn about how to create one here: http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... ayouts.htm

Next, you'll need to add the topic you want to output to the PDF to a TOC (start here to learn more http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... ntents.htm).

Finally, add a PDF target (see http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... argets.htm.) On the target's General tab, set the Master TOC to the TOC you put the topic on and set the Master Page Layout to the page layout you created. Also, if you're using Flare 10, go to the Advanced tab and make sure that the check boxes for Generate TOC Proxy, Generate Index Proxy, and Generate Glossary Proxy are NOT selected.

At this point, you can build the PDF target.

HTH. Post back if not.
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ChoccieMuffin
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

From a different perspective, assuming you've got a great big project and you only want a single topic in your PDF...

Create a new TOC - call it TEST or SAMPLE or something really obviously not "real".
Create a new target (or better still, copy an existing PDF target in your project) and call it TEST or SAMPLE, I suggest you use the same name as the TOC. Using a copy means that your single topic will have the same page layouts and other bits and pieces as your regular PDF target.
Edit the target (General tab, I think) to use the TEST.toc rather than what was there in the one you copied.
As Nita said, if you're using Flare 10, go to the Advanced tab and make sure that the check boxes for Generate TOC Proxy, Generate Index Proxy, and Generate Glossary Proxy are NOT selected.

Between the two of us we should have answered your question, I hope.
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Nita Beck
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by Nita Beck »

@ChoccieMuffin

We REALLY need a Like button on the forums 'cause I SOOO like your post.
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ccardimon
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by ccardimon »

I like ChoccieMuffin's post, too.
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Msquared
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by Msquared »

So do I, because that's exactly what I do too.

I already have a target specifically for this in each project. In fact, I call it my "review" target. You can also put more than one topic in the TOC (try cutting and pasting a section directly from your normal TOC window into your review TOC - it just works!), so you can generate a collection of topics to send for review if you like. For this target, I also use my Review stylesheet, rather than my normal print one, which has a few more styles to allow me to show comments and annotations that are always hidden in the other (production) targets. But that's a bit of an aside . . .

The thing I was going to say was that Flare also provides a direct facility to allow you to generate a preview of a single topic in the style defined for any of the targets in your project, with conditions, variables etc set as they would be in that target. That's really useful too and doesn't involve you having to set up another target.

On the far left of Flare's XML editor, there is a little icon that looks like a piece of paper with a magnifying glass in it. That is Preview As. If you click it, you will preview the topic as if it had been generated as part of your primary target. If you click the drop-down beside it, you can preview it as any of your other targets. I use this to view my content as it would be in my main PDF target and/or my review PDF target several times a day. The only slight niggle is that for PDFs it is a modal window, so if you want to keep viewing the content while you go back to the topic and make changes, you have to save it to a known location (by default, it's a temporary file) and then open it up again.

Although, for some reason, earlier today, it stopped being a modal window, but that's another story!
Marjorie

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Nita Beck
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by Nita Beck »

Yep, and I do what Marjorie (et al) does. I have a review TOC and a review target that I use exclusively for creating quick little "one-offs" -- such as a Word doc or PDF of a topic or two. Sometimes it's just easier to review something "one paper" or in another program than Flare.
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doc_guy
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by doc_guy »

Nita Beck wrote:@ChoccieMuffin

We REALLY need a Like button on the forums 'cause I SOOO like your post.
AGreed. Both about @choicemuffin's post and the need for a like button.
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by doc_guy »

I'll add that once you have a PDF target, you can click the preview button in the XML editor to view that topic in PDF format. You can then ususally right-click on the PDF file to save it in a different location. It won't have all the bells and whistles of the correct page layouts and such, as it will just use the default page layout assigned to the target, but if you only need in a PDF file, and not necessarily looking exactly like it will in print, this is a much easier (and faster) solution.
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ChoccieMuffin
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

Aww, shucks! :oops:
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Msquared
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by Msquared »

What's up? :?:
Marjorie

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ChoccieMuffin
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

That's just embarrassment at the Likes!
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Msquared
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by Msquared »

Enjoy your fan club. ;-)
Marjorie

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damadeo
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Re: PDF of ONE topic

Post by damadeo »

I want to include a button at the top of each topic in my help system to allow a user to download just that one topic as a pdf. Can I do this without creating a toc and target for every single topic?

thanks in advance!
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