Cached Flare Files

[EmilyM]

How do I clear or empty cached Flare files?

I have a topic that has corrupted itself (or something). I can't open it in the WYSIWYG view, and when I try it in Notepad or the internal Flare editor I get an error saying the Network path can't be found. But then a blank document opens.
My colleagues can open the file with no issue. I deleted the file on a colleague's machine but I can still see it on mine.
I believe it has been cached somehow somewhere and my machine is having issues, and if I can delete it then all will be OK with the world....

We are not using source control.

[EmilyM]

P.S. I tried deleting everything from C:\Users\emilym\AppData\Roaming\MadCap Software\Flare, no joy.

[Msquared]

Also, delete everything in your project folder below /Analyzer, /Output and /SourceControl (if it exists). You also have a /Users folder below /Project. Don't delete the folder (although Flare will recreate it if you do), but delete the subfolder with your username that is below it.

[EmilyM]

Thanks for the suggestion Msquared.

I deleted everything and then also rebooted my machine. I can still see the stupid topic. Grrrrrr.

[doc_guy]

So your files are on a network drive? I'm assuming this since you say colleagues are accessing the same files. Is the file there when you browse to the location in Windows Explorer?

[EmilyM]

Hi Paul,

Yes, the files are on a network drive. My colleague deleted the file from Windows Explorer but I can still see it. If I try to delete it I get an error message saying that the item cannot be found, and is no longer located in the directory.
Depending on what I do in Flare, a PROPS file is being created in the directory as well.

[Msquared]

If you can still see the file in its location on the network drive in Windows Explorer, and it's really been deleted from its location on the network drive, then I don't think it's a Flare issue, but a different issue. It seems something on your PC thinks the file is there but when Flare goes to look for it, it really isn't there. So Flare is correct in telling you that the network location can't be found.

The only thing that puzzles me is that you say in your initial post that your colleague can open the file but you have deleted it. If both of these actions are on the network drive, can your colleague can still open it, or has it really been deleted now? If so, is your colleague still seeing it, or not?

It looks like some sort of synchronisation issue with your PC's view of the network drive, although I'm not sure how that could be, unless there's something about your network setup that is unusual.

Silly question, but I take it you've rebooted your PC since this problem occurred. What about if you unmap and remap the network drive? Does that sync up the views?

[EmilyM]

Thanks for the response Msquared. You are right, it is not a Flare issue, it is something screwy with my PC.

My colleagues could also see the file originally, and open it, but then I deleted it on one of their machines (first in Flare and then from the network drive) and they couldn't see it, but I could.

I have rebooted many many times and have also unmapped and remapped the network more than once.

Today I made copies of the project without the corrupt file, including one copy in our main Flare directory named the same as the original project with _copy added to the name. I then got our tech support guy to delete the original project and rename the _copy project back to the original name. I could still see the corrupt file, even though it wasn't there in the copy version. It magically reappeared once the project was renamed back to the original name. The tech guy could not see it on his machine. He took control of my screen and had a look around and is totally stumped as to why it is still visible to me. He is going to reboot the server tonight to see if that works!