For more, see the video tutorial "Single-Sourcing in Flare." You can import content and project files contained in another Flare project, thus allowing you to maintain the information in one location but reuse it in any other project. When you use this feature to import files, you can include or exclude particular types of files (e.g., topics, snippets, style sheets), specific individual files, or files that have certain condition tags applied. Simply use the include/exclude methods that work best for you. For more details about the way Global Project Linking works when different settings are in effect, see Rules for Global Project Linking.
This is different than a simple import process, because in this case, the imported files remain linked to the source project. This allows you to make future updates to those files in just one place—in the source project file. When you perform ongoing imports using your previous settings, Flare recognizes changes to the source files. Therefore, the new files can be brought over, replacing the outdated files.
example
Let's say you are working on three different Flare projects. Within those projects, you might have 35 topics and 50 images that are identical in the three projects. In addition, you might use the same style sheet in each project. Rather than maintaining three different sets of identical files, you can store one set of those files and import them into the individual projects when needed. Here are a couple of options: (1) One option is that you could consider one of your three Flare projects as the "global parent" for those shared files. (2) Another option is that you could create a new Flare project (perhaps naming it "global"); this project could have no other purpose than to serve as a repository for the shared files across your projects. In other words, you would not necessarily generate any output from this parent project, but simply use it as a place to hold your shared information.
When you want to use any of the shared topic, image, or style sheet files from the global project, you would import them into the child project. This creates a link between the imported files and those in the global project. Therefore, when you edit those files in the future, you would do so from the global project and then re-import the changes (either manually or automatically) to the other child projects.
For more, see the video tutorial "Single-Sourcing in Flare."
How to import files from another project
Add a Flare import file (Project>Import File>Add Flare Project Import File).
For more details on completing this step, see Adding Project Import Files.
Note: After you create this file, it will be stored in the Imports folder in the Project Organizer. If you want to manually re-import files from the project in the future, you can open this file (with an .flimpfl extension). Your settings are saved in the file, and you can simply initiate a re-import.
Use the Include Files and Exclude Files fields to select the type of files to be included in the import or excluded from it. Click the down arrow next to the appropriate field and select the type of files. Completing the Include Files field is mandatory. Completing the Exclude Files field is optional.
If you want to import all of the files from the global project, select All Files (*.*).
Note: You are not limited to importing all files of a single file type. Steps below explain how to add more than one file type to the field, as well as how to select specific files to be imported while excluding others.
Select the file type that you want to add. You can also use standard wildcards (text between asterisks) to enter patterns directly into the Pattern field (or into the Include Files or Exclude Files fields).
example
Let's say you want to import only topic files that contain the word "Interface" in the file name. Rather than selecting to import all topic files and then later systematically deselecting the ones you do not really want in the import (via the Accept Imported Documents dialog), you can enter the following:
*Interface*.htm;*Interface*.html
Or maybe you want to import only files that have an extension starting with "fl," such as
*.fl*
to save your work.In the local toolbar of the Project Import Editor, click Import. The Accept Imported Documents dialog opens. The files in the source project are listed (depending on whether the file types were included or excluded from the import in the previous steps).
(Optional) The Accept Imported Documents dialog provides you with one last look at the files to be imported, allowing you to make sure everything is correct and letting you change your mind on any of the files. If you recognize files in the dialog that should not be imported, you can click the check boxes next to the files you want to exclude (removing the check marks).
You can use the Select All and Deselect All buttons as necessary. For example, if you only want to include a very small number of the files listed, you can click the Deselect All button and then manually click the check boxes next to the files you want to include (this is quicker than individually deselecting each file that you want to exclude).
Note: If the current project already contains a file with the same name, the Status cell may be highlighted in green or red. Green shading indicates that the source file is newer. Red shading indicates that the local (or current) file is newer. If the file is identical in both projects, the check box is deselected by default.
Tip: You might find it useful to click on the column headings in the Accept Imported Documents dialog. Doing this reorganizes the contents in alphabetical order of the column that you click. For example, by clicking the Status column, you can easily group together all of the files that have red or green backgrounds (i.e., files that are newer in the local project or newer in the source project). This can be especially useful when re-importing project files.
Click Accept. If the current project already contains files with the same names, you may be asked if you want to replace the local copies. Select Yes if you do.
Warning: If you import a file and then delete, rename, or move that file in the source project, the same change is not automatically made in the child project. You must delete the file in the child project. If the file was deleted or moved in the source project, you will then need to re-import.
Note: A link icon 
displays next to file names that are imported from and linked to another Flare project, Microsoft Word documents, or Adobe FrameMaker documents. However, if you are also using the built-in source control technology, the source control icons have a higher precedence and will therefore be displayed instead.
Note: In the Project Import Editor, the Imported Files tab displays the files that were included in the most recent import from the source project.
Note: In the Project Import Editor, the Removed Links tab displays any files that were previously imported, but the link to the source project has since been removed. For example, let's say that you have imported several files from a source project. After awhile, you open one of those files in the project where the files were imported. You make a few changes and attempt to save it. Because Flare sees that a connection exists between the file and the source project, it prompts you with some options. One of the options is to continue to save your changes and remove the link from the source project. This means that future changes to the file need to be made in the current project, rather than in the source project. When you remove a link to a file in this way, that file is added to the Removed Links tab.
See Also