Key Features

• Create Better Documentation at Scale with Intelligent Content Authoring and Publishing - Reduce time spent authoring, maximize content re-use and publish content to multiple outputs with Flare’s advanced authoring capabilities. Ease of use combined with unmatched versatility makes Flare a powerful authoring and publishing engine for documentation teams of any size.
• Software Solution for Writing and Publishing Timely and Pertinent Documentation, Policy & Procedure Manuals, and More - Start creating policy & procedure manuals, self-help documentation and much more with MadCap Flare’s built-in project templates - all while taking advantage of advanced single-sourcing, multi-channel publishing and content management capabilities that will save your organization valuable time, money and resources.
• Microsoft® PowerPoint Output for Presentation-Ready Content
  • Flare’s authoring capabilities now extend to creating PowerPoint presentations. Using Flare’s single-sourcing model, authors can repurpose existing content into visually engaging slides, streamlining the process of developing training materials, executive presentations, or internal communications.
  • Effortless Single-Sourced Authoring: Write content once and output it in multiple formats, including PowerPoint, without rework or manual adjustments.
  • Customizable Layouts for Presentations: Enhance your PowerPoint slides with fully customizable page layouts and design elements directly from Flare.
• Advanced Content Authoring - Flare’s modern user interface comes packed with features, including a patented XML Editor. A completely customizable interface makes authoring personalized and efficient.
• Create Interactive eLearning Courses and Quizzes with Multiple Choice or Multiple Response Questions – All from a Single Source - Maximize content reuse, reduce costs and improve collaboration between technical authoring and learning & development teams.
• Easy Content Import - Flare offers easy importing of legacy content including support for a wide range of file types using an easy drag and drop workflow. Migrate your legacy content - such as Microsoft Word and Excel, Atlassian Confluence, Adobe RoboHelp and FrameMaker, DITA, Author-It, and more - using the WYSIWYG XML Editor to author content in a familiar visual user interface.
  • Microsoft Word - Flare allows you to import any number of MS Word files simultaneously using the drag and drop functionality. For added control, you can import files using the import wizard. The import wizard allows you to break content into smaller topics for maximum content re-use and to get your Flare project organized quickly and easily. You can also choose to maintain a continuous connection using Easy Sync to automatically re-import Word files once a change has been made to the source file. This ensures any changes made to your Word documents will always be updated in Flare.
  • Microsoft Excel - Easily import Excel files including XLS, XLSX, or CSV files. No need to recreate your spreadsheets as these will be added and converted to tables in Flare. As with Microsoft Word, you can link Excel files to Flare so that it recognizes when changes have been made to the source documents for a much more effective technical documentation process.
  • RoboHelp - As the original creators of RoboHelp, nobody imports projects better than MadCap Software. Create a new project or topics by importing your legacy Adobe RoboHelp projects.
  • FrameMaker - Create a new project or topics by importing Adobe FrameMaker files. Import support for BOOK, FM and MIF files.
  • Confluence - Import Atlassian Confluence content, including HTM and Resource files, from the cloud and self-managed servers.
  • Author-it - Convert published XML output from Author-it to a MadCap Flare project while maintaining all documentation projects and source files.
  • DITA - Create a new project or import into an existing project by importing DITA files.
  • Markdown - Easily import files written in Markdown, including CommonMark, a rationalized version of Markdown syntax.
• Topic-based Authoring and the Building Blocks of Content Development - Content in MadCap Flare is organized differently than other applications like Microsoft Word. Instead your content is stored in topics and other files such as images and videos. By organizing content into reusable chunks (e.g. topics) content can be assembled and used to create deliverables for different audiences and users, such as:
  • Student and Instructor Guides.
  • Getting Started and Quick Start Guides.
  • Beginner and Advanced User Manuals.
  • Policy and Procedure Manuals (based on city, region or country).
  • Employee Handbooks (Exempt and Non-Exempt, Full-Time and Part-Time).
  • Administrative and Programmer Guides.
• Context Sensitive Help - MadCap Flare's Context Sensitive Help (CSH) feature is a powerful tool that transforms user assistance by delivering immediate, relevant help directly aligned with the user's current actions or needs. This capability not only enhances the user experience but also efficiently addresses common challenges:
  • Direct Relevance: Users access the exact help content needed for their specific context, eliminating the frustration of searching through unrelated information.
