Adding Files

From the Files page, you can add a new file to a project.

Example Your documentation team has created an online Help system using MadCap Flare. Your larger organization uses MadCap Central as its platform to manage the content. A director, who is not trained in using Flare, views some content from the project in Central and sees an ideal place to insert a relevant new topic. Without having to go through a review process or track down a writer to do the work, the director uses Central to quickly create and add a topic to the project. The change is committed to the project. Anyone who works in the project in Central will see the change, and Flare users will see updates once the remote and local repositories are synchronized.

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Permission Required?

Editing content and project files is an activity available to users with the Author status. By default, users with Author status have the following permissions set:

  • If this is deselected, then viewing files in a read-only mode is allowed. On the left side of the page, the Files vertical three-dot menu is not available.

  • If this is deselected, the XHTML in the Code view is read-only.

    Editing code is regarded as a capability for an advanced user. If not done properly, the code can become malformed quickly. Administrators can prevent users from editing the code by deselecting the Edit Code permission.

For more information about permissions, see Setting User Permissions or Setting Team Permissions.

How to Add a New File

  1. On the left side of the Central interface, click Projects.

  2. Click Files at the top of the screen.

  3. From the left side of the page, click , and select New File.

  4. In the Add File dialog, from the File Type drop-down, select a required file type.

    • Topic Creates a topic with the file extension HTM, and it must be placed in a content folder. See Topics.

    • Snippet Creates a snippet with the file extension FLSNP, and it must be placed in a content folder. See Snippets.

    • Target Creates a target with the file extension FLTAR, and it must be placed in a target folder. See Step 4: Developing Targets.

    • Variable Set Creates a variable set with the file extension FLVAR, and it must be placed in a variable set folder. See Variables.

    • Condition Tag Set Creates a condition tag set with the file extension FLCTS, and it must be placed in a condition tag set folder. See Conditions.

    • Branding Stylesheet Creates a branding stylesheet with the file extension CSS, and it must be placed in a content folder. The recommended path for branding stylesheets is Content / Resources / Branding /. See Branding.

    • Other Creates a text-based file (e.g., TXT file). With this file an extension is not necessary, and it can be placed anywhere in the project.

  5. In the File Path field, enter a path and a name for the new file.

    Alternatively, click to select a location for the file in the project, and Accept the file path. Then in the File Path field, enter a name for the file.

    The Add File dialog to create a new file when authoring in Central.

    Note You might notice the File Path displays black or blue lettering. The blue items are folders, and you can click the item to jump to that folder.

    For example, in the Add File dialog, a file path contains several folders (indicated by blue lettering) before the filename.

    If the "Folder1" item is clicked, you know longer see the subfolders.

  6. (Optional) In the Add File dialog, from the Copy From drop-down, you can select an existing file to use. This copies all the content or settings from the existing file to the new file, providing a base of information to start with for your file. If you choose not to select a file here, the new file will be based on factory content and settings.

  7. Click Add. The new file opens in the editor to the right of the project files. (It does not display in the list of files until you commit the file.)

  8. Make changes in the editor, and depending on the type of file, you can also use the toolbar to manage the content.

  9. In the upper-right corner of the editor, click Commit.

    Files page showing an added file ready for editing in regular Edit Content mode.

  10. In the Create New Commit dialog:

    1. Confirm the File Path (or enter a different path).

    2. Type a Commit Message.

    3. Select Commit. The new file displays in the project files.

      The Create New Commit dialog when commiting an added file to the project.

Tip What about creating a folder? Since Central is Git-based, you can only create a new folder by creating a file. Git does not allow empty folders. One way to get around this is to create a folder in the file path when adding a new file type. Just type the name of the new folder, followed by a slash.

Example of how to create a new folder when adding a new file in the project.

Once the new folder and file are added and committed, they display with the other folders and files for the project.

Example of a new folder and file added to the files area of the Files page.