Flare 2017?

[sdcinvan]

I just found an announcement for Flare 2017 that Jennifer Morse posted nearly a month ago.

I am confused, why wasn't I informed via email? I have a maintenance contract. Additionally, Flare v12 still states that there are no available updates.

[Nita Beck]

I suggest you reach out to Tech Support or Sales. A few months ago, MadCap came out with Flare 2016 r2, aka Flare 13. It wasn't an update to Flare 12; it was a new version. MadCap redid their numbering scheme at that point. (I dunno: maybe they didn't want "13"?) Then a month or so ago, they came out with Flare 2017, which is the equivalent of a dot upgrade to Flare 2016 r2 (the otherwise not-named Flare 13).

[Feebeegeebee]

This confused me too. The announcements have been very unclear.
I thought there was an upgrade and was keen to see what new features/bug fixes were included. However, these seem to be separate releases to promote MadCap Central (that I have no use for)...
Very disappointing.
Feebeegeebee

[NorthEast]

I am confused, why wasn't I informed via email? I have a maintenance contract.

I do understand. I completely missed the 2016r2 release, and I like to think I keep my ear to the ground for all things MadCap.

MadCap will usually email the person who bought the licence, rather than the person who enters their email when registering the software.

I know they don't email new licence keys now for a major update (since v12), but I'm not sure what communication was sent out for 2016r2 and 2017 (at our company, these emails tend to disappear in a black hole).

[RamonS]

There was communication for 2016r2, but it was one email and that release was about as low key as it could get. 2016r2 seemed to have been released only to support the Central beta phase. 2016r2/2017 are a new release, not an update. As to why some did not get notification, that is a question only MadCap or spam filters can answer.

[sdcinvan]

I suggest you reach out to Tech Support or Sales. A few months ago, MadCap came out with Flare 2016 r2, aka Flare 13. It wasn't an update to Flare 12; it was a new version. MadCap redid their numbering scheme at that point. (I dunno: maybe they didn't want "13"?) Then a month or so ago, they came out with Flare 2017, which is the equivalent of a dot upgrade to Flare 2016 r2 (the otherwise not-named Flare 13).

Thanks Nita. I was aware of r2 because that seemed related entirely to MadCap Central... which is not much more than another cloud-based project management system. I'm greatly disappointed that MadCap didn't include collaborative Flare project content review and editing.

But Flare 2017 seems to offer a bit more than just MadCap Central. This is what I have since found:

MadCap Flare 2017
MadCap Flare 2017 adds dozens of new features and enhancements giving you even greater control and customization over your content.
• All-New Clean XHTML Output
• Pin Your Variables for Quick and Easy Access
• Live Dynamic Preview Window for Your Output Including Print, HTML5 and More
• Associate Conditions and File Tags to New Files
• Microsoft® Word Equations Converted to MathML on Import
• Synchronization of Topic Title and TOC Entries
• Productivity Enhancements and Bug Fixes

... and a number of bug fixes: http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/Content/Fl ... _Notes.htm

[sdcinvan]

This confused me too. The announcements have been very unclear.
I thought there was an upgrade and was keen to see what new features/bug fixes were included. However, these seem to be separate releases to promote MadCap Central (that I have no use for)...
Very disappointing.
Feebeegeebee

Actually, Flare 2017 seems to offer more than just MadCap Central support (yes, I am very disappointed because MadCap totally missed what Central should have been). See my post above ^ for more details about Flare 2017.

Now I have to figure out why I haven't received an update to Flare 2017.

[sdcinvan]

I am confused, why wasn't I informed via email? I have a maintenance contract.

I do understand. I completely missed the 2016r2 release, and I like to think I keep my ear to the ground for all things MadCap.

MadCap will usually email the person who bought the licence, rather than the person who enters their email when registering the software.

I know they don't email new licence keys now for a major update (since v12), but I'm not sure what communication was sent out for 2016r2 and 2017 (at our company, these emails tend to disappear in a black hole).

I receive no announcements for Flare 2017...nothing past the Flare 12 R2 release to support Central.

I'm contacting MadCap support now and I'll let you know what I learn.

[sdcinvan]

There was communication for 2016r2, but it was one email and that release was about as low key as it could get. 2016r2 seemed to have been released only to support the Central beta phase. 2016r2/2017 are a new release, not an update. As to why some did not get notification, that is a question only MadCap or spam filters can answer.

