Why does 'Add New Topic' leave associated images behind?

[ccardimon]

I need to import a topic from another project ALONG with the screen captures associated with or linked to that topic.

"Add New Topic" imports the topic but leaves the images, which doesn't help at all.

What must I do to import the topic AND its associated images from another project?

I don't want to simply link to the images in the other project, I want to bring them over.

[LTinker68]

You can't do it in one step, because the images aren't embedded in the file, they're links. You'd have the same problem with your topic stylesheet and table stylesheet(s) if you didn't have the same files already in the project.

You can use Windows Explorer and copy the image files from one project into the new project, but make sure you have the folder structure identical. Once you paste the images in, you can then move them around from within Flare -- it will ask if you want to update all links to the images and you'd say Yes. If you didn't mimic the folder structure initially, then you'd have to change all your image link references in the new project to point to the correct location.

If you might use the same images in a lot of projects, then you might want to look into the project linking feature (master project).

[ccardimon]

Thanks for replying, Lisa. I might have to do the project linking thing.

Is there a way to copy/import a topic from Project A into Project B, and have the linked images be copied/imported into Project B along with the topic?

That's all I'm really trying to do, but something tells me I might be asking too much. Sigh.

[KevinDAmery]

Currently Flare doesn't do that in one step. It does sound like a good feature though.

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[ccardimon]

Currently Flare doesn't do that in one step. It does sound like a good feature though.

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

Done.

By the way, if Flare doesn't do that in one step, how many steps does Flare take to do it?

Can your average moron (that would be me) get it done?

[LTinker68]

By the way, if Flare doesn't do that in one step, how many steps does Flare take to do it?

The number of steps would depend on how many elements you're referencing in the topic. You could have a topic stylesheet, one or more table stylesheets, one or more snippets, one or more images, etc. in a single topic. If you didn't have the same stylesheets and snippet files, then you'd have to copy them over, too. Assuming, of course, that you want to use the same stylesheet(s) and snippets.

I still think using Windows Explorer would be the easiest way to go about doing it. Have the two project folders open in two instances of Windows Explorer, and copy the necessary files from one project to the other. You can always use the built-in Analyzer functions to see if there are any broken links, and if there are, go back and copy the appropriate items over.

It seems like it wouldn't take much for MadCap to add an import function that would give you an option to pull in all the referenced items at the same time.