  • Ease of Integration: Seamlessly integrates with various platforms, ensuring help content is always relevant and accessible, regardless of the application environment.
  • Reduced Need for Extensive Training: Empowers users to self-serve solutions, significantly cutting down on the time and resources spent on user training.
  • Support Workload Reduction: By providing precise answers to user questions, it lessens the demand on support teams, allowing them to focus on more critical issues.
• Micro Content Authoring to Improve Search, Feed Chatbots - Micro content is what it sounds like - short, concise information that stands alone, maximizes and expands re-use of content beyond topic-based authoring, and is easily consumable by machine learning and AI applications. All micro content in Flare (new or existing) is tagged with unique XML extensions, making the content easy identifiable and ingested by machine ready and AI applications appropriately. Leverage micro content for use in your output and applications, such as:
  • Featured snippets in search results.
  • Chatbots and other machine learning and AI applications.
  • Virtual and augmented reality applications.
  • Call-outs for field-level Help.
  • FAQ databases.
• Use Pre-built Project Templates to Create Professional Print, Online and Mobile Content in Minutes - With dozens of pre-installed project templates - and a growing library of new modern responsive top navigation templates - you can publish gorgeous web and print-based outputs in minutes. Create stunning, professionally designed print brochures, books, interactive elearning courses, online Help systems, knowledge bases, self-service support sites, eBooks, user manuals, and more without the need for any additional CSS development or creative resources.
• Multiple Authoring Layout Modes for Different Output Mediums - MadCap Flare allows you to author content in different layout modes within the WYSIWYG XML Editor. This authoring capability not only makes it easy to see how your content will look in different output formats, but also allows you to dynamically switch between views. Authoring modes include: Web, Tablet, Mobile, and Print (WYSIWYG PDF).
• Responsive Layout Editor for True Responsive Content - The responsive layout editor allows you to control the layout of your content for any device, without the assistance of a web developer or requiring any coding knowledge.
• Style Inspector to View and Edit Your CSS Properties - A Style Inspector in the Formatting window pane lets you view and edit the style details for your content (topics, snippets, etc.) in real time, rather than having to edit styles in the stylesheet.
• Advanced Stylesheet Editor with Multiple Medium Views - The advanced stylesheet editor includes multiple medium views (such as web, print, mobile, tablet - or any number of custom views), and offers complex selectors, media queries and more.
• Preserve Tracked Changes in Microsoft Word and PDF Outputs - Tracked changes are now preserved in both Word and PDF outputs for enhanced review, collaboration and audit trail.
• Find Elements - Quickly and easily find files containing particular elements such as custom tags, MadCap-specific features (drop-down text, concepts, equations), markup, inline styles, style classes, and more.
• Single-source Images and Videos with Capture and Mimic - Maximize content reuse by applying the same rules used for text to movies, callouts and images to your projects. By adding variables to callouts and images, there's no need to recapture or reinsert images into your documentation when text or version changes are required.
• Included with MadCap Flare
  • MadCap Capture - Screen Capture and Image Editing: MadCap Capture offers advanced screen capturing and image editing features to make it easy to incorporate images into your content. Easily re-crop and re-capture images, add captions, single source images using custom mediums from your Flare projects, batch replace image libraries, store common image settings in profiles and much more.
  • MadCap Mimic - Interactive Demos, Videos, Tutorials and Software Simulations: MadCap Mimic is an easy-to-use technical documentation software simulation and multimedia tool that lets you create fully interactive movies, eLearning videos, simulations, presentations and tutorials or user guides of software or systems.
• Scalable for Any Size Organization or Project - Unlike many expensive Content Management Systems (CMS), or resource-heavy platforms such as DITA-based solutions, Flare was built for scale with a focus on keeping costs reasonable. Whether used by a single user or team of hundreds of writers and subject matter experts, Flare provides a cost-effective solution to meet the needs of any size organization.
• Flare offers advanced publishing features, including batch target builds for automated publishing:
  • Schedule any number of builds for a particular date or time.
  • Use the command line publishing for multiple targets.
• Accessibility Support for Technical Documentation - Create documentation that is accessible to users with visual and hearing impairments, using assistive technologies such as Microsoft Windows Narrator, Connect Outloud, and Job Access With Speech (JAWS).
• Accessibility guidance features in Flare include:
  • Insert alt and title attributes to links, images, QR codes, equations and more.
  • Receive the following compiler warnings when alt and title text is missing:
    • Image elements are missing alternate text.