My version of Flare is 12.0.5991.25330. Check for updates results in, "No updates currently available"... yet my Flare is now 2 versions behind.

I have contacted MadCap support.

[RamonS]

Updates never show the new version, only updates to the installed version....at least that is how I recall it. I may be wrong.

[cdschroeder]

Updates never show the new version, only updates to the installed version....at least that is how I recall it. I may be wrong.

I have one computer with 2016 R2 that consistently prompts me to update to 2017, and one with v12 that never prompts me to update (and shows no updates available). I'm not sure which version is the anomaly - they may have changed the update behavior in 2016 R2.

On this topic, has anyone encountered any major bugs with 2017? I probably won't update for another month, but it would be good to know about any major issues ahead of time.

[RamonS]

For 2016R2 the new 2017 is an upgrade. For v12 it is not. I know, it is confusing.

[NorthEast]

Updates never show the new version, only updates to the installed version....at least that is how I recall it. I may be wrong.

I have one computer with 2016 R2 that consistently prompts me to update to 2017, and one with v12 that never prompts me to update (and shows no updates available). I'm not sure which version is the anomaly - they may have changed the update behavior in 2016 R2.

On this topic, has anyone encountered any major bugs with 2017? I probably won't update for another month, but it would be good to know about any major issues ahead of time.

Flare 2016v2 and 2017 are the same 'internal version' (v13), so you'll see the 2017 update from 2016r2, but neither of those would be an update from v12.

I've found two problematic bugs related to the new preview, which have been sufficient for me to not start using 2017 for live projects yet.

[cdschroeder]

Updates never show the new version, only updates to the installed version....at least that is how I recall it. I may be wrong.

I have one computer with 2016 R2 that consistently prompts me to update to 2017, and one with v12 that never prompts me to update (and shows no updates available). I'm not sure which version is the anomaly - they may have changed the update behavior in 2016 R2.

On this topic, has anyone encountered any major bugs with 2017? I probably won't update for another month, but it would be good to know about any major issues ahead of time.

Flare 2016v2 and 2017 are the same 'internal version' (v13), so you'll see the 2017 update from 2016r2, but neither of those would be an update from v12.

I've found two problematic bugs related to the new preview, which have been sufficient for me to not start using 2017 for live projects yet.

Ah, ok. I thought 12, 2016 R2, and 2017 were all different. And good to know about the new preview. I will probably wait till it's fixed. That feature and the TOC/topic title sync were the two things I was most excited for.

[NorthEast]

And good to know about the new preview. I will probably wait till it's fixed. That feature and the TOC/topic title sync were the two things I was most excited for.

The bugs I've found in preview means it doesn't work when (a) the project is bound to TFS, and (b) if you set a master page using mc-master-page in your CSS. If neither of those apply to you, it should work ok.

[ajturnersurrey]

This had been puzzling me. I ignored 2016 r2 given I wasn't interested in MadCap Central (as a sole author). But as I'm on maintenance I had been waiting to be emailed a key to move to 2017 (aka Flare13). Today I cracked it – they’ve changed the system – I just had to go to https://www.madcapsoftware.com/download ... -products/ and enter the license key for my current version of Flare12 from last year and it magically determined I was allowed to have the latest version.

[sdcinvan]

Updates never show the new version, only updates to the installed version....at least that is how I recall it. I may be wrong.

That is correct but my version should have at least shown the last available update... v12 r2.

Anyhow, my main issue was that I was never notified about Flare 2017.

[sdcinvan]

I've found two problematic bugs related to the new preview, which have been sufficient for me to not start using 2017 for live projects yet.

I am now using Flare 2017 and I haven't encountered (or noticed) any issues that affect me. The only difference I have noticed is that the "Progress" bar (while rendering the preview) appears to be missing.

[sdcinvan]

This had been puzzling me. I ignored 2016 r2 given I wasn't interested in MadCap Central (as a sole author). But as I'm on maintenance I had been waiting to be emailed a key to move to 2017 (aka Flare13). Today I cracked it – they’ve changed the system – I just had to go to https://www.madcapsoftware.com/download ... -products/ and enter the license key for my current version of Flare12 from last year and it magically determined I was allowed to have the latest version.

Cool! That is a very useful link! It's a shame that the MadCap folks didn't share this link with all of us.

This should be a sticky!

I only wish that this web page supported entering our maintenance key to list out all our licensed products at once.

[sdcinvan]

FYI, here is the link to the Flare 2017 off-line documentation:
http://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare201 ... Guides.htm