MadCap Software Forums

I'm trying to print from Flare to PDF, but I'm having problems.

When I print, the Table of Contents shows up just fine, but RIGHTAFTER the Title Page. I need a page break between the two.

I found I still must print to Word first, insert a page break after the Title Page, then save as a PDF.

Also, I need pages to break in other customized places. If I have LINE OF TEXT which explains a screen grab, followed by said screen grab, how do I tell Flare to break the page before the LINE OF TEXT and not after?

What am I missing? Where am I going wrong?

You are missing the PrintSupport property group in the Stylesheet Editor.

If you check out the Advanced Stylesheet Editor, and look under the PrintSupport property group, you will see the following styles:
- page-break-after
- page-break-before
- page-break-inside

They can be set to values like Avoid or Always.

So you can create a style (or, potentially, a complex selector) that will enable you to keep things together, or force page breaks where you need them.

Hope that helps.

Thank you!

Right now anything would help -- big time -- because I'm inserting manual page breaks in Word.

That really just kind of sucks.

For the specific problem you described - I put both the sentence and the image in a specific div class and set the page-break-inside property to "avoid" (under Print Support), it works perfectly.

I'm afraid I don't know style sheets very well. Please forgive the questions I will throwing you way.

ccardimon wrote:I'm afraid I don't know style sheets very well. Please forgive the questions I will throwing you way.

Helen's example is a great one for keeping two things together. Let me give you an example for forcing a page break.

This is a quick'n'dirty method, and not very graceful, but if you want to create a page break after your title page, here is one way to do it:
1) Create a style class called p.PageBreak (or whatever).
2) Set the Stylesheet Editor's Show drop-down (in the upper-right corner) to Show: Property Groups.
3) Find the PrintSupport group and click the + symbol to expand it.
4) In the drop-down for the page-break-after attribute, select Always.
5) Save your stylesheet.

6) Open your title page.
7) Create a paragraph as the last element on the page, and apply your p.PageBreak class to it.

Next time you compile, there should be an extra page (and if not, you may have to add one more pagebreak paragraph, but I think one will do it).

You can also use page layouts, which was a new feature introduced in v4. I have about 7 page layouts in my current project (because I went wild and fancy with the PDF output). The title page layout has the "title" page that contains my document title, company logo, and product picture, and there is also a "normal" page that has copyright, company info, and so on. I also have a warning page layout that has a "normal" page with an "empty" page. The normal page contains info about battery disposal, FCC info, and so on. If that page doesn't extend to two pages, then it automatically inserts an empty page after it in the output. My section layouts and chapter layouts also have empty pages so that if the last chapter ends on what would be the right page, then an empty page is automatically inserted so that the next chapter starts on a right page.

So page layouts are another way to force an empty page.

I suggest you read the Flare printed output guide. You can get to it from the help menu. It has a lot of info on using the page layouts.

LTinker68 wrote:You can also use page layouts, which was a new feature introduced in v4. I have about 7 page layouts in my current project (because I went wild and fancy with the PDF output). The title page layout has the "title" page that contains my document title, company logo, and product picture, and there is also a "normal" page that has copyright, company info, and so on. I also have a warning page layout that has a "normal" page with an "empty" page. The normal page contains info about battery disposal, FCC info, and so on. If that page doesn't extend to two pages, then it automatically inserts an empty page after it in the output. My section layouts and chapter layouts also have empty pages so that if the last chapter ends on what would be the right page, then an empty page is automatically inserted so that the next chapter starts on a right page.

So page layouts are another way to force an empty page.

I suggest you read the Flare printed output guide. You can get to it from the help menu. It has a lot of info on using the page layouts.

Sounds good to me. I have a copy of the printed output guide on my desktop. Guess it is time to read it. Thanks, Lisa.

Andrew wrote:

ccardimon wrote:I'm afraid I don't know style sheets very well. Please forgive the questions I will throwing you way.

Helen's example is a great one for keeping two things together. Let me give you an example for forcing a page break.

This is a quick'n'dirty method, and not very graceful, but if you want to create a page break after your title page, here is one way to do it:
1) Create a style class called p.PageBreak (or whatever).
2) Set the Stylesheet Editor's Show drop-down (in the upper-right corner) to Show: Property Groups.
3) Find the PrintSupport group and click the + symbol to expand it.
4) In the drop-down for the page-break-after attribute, select Always.
5) Save your stylesheet.

6) Open your title page.
7) Create a paragraph as the last element on the page, and apply your p.PageBreak class to it.

Next time you compile, there should be an extra page (and if not, you may have to add one more pagebreak paragraph, but I think one will do it).

Done and done. Cool.

Andrew wrote:Next time you compile, there should be an extra page (and if not, you may have to add one more pagebreak paragraph, but I think one will do it).

It sure did. The odd thing is, there are also page breaks spread throughout the TOC. I have yet to figure that one out.

Check the p.TOC1, p.TOC2, etc., styles, and make sure there aren't page-break-before or -after properties set.

LTinker68 wrote:Check the p.TOC1, p.TOC2, etc., styles, and make sure there aren't page-break-before or -after properties set.