    • Equation elements are missing alternate text.
    • QR code elements are missing alternate text.
    • Tables are missing captions and summaries.
    • Tables are missing header elements.
    • Form elements are missing labels.
    • Frame elements are missing titles and names.
• Open Standards-based Architecture for Flexible and Future-proof Content - With Flare, you will never be locked into a proprietary system. Flare is built on open standards with support for XML, CSS, and HTML, all designed to keep your content completely open, transparent and accessible.
  • Open Architecture - All Flare files are separate XHTML, XML or CSS documents - topics, TOCs, browse sequences, targets, skins, snippets, glossaries, destinations, condition tag sets, variable sets, and more - meaning they can be opened in any editor, including Notepad.
  • Standard XHTML Content with W3C Schema Compliance - Flare content conforms to industry standard schema requirements from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Flare’s code adheres to the W3C XHTML Schema specification, making it easy to integrate with other XML or XHTML applications.
• Content Management and Source Control Support - With MadCap Flare’s extensible open architecture, you can utilize any source control solution. Instead of using proprietary files and databases, all content and project files in Flare are stored as independent XML files.
  • Git, Perforce, Apache Subversion, Microsoft Team Foundation and Visual SourceSafe are directly integrated and accessed from Flare (third-party plugins not required).
  • Mappings can be made to any local, network, or SharePoint resource.
  • Plus, integration with all industry source control systems that use the MS SCC API interface.
• Cloud-Based Contribution and Review with MadCap Central - Allow anyone in your organization to contribute and review Flare content using MadCap Central’s cloud-based editor. Subject matter experts, authors and other non-Flare users can easily create and review content using an integrated cloud-based workflow.
  • Benefits of this review workflow include:
    • Cloud-based Editor - Subject matter experts do not need to download and install any software. The contribution and review workflow is simple, completely integrated and takes place in the cloud.
    • Concurrent Multi-User Authoring and Review - Multiple SMEs, authors and non-Flare users can contribute, make changes and add comments to the same topic or snippet simultaneously.
    • Easy-to-Use Interface - The lightweight editor offers a streamlined interface, and SMEs only see options and features that are relevant to the contribution and review process.
    • Team Collaboration - Collaborate with SMEs (and other authors) by viewing and working with the same Flare content and projects concurrently.
• Desktop-Based Contribution and Review with MadCap Contributor - You can take advantage of Flare's built-in topic review and contribution features (for Flare authors) and MadCap Contributor (for subject matter experts).
  • Benefits of this review workflow include:
    • Send Reviews - You can email review package files containing topics and/or snippets to other individuals for their feedback and/or changes. Alternatively, you can use SharePoint integration or the external resources feature to store the review package files.
    • Receive Reviews - Using Flare, you can review documents sent to you by other Flare authors via email or other methods.
    • Contributions - Subject matter experts, authors and other non-Flare users can use MadCap Contributor to create and review content.
• Multi-language Authoring, Translation and Publishing, Including Bi-directional Support - Deliver documentation to your global users with Flare, with support for multi-language authoring, translation and publishing. Flare supports Unicode language characters, double-byte Asian languages and Eastern European languages, as well as bi-directional language authoring and publishing including Hebrew, Arabic and Persian.
• Advanced single-sourcing features make translation more seamless in Flare, with easy access to content, snippets, variables and more. Integration with MadCap Lingo provides unparalleled support for the translation and localization process.
• Multilingual web and print publishing from a single project - The multilingual publishing feature allows for multiple languages to be published in a single output for both print and online content.
• Controlled Language/Simplified Technical English support - Flare allows authors to use a standardized vocabulary and style to improve consistency, eliminate ambiguity and reduce complexity. Ensure compliance with corporate terminology and style guide rules using an advanced interactive checker and quality measurement features.
  • Fully-integrated translation workflow with MadCap Lingo:
    • Seamless transfer of content between Flare and MadCap Lingo using Project Packager.
    • Use MadCap Lingo to translate content or package content for translation.
    • Gain visibility with reports such as word and segment count, exact matches already in translation memory, content requiring translation and more.
  • Plus: Language and business services with MadTranslations
    • Complete end-to-end authoring, consulting, translation and publishing services.
    • Tools and expertise in maximizing content re-use, from initial authoring stage through final translation stage.
