MadCap Software Forums

Hi there
I was wondering if there was a simple way to highlight changes so that reviewers can concentrate just on the sections that have changed?
I used to have a complicated system of styles that would show changes in a different colour. However, I had to remember to select the styles each time, and then I had to remember to change the color back to the default. This also meant lots of duplicated styles:

• <h1>, plus <h1 rev1>, <h1 rev2>, <h1 rev 3> ...
  <h2>, plus <h2 rev1>, <h2 rev2>, <h2 rev 3> ...
  <h3>, plus <h3 rev1>, <h3 rev2>, <h3 rev 3> ...
  <p>, plus <p rev1>, <p rev2>, <p rev 3> ...
  ... you get the idea

I've recently restructured the entire system and we're back to a just the default <h1>, <h2> and so on. Before I embark on the crazy CSS method, I thought it made sense to see if anyone had a smarter idea.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts you have on this.
Thanks

Suze

There's not really an effective way to track changes that does not involve using different styles or classes. The only other thing I've done is put a condition tag on changed (or unfinished, etc.) topics so i can pick them out at a glance. then you could run a book of just changed topics if you wanted to.

I think the Conditional Tags is a good idea. I'll give that a try.
Thanks for your help.
I'll also put in a enhancement request - this would be a good feature.
Take care.
Suze

You could also put condition tags on changed text (vs. the whole topic) and only generate the changes. the context would be missing if you just changed a sentence, but that's another idea.

Thanks Laura
I think I'll put a condition tag on the topic to keep the context. If it's a big topic I could just tag a paragraph.
Thanks for your help with this.

Suze

Personally, I'd simply use Word's Track Changes. It's not perfect, but it's a lot easier than trying to track on your own in Flare.

Basically, you have to generate a Word version before you make any changes, and then after you make your changes, generate another Word version. Then use the Compare and Merge feature in Word to highlight the changes between the two Word docs.

Use the annotations, assuming reviewers have Flare also...?

Whenever I needed to have reviewers know what was changed, I'd use Adobe's Acrobat Pro to highlight text in the generated PDF. That way I didn't have to do anything to my Flare source files.