Key details

MadCap Flare training course teaching controlled migration of your legacy documentation from FrameMaker to MadCap Flare.

Upon completion, you’ll know how to migrate your existing FrameMaker projects to MadCap Flare in a smooth and well-planned way, avoiding the potential pitfalls.

MadCap Flare – Migrating from FrameMaker training is arranged on-request, i.e. one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group. Your training can be tailored to take into account any existing knowledge you have, and the work you’re going to be doing.

In-class or online

This course is available in-class at eight centres or live online.

Accredited MadCap Flare training

Armada’s Flare training is MadCap-accredited.

Courses are hosted by MadCap-Certified Instructor Matthew Ellison.

Training guide and certificate

Course delegates receive an e-certificate confirming successful completion of a MadCap-accredited Flare migration training. Click here to see an example of the certificate you receive.

After course support

Following MadCap Flare migration training, delegates are entitled to 30 days’ email support from their trainer to help with any post-course issues. For further details, see Support.

Prerequisites

No previous experience of working with Flare is required. You should have a good working knowledge of FrameMaker, i.e. be familiar with the techniques taught in our Introduction to FrameMaker course.

MadCap Flare version

Training can be based on any version of MadCap Flare to suit you.

General information

Course times

Standard course times are 9.30am–4.30pm.

As we’d be hosting this as a ‘closed course’ for you/your group, there’s usually flexibility to change these times to suit you, e.g. start or end 30 minutes earlier or later.

Payment

Payment for MadCap Flare training can be made by:

• Bank transfer. Please call 01527 834783 for our bank details.
• Card. All major credit and debit cards accepted. Payment can be made securely online or over the phone. Card payments are processed by Stripe. Armada doesn’t record or store your card details.

Purchase orders

We accept purchase orders from UK-registered companies and public sector organisations.

Accommodation

See Accommodation local to our training centres.

Cancellations and postponements

If an on-request MadCap Flare – Migrating from FrameMaker course booking is cancelled giving less than 20 working days’ notice, a cancellation fee is payable. View cancellation terms.

If an on-request MadCap Flare – Migrating from FrameMaker course booking is postponed giving less than 20 working days’ notice, a postponement fee is payable. View postponement terms.

Terms and conditions

Expert trainer

Matthew Ellison

Matthew has over 30 years’ experience working as a user assistance and eLearning professional in the software industry. Some of this time was spent managing a team of writers and trainers at a UK-based consulting company, before enjoying a period in the US as Director of the WinWriters (subsequently WritersUA and UX Writer) Conference. He continues to provide consultancy to software companies throughout the world who need documentation and user assistance for their products.

Matthew has a B.Sc. in Electronic Engineering and a PGCE from Bristol University, and has been a part-time lecturer at Portsmouth University for the MA Technical Communication course. He is a MadCap-Certified Instructor, an authorised trainer for EC Software’s Help+Manual and an expert in many other user assistance tools and technologies.

Matthew has been a popular speaker at conferences in Europe and the US since 1997. He regularly publishes articles and reviews on user assistance tools and technology.

Course content

Course overview

• Welcome
• Audience
• Course Overview
• Course Guide
• Preparing your computer for the course

Migration overview

• How FrameMaker features convert to Flare
• Topic-based authoring
• About the sample project

Preparing to migrate

• Overview
• Updating a FrameMaker book
• Indenting the TOC
• Removing inline formatting
• Importing unused style formats
• Using filename markers
• Setting up Adobe distiller

Migrating FrameMaker documents

• About migrating from FrameMaker
• Best practices for importing documents
• Importing a FrameMaker document
• How many import files do I need?

Styles

• About styles
• How styles import into Flare
• Applying a style sheet to all topics
• Specifying automatic page breaks for print targets
• Creating an auto-numbering style
• Resetting an auto-numbering style

Index and TOC

• About the index
• How index keywords import into Flare
• Creating an auto-index phrase set
• About TOCs and outlines
• How TOCs import into Flare
• Creating a master TOC

Pictures

• About Pictures
• How images import into Flare
• Organising pictures
• Positioning a picture
• Setting a print size for a picture
• Setting a maximum print size for all pictures

Tables

• About tables
• How tables import into Flare
• Removing inline formatting
• Applying a table style
• Applying a table style to all tables
• Modifying a table style

Cross references and links

• About cross reference and links
• How cross references import into Flare
• Creating a cross reference
• How links import into Flare
• Creating a link
• Formatting links
• Using pseudo class styles
• Formatting cross references

Page design

• About page layouts
• Creating a two-column page layout
• Adding pages to a page layout
• Adding a watermark to a page

Resources

• Books
• Flare discussion group

Live online training

Online training lets you participate in a live MadCap Flare course from your place of work or home.

We do everything possible to make your online training experience as close as possible to actually being in the classroom. You can:

• See and hear our trainer, and the other delegates participating in the course…
  
• Watch our trainer demonstrate techniques in MadCap Flare.
• Interact by speaking, using chat, or raising your ‘virtual hand’ if you need assistance.
• Share your screen with our trainer, and allow them to take control to explain something.

Like our in-class courses, online MadCap Flare – Migrating from FrameMaker courses…

• Are presented by expert instructors.
• Give you plenty of opportunity to carry out assisted, practical exercises using MadCap Flare.
• Offer 30 days’ email support from your trainer.

All you need is an Internet-connected computer with…

• MadCap Flare installed.
• A webcam and audio capability. If your computer running MadCap Flare doesn’t have these, you can use a second device, such as another computer or tablet. See Hardware recommendations for live online training for further details.

If there’s anything you’re not sure about we’ll do our best to help you. We won’t, however, be able to assist with your MadCap Flare installation.

We provide everything else…

• Links to download the files, resources, etc. you’ll use in your course.
• A training guide. For most courses, you can choose from a printed copy that we post to you, or a PDF.

In the week before your course, we’ll send you an email containing everything you need to prepare for and participate in the training. Then, a couple of days before your course, we’ll give you a courtesy call to make sure you have everything in place and answer any questions you may have.

Please note that we are not able to record scheduled online courses for privacy reasons.

When you attend live online training, you’re participating in a real course, hosted by a real trainer, in real time