    • Multilingual Web and Print Publishing from a Single Project - The multilingual publishing feature allows for multiple languages to be published in a single output for both print and online content. Right-to-left (RTL) languages are supported in all outputs except FrameMaker.
• Publish fully responsive HTML5 Websites, PDFs, SCORM, and more - Ensure your content is accessible to your end users, wherever they are, and however they prefer to consume your content.
  • Supported Formats - Publish your content to popular formats including HTML5, PDF, Microsoft® Word, Clean XHTML, EPUB, and Eclipse Help; as well as legacy output types such as WebHelp and DITA.
  • Fully Responsive Websites - Flare utilizes responsive web design that automatically adjusts the display of your content depending on the device.
  • User-Friendly Web Design - Create stunning HTML5 web content that is user-friendly, easy to navigate and visually impressive for your end users.
  • Page Layout Support for High-end Print - Flare offers advanced capabilities for high-end print publishing needs, including CMYK support, OpenType Fonts, vector graphic support and more.
  • Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Learning Record Stores (LRS) - Generate SCORM-compliant (SCORM 2004, 1.2) and xAPI-compliant (Tin Can) content directly from MadCap Flare to upload to any external LMS or LRS.
  • Publish to Syndicate Content Delivery Portal (CDP) - Publish and deliver your technical and learning content to Xyleme Syndicate, the enterprise-grade content repository, distribution center, and Learning Record Store (LRS) part of the Xyleme Elevate Learning Content Management System (LCMS).
• Centralize and Streamline your Content Delivery - Deliver Flare outputs directly to the Syndicate content cloud. This enables actionable content and learner analytics, including detailed version histories for content operations as well as compliance and regulatory audits. A rich set of content delivery tools, APIs, and available integrations will fit right into your current content ecosystem.
• Repurpose and Reuse Content Anywhere - Break down silos and take advantage of direct integration and publishing to popular Help Desk, CRM and other third party support applications. With Flare, you can publish directly to Salesforce, Zendesk and ServiceNow with the MadCap Connect plug-ins. In addition, repurpose content to any other platforms, third party applications and content management solutions using MadCap Flare’s Clean XHTML output.
• Adaptable Platform for a Rich Variety of Content and Document Types - Flare’s publishing versatility is unmatched: Content developers, from technical writers and documentation managers to eLearning specialists and instructional designers, can create and manage a rich variety of content from a single application.
• Authoring and real-time actionable analytics on your output - Improve Content Accuracy, Reliability and Overall Customer Satisfaction with Analysis and Reporting During Content Creation and Real-Time Actionable Analytics on Post-Production Usage
  • By taking advantage of built-in authoring analysis and reporting during content development, plus real-time end-user statistics on how your users are interacting with and finding your content, you can improve content quality, overall customer satisfaction and self-help, and enable a continuous workflow of content improvement for maximum ROI.
• Find and Fix Issues with Powerful Project Analysis and Reporting - MadCap Flare offers powerful project analysis and reporting that can help find and fix issues with your projects. Run tests before you publish to find critical issues, such as broken links, duplicate stylesheets, missing images and more.
  • Scan your project to find and fix critical issues, including:
    • Broken Links
    • Duplicate Styles in Stylesheets
    • Duplicate TOC Items
    • Broken Image Links
    • Broken Bookmarks
    • Undefined Variables, Condition Tags,
    • File Tags and Conditions
    • Non-XML Topics and More
  • As well as used and unused items including:
    • Snippets
    • Topics
    • Styles
    • Variables
    • Map IDs
    • Images and More
  • Plus, improve content quality and reuse by identifying suggestions, including:
    • Markup (XHTML)
    • Index Keywords
    • Cross-references
    • Local Styles
    • Snippets
    • Variables
    • Accessibility
• MadCap Analyzer’s features and functionality are now included in Flare - Find and fix critical issues quickly, get content suggestions for snippets and variables, meet accessibility guidelines, generate custom reports, and much more.
  • Find Elements - Quickly and easily find files containing particular elements such as custom tags, MadCap-specific features (drop-down text, concepts, equations), markup, inline styles, style classes, and more.
  • Text Analysis for Readability, Average Sentence Length and More - A text analysis tool built into Flare allows you to run reports on your project content. Scores are based on the “Flesch Reading Ease” and “Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level” tests, and reports can be run on topics, documents, entire projects or compared side-by-side to other documents.
    • Reports include Readability scores, average sentence length, punctuation density per sentence, and number of unique words.