Snippet not selectable in toolbar

[Perrorist]

I've created a snippet (first time ever) and saved it. I've then entered a topic, chosen where I want the snippet to appear, clicked on Insert and moved to the Single Source section, where I found the Snippet item to be unselectable (i.e. shaded). I would assume that to be the case if there were no snippets, but my snippet is clearly visible in Content Explorer.

What could be the cause of this?

[doloremipsum]

The only thing I can think of is if you clicked somewhere else (e.g. the content explorer or the TOC), then the topic you have open is de-focused and the toolbar will disable anything that can only be inserted in a topic.

Can you try selecting where you want the snippet to be and pressing CTRL + R?

[Perrorist]

Thanks for the reply. I tried Ctrl-R but nothing happened. It's interesting to note that the Single Source group in the Home ribbon is also greyed out.

[doloremipsum]

Similarly, my Single Source field is greyed out when I select anything that is not a topic, and is enabled when I put my cursor in the topic.

Another thing to try: Pick any paragraph, right click on the p structure bar at the side and click Create Snippet. Add the snippet in the default location (you can delete it later). Then click somewhere else in the topic and see if you can add the snippet with CTRL+R or any other method.

That might tell you something about what part of the process isn't working - if you can't make that work, you possibly have a bug and may need to go to Madcap about it.

[Perrorist]

I've installed a trial version of Flare on another PC and come up with the same problem. It's as if Flare doesn't realise that a snippet has been created.

(This is not in reply to the post above.)

[Perrorist]

Another thing to try: Pick any paragraph, right click on the p structure bar at the side and click Create Snippet. Add the snippet in the default location (you can delete it later). Then click somewhere else in the topic and see if you can add the snippet with CTRL+R or any other method.

I tried the above, first in the Text Editor (my usual workspace), where right-clicking the <p> tag showed only a minimal context menu and so nothing happened, and then in the XML Editor, where it worked. So snippets work only in the XML editor. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. The assumption must be that most people use XML.

Thanks for your help, deloremipsum.

[doloremipsum]

Oh, yeah that would do it! Honestly I never would have imagined that you were working in the text editor, and as far as I know all of Flare's documentation refers to the XML editor context. Just goes to show that you shouldn't make assumptions about how other people use a piece of software.

You absolutely can insert a snippet in the text editor - you just have to do it manually like you do for every other piece of content! You can use: <MadCap:snippetText src="path/to/your/snippet.flsnp" /> for inline snippets and <MadCap:snippetBlock src="path/to/your/snippet.flsnp" /> for block snippets. It's very similar to inserting an image or a hyperlink.

[Perrorist]

Thanks. That's useful to know.