Why can't I rename or move topics in Flare 11?

[skwpt]

I have Flare 11 installed on a VM (details in my signature) and it mostly works fine, except that I canNOT rename or move files in Content Explorer without Flare hanging on the dependency check. I can count on 1 hand during the last 10 months where I have been able to rename/move files, but those grace periods lasted about a half hour before the dependency check brought everything to a screeching halt.

I've gone through the usual external Flare fix/cleanup process, and 9 out of 10 times it has no effect. I can't even create a folder in my book hierarchy because when I try to give 'New Folder' an appropriate name, the dependency check stops my progress.

My doc set has grown and needs organization. Plus, the company has rebranded some of its functionality, so my URLs are wrong because application names have changed. But even more frustrating is that I can't properly organize *new* content because I can't create new folders—unless I am OK with letting those folders be named New Folder, which appears in the URL.

Here's what I do to try to resolve the dependency check issue:
1. Close Flare  
2. Browse to Project / mydocs / Output folder
3. Delete the Output and Analyzer folders
4. Delete the Project / mydocs / Project / Users / <uname> folder 
5. On Windows, delete CatapultMdiEditor folder.
C:\Users\[Your User]\Appdata\Roaming\Madcapsoftware\Flare
6. Open Flare and see if the behavior persists.

Yes, it persists. I need to be able to work fast, and this issue is a productivity killer.

Another issue might be that my project is bound to Git, but I check in content externally (using SourceTree) because Flare 11 doesn't support SSH. (I know upgrading to 12 will fix this, and testing is on my list of things to do.)

Help?

[doc_guy]

Depending on the size of your project, the check you are describing is very processor intensive. For this reason, I will only run Flare on a machine that has 4GB of ram (if you are on Flare 11), or 8 GB of ram (on Flare 12), and I require my computer to have an Intel Core i7 processor (quad core). If you have a standard hard drive, then you want to make sure it has a high spin rate.

Make sure your VM has at least 4GB ram for Flare 11.

I tried running Flare 10 and 11 on a Macbook Air with a Core i5 processor and 4GB of ram, only 2 of which I allocated to the VM. Flare was *very* slow. I ended up getting a new computer because it just wasn't powerful enough to work with large Flare projects.

My current PC is a Core i7 quad core with 16GB of RAM, and a SSD hard drive. I'm running Flare 12, and I haven't noticed any performance issues.

[skwpt]

Thanks doc_guy. I allocated 8 GB of RAM my VM (my Macbook Pro has a total of 16 GB), but I only have an i5 processor. I do have an SSD hard drive.

One thing I neglected to mention in step 3 of my self help is I have never been able to locate the Analyzer folder. Support led me to believe it's at the same level as the Output folder, but it's not on my system.

I wonder if I have 10 months of garbage sitting in that folder, slowing things down. I'd clean it out if I knew where to find it.

[doc_guy]

If you are in Flare 11, it is a 32-bit app, so that much ram won't help anyway. The 32-bit version of Flare can only access like 3.5GB of ram. So the extra ram only helps if you install Flare 12.

The Analyzer folder is created in your Flare project at the top level. Here is how my project looks:



It is in the root folder where the project file itself lives. You can delete both the Analyzer and Output folders here, as they will get re-created by Flare, as needed.

[NorthEast]

I'd reckon 8GB would be about right for a VM, as it's running everything - Windows, Flare, plus any other apps.


If the Analyzer isn't in the project folder, it might be located in your Windows user folder:
C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\MadCap Software

(You'll need to show hidden files to see the AppData folder.)

Flare will put the Analyzer folder here if the project is on a network drive; so perhaps something to do with your setup or the VM means that Flare is putting the Analyzer databases here instead.

[skwpt]

All of my woes the last year were caused by the way I had installed Flare 11. I put the application data on a local Windows VM and the Content, Output, and Project folders on my host OS.

When I upgraded to Flare 12, I installed everything on the guest OS. Much much better (and faster).