I have to check the whole stylesheet. There are now page breaks scattered through the whole project. Yikes. Like as in between paragraphs.

ccardimon wrote:

LTinker68 wrote:Check the p.TOC1, p.TOC2, etc., styles, and make sure there aren't page-break-before or -after properties set.

I have to check the whole stylesheet. There are now page breaks scattered through the whole project. Yikes. Like as in between paragraphs.

Double check that when you made the change Andrew suggested that you made it to a class of p not to p itself.

KevinDAmery wrote:Double check that when you made the change Andrew suggested that you made it to a class of p not to p itself.

How would I know I have a class of p instead of p by itself?

If you go into the Stylesheet Editor, you will see on the left side are all the elements: p, li, ol, etc. (there are a lot).

When you applied the change I listed above, did you select "p" or did you expand "p" (click the + symbol) and select your new class? (To create a new class, right-click p and select New Class.)

If you applied it to p, then every single p and p-based style in the project will have a page break. If you only apply it to the new class (PageBreak) you created, then it will only apply to that style.

In the advanced view of the stylesheet editor, p will appear as a top level style. Classes of p are contained inside it (similar to how subfolders are contained inside folders in Windows Explorer).

What you want to do is make sure that the change Andrew suggested only appears in the class, NOT in the root p style. If it appears in the root p style then every p block in your documentation will have a page break (which sounds like what has happened).

Creating a class was the first step in Andrew's suggestion - if you're used to Word or FrameMaker, this is similar to making a new style based on something like Body or Normal. Unfortunately, Flare doesn't give us the ability to make classes in the stylesheet directly. To make a class, you need to open the stylesheet in a text editor (Flare's internal text editor works well) and add it. For example, to add the class that Andrew described you would add
The text after the . is the class name, and the curly brackets are where the style definition code goes. Flare can add that code to a class once it is defined, so if you're not a css expert yet don't worry about trying to add it in the text editor. Just save the stylesheet and open it again in the Flare stylesheet editor to make your changes.

EDIT: Ok, maybe I missed an update and we can add classes in the stylesheet editor now. (I know, Rick, "bad MVP"....)

KevinDAmery wrote: EDIT: Ok, maybe I missed an update and we can add classes in the stylesheet editor now. (I know, Rick, "bad MVP"....)

Slightly OT: Someone should add "Bad MVP" as a special designation for those MVPs who have forgotten more than others have learned.

... or got so used to the workarounds for the first 3 versions that we don't bother to check if they aren't required anymore

Andrew wrote:If you go into the Stylesheet Editor, you will see on the left side are all the elements: p, li, ol, etc. (there are a lot).

When you applied the change I listed above, did you select "p" or did you expand "p" (click the + symbol) and select your new class? (To create a new class, right-click p and select New Class.)

If you applied it to p, then every single p and p-based style in the project will have a page break. If you only apply it to the new class (PageBreak) you created, then it will only apply to that style.

I think I fixed my errors. Thank you.

helen wrote:For the specific problem you described - I put both the sentence and the image in a specific div class and set the page-break-inside property to "avoid" (under Print Support), it works perfectly.

How would I put the sentence and the image in a specific div class?

KevinDAmery wrote:EDIT: Ok, maybe I missed an update and we can add classes in the stylesheet editor now. (I know, Rick, "bad MVP"....)

I think we've always been able to add classes through the Stylesheet Editor. It's complex selectors that we can't -- still -- create through the Stylesheet Editor, so maybe that's what you were thinking of.

ccardimon wrote:

helen wrote:For the specific problem you described - I put both the sentence and the image in a specific div class and set the page-break-inside property to "avoid" (under Print Support), it works perfectly.

How would I put the sentence and the image in a specific div class?

First I would go into the style sheet and add a class to the div tag (either in the editor or in the text view - your call). You'd end up with div.KeepTogether (or whatever you choose to call your new class. Go to the Print Support section (in the Advanced view - I'm not familiar with the Simple view, it confuses me) and find the "page-break-inside" property. Set it to "avoid".

Then go back to your topic, select the sentence and image (or other elements you want to ensure stay together) then use the Format menu and select Group. Select your new div style from the Create Group dialog. That's it!

It was just one of the many tips I picked up on the recent CSS Flare training from other very talented authors and trainer. Well worth it if you can persuade the boss.

helen wrote:It was just one of the many tips I picked up on the recent CSS Flare training from other very talented authors and trainer. Well worth it if you can persuade the boss.

I just proposed that very thing in my latest weekly status report. We shall see. Keep your fingers crossed.

helen wrote:First I would go into the style sheet and add a class to the div tag (either in the editor or in the text view - your call). You'd end up with div.KeepTogether (or whatever you choose to call your new class. Go to the Print Support section (in the Advanced view - I'm not familiar with the Simple view, it confuses me) and find the "page-break-inside" property. Set it to "avoid".

Done.

helen wrote:Then go back to your topic, select the sentence and image (or other elements you want to ensure stay together) then use the Format menu and select Group. Select your new div style from the Create Group dialog. That's it!

Done.

Here goes nothing.

LTinker68 wrote:Check the p.TOC1, p.TOC2, etc., styles, and make sure there aren't page-break-before or -after properties set.

Hmmm, what if I don't have p.TOC1 or p.TOC2 styles?