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I'm working to convert our existing document set into Flare projects. We have somewhere around 50 documents. I'm thinking I'll keep each individual document as a separate Flare project but then merge them all as one large global project for the final output. I have two questions:

1. Is keeping the individual documents as separate Flare projects a good idea? It seems like the different subjects will be easier to manage and keep track of that way.

2. I'm going to want to link from topics in one project to topics in other projects. What's the best way to do this? Add the links after I merge everything into the global project?

Thanks for your help.

I can tell you what I do:

All same stuff that I need to use in different projects, I put in Global linking projects (I end up the name of these projects with Source, like ToolsSource or ProtocolSource).
When something changes it changes everywhere without needing to change everything in a single project.
In my mind it is something where Single sourcing is for.

I have also created some projects in 'My templates' which I use to create new projects from. These templates have also global links.
Let I show you an example: The tool Layout Adjust Manager was created the first time from the template ILN Tools. That template is always kept up-to-date with the ILNTools Source project. So everytime I create a new project I first do a reimport to ensure that everything in the template has the newest stuff, like page layouts, styles, snippets, system variables, title topics and more.
After the Layout Adjust Manager was created (it also got the import file from the template) I only keep the general stuff up-to-date with the ILNTools Source project.

So, I would keep the documents in different projects but put the general stuff in global linking projects.
But, as we in Holland say "There are different ways that lead you to Rome".

However, it is a good moment to make up your mind, because if you have to change it later on, it will take a lot of extra work.

S6.

kevsheehan wrote:1. Is keeping the individual documents as separate Flare projects a good idea? It seems like the different subjects will be easier to manage and keep track of that way.

2. I'm going to want to link from topics in one project to topics in other projects. What's the best way to do this? Add the links after I merge everything into the global project?

Given #2, I wouldn't suggest using project linking. I would just have one large project with all the documents.

The reason is that it will be difficult and tedious to add links between the projects.

You don't add the links in the merged project, as you'd be changing the imported version of the file, not the original - which means breaking the import link.
So if you want to insert any cross-project links, you need to do that in the source - and as you can't browse for the topics, that means adding them by hand.

So, I'd suggest just setting up single large project containing all the documents.
I'm assuming the documents are supplied together in the output, as you're wanting to merge the documents.
(Even if you needed to supply individual documents too, you can still do that by setting up different targets and using conditions.)

kevsheehan wrote:I'm working to convert our existing document set into Flare projects. We have somewhere around 50 documents. I'm thinking I'll keep each individual document as a separate Flare project but then merge them all as one large global project for the final output. I have two questions:

1. Is keeping the individual documents as separate Flare projects a good idea? It seems like the different subjects will be easier to manage and keep track of that way.

2. I'm going to want to link from topics in one project to topics in other projects. What's the best way to do this? Add the links after I merge everything into the global project?

Thanks for your help.

At my previous company we did a massive conversion similar to yours. We started out with about 50 or so imported word docs. Eventually, we began merging projects with similar subject matter into single larger projects. It made the maintenance a little easier. Lessening the number of separate projects decreased the build time overhead and made some things simpler to manage.