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About MadCap Feedback

MadCap Feedback is a live Help reporting service that works in conjunction with Flare to provide Web 2.0 community benefits for your online output—including integrated user comments and statistics such as search keywords used and topics visited. Most of these benefits are available not only for Web-based Help (i.e., WebHelp and WebHelp Plus), but also for desktop Help (i.e., HTML Help and DotNet Help).

MadCap Feedback options—Server or Service

You have two options when setting up MadCap Feedback:

MadCap Feedback Server With MadCap Feedback Server, you install the necessary software on your own hardware to host the Feedback data. By using the MadCap Feedback Server Admin, your system administrator can enter the appropriate server information, create the necessary SQL database, and perform maintenance tasks such as scheduling automated backups of the data. Authors can use the Feedback license keys that are issued as needed for their various targets and projects. The Flare output files can be hosted on the same server hosting the Feedback data, but it is not mandatory; the output files can be published anywhere you like.
MadCap Feedback Service With MadCap Feedback Service, there is no need to purchase your own hardware or host the Feedback statistics. MadCap Software does the hosting for you. This does not mean, however, that you publish the output files to MadCap Software's server. Instead, you publish the output files to your own server or anywhere else that you choose. Even if you have attached your online output to a desktop application, you can still take advantage of the Feedback features. The number of Feedback license keys issued depends on the number that you purchase.

Features

Following are some of the features of MadCap Feedback:

Retrieve and incorporate user comments into your online output.
View topic ratings.
See search keywords entered by users, including terms that did not return results for readers.
Add synonyms to enhance search results.
Produce configurable multi-color, multi-shape Feedback charts.
Use the built-in Feedback Explorer or the more robust external Feedback Explorer application to see and track all reader activity with a user-friendly interface.

Getting started

The following will help you get started quickly with MadCap Feedback:

Getting set up Check out the basic steps that are necessary for configuring your system and using MadCap Feedback. See Getting Set Up with MadCap Feedback.
Features and benefits Take a look at the many tasks that you can accomplish with MadCap Feedback. See Features and Benefits of MadCap Feedback.
Feedback Explorer—internal versus external The Feedback Explorer is the interface that is used to view and track all reader activity on your online output. There are two versions of the Feedback Explorer: internal and external. To learn more about the differences between the two versions, see Feedback Explorer—Internal Versus External.

Note: The MadCap Feedback Server and Service are purchased separately from MadCap Flare, but MadCap Feedback is tightly integrated with Flare to enable you to take advantage of all of the Feedback and statistics reporting features.