Creating multiple, small pdfs instead of one long pdf

[mafaulkner]

Flare Help for pdfs seems to refer only to creating one pdf with multiple chapters. You have to create a TOC, author multiple files, and associate those files with a single target.

I need to do something quite different: generate multiple short pdfs. Each pdf would be a separate file, and I don't want a TOC. Individual pdfs would be called by links in online Help and links in the software program we are documenting. Do I need to create a separate target for each pdf?

Thanks.

Melinda

[NorthEast]

There is an option in the target Advanced tab to Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output; this will generate multiple PDFs, which you split by setting chapter breaks in the TOC.

If you are generating PDF output directly (rather than going through FrameMaker or Microsoft Word to produce it), you can split the generated output into multiple documents, rather than using the default, which results in only one document. To create multiple PDF documents, you must also specify chapter breaks at the appropriate places in the TOC (not the TOC that displays in the PDF output, but in the "outline TOC" used to determine the printed manual content and structure). This can be done on the Printed Output tab of the TOC Properties dialog. By specifying chapter breaks, you are letting Flare know where you want to split the output into new PDF documents. Then in the Advanced tab of the Target Editor, select the "Generate multiple documents for native XPS/PDF output" option.

[mafaulkner]

Thank you, I'll give this a try. I saw this information but wasn't sure this process would result in individual pdf files that I could link to directly.

[NorthEast]

This will let you generate the individual PDF files.

After building them, you then have to set up links from your help; either put them in an external folder (outside your help build), or copy/import them back into a project (if you want them inside the help build).

[mafaulkner]

Dave Lee,

I ended up creating separate targets and TOCs for each pdf, which is a bit tedious but doable. HOWEVER, now I can't seem to link to them from regular Help topics.

We have two types of pdf:

• Type 1 was created before we moved to Flare. Those pdfs live in a Flare folder, and all the links to these pdfs work fine.
  
  Type 2 pdfs were created in Flare. After I built them, I followed your last suggestion and copied the pdfs back into the project.

Type 2 pdfs seem to be in every way identical to the Type 1 pdfs, but the links to them are stripped out when I build the Help topic. I have even put links to both types of pdfs in one topic as a test. The links to the Type 1 pdfs worked, and the links to the Type 2 pdfs disappeared.

Any clues??

Thanks.

Melinda