Editing Files

Flare Online offers a collaborative authoring workspace. You can work as a single user in the workspace, or a team of many authors can just as easily use the workspace. Multiple authors can edit collaboratively and concurrently (i.e., the same file at the same time) and see everyone's updates in real-time without the worry of losing work or running into conflicts.

Content files (e.g., topic, snippet) and some project files (e.g., target, condition tag set, variable set) can be edited in Flare Online. By default, the workspace displays a file in Content mode, which is an easy-to-use light-weight editor. You can also display a file in Code mode, but this is for advanced users who prefer to edit in XML code directly. Both modes are equipped with basic editing tools. Some file types, such as page layouts, can be opened in Code mode only.

Note What if I don't want others involved in certain files? If you plan to make changes in files, but would prefer that other authors do not make changes in those same files, there is currently no way to lock files in collaborative authoring. The best solution is to create another branch in Flare Desktop and work in that branch by yourself. You might need to ask other authors not to work in that same branch. Then later, when you are finished with all changes, you can merge that branch into another using Flare Desktop.

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.

In addition, AI Assist involves the following permissions:

  • This is required to integrate a ChatGPT account with a Flare Online license in the license settings.

  • This is required to use AI Assist (and therefore ChatGPT) when modifying topics and snippets.

    Note Even if this permission is enabled, ChatGPT does not scan anything on your computer. The only information ChatGPT can acquire from you is what you enter manually into the prompt when using AI Assist. If your company has strict policies against AI or ChatGPT, simply do not use it.

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

Single Authors - How to Edit an Existing File

If many authors are looking to edit a file, see Editing With Multiple Authors.

  1. On the left side of the Flare Online interface, click Projects.

  2. Select a project to open it.

  3. Click the Workspace tab at the top of the screen.

  4. (Optional) From the drop-down at the top of the interface, you can select a branch for the edits. See Branching.

    Using the Files page you can expand folders and select a file to view or edit.

  5. (Optional) Click . The Workspace Overview opens to display various items (e.g., status, authors, type) about edited files in a project. (If files are already in a working state, the Open Workspace Overview button shows with a circle in the upper-right corner.) See Workspace Overview.

  6. From the left side of the page, expand the existing folders to navigate to a file. You can also click to search for a specific file.

  7. Select a file. It displays in the editor to the right. The right gutter switches from showing project activities to displaying a version history for the file.

    Using the Files page you can expand folders and select a file to view or edit.

  8. Click in the workspace and make an edit (this activates the file in an uncommitted state for editing, auto-sets your status to In Progress, enables the Commit button, and begins to populate the version history). Use the toolbar at the top of the editor to manage the content. Also, the tabs at the top of the editor (i.e., Content, Code, and Commits), allow you to switch modes so you can edit the content or markup, and view commit details. See Editing Features.

    After selecting a file you can edit it in Content or Code mode.

    Note You can toggle between the editing modes at any time. If you switch and then close or commit a file, then the next time you open the editor, it opens to the last mode you left off.

  9. When you are done editing a file, it needs to be committed into the repository.Click Commit. (Or click Cancel, to back out of the process.)

    Note From your avatar in the editor's toolbar, you have the option to select Ready to Commit, but you do not have to since you are the only author editing. You can just click Commit when you are done.

  10. In the Create New Commit dialog, verify the new file path, and enter a Commit Message.

  11. Click Commit.

Editing Features

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What’s Noteworthy?

Note For the authoring feature to work properly, your project must be single-bound to Flare Online as the primary source control provider. The authoring feature does not support dual-bound projects.

Note If an author needs to work with the project in Flare Desktop after it is created in Flare Online—because advanced features are needed for the project—the user needs to (1) have access to the project, and (2) open Flare Desktop and import the project from Flare Online. If additional changes are made in Flare Desktop or Flare Online, the work would need to be synchronized between the local and remote repositories. See Creating Projects and Importing Projects.

Note Since Flare Online is a remote repository, those who use Flare Desktop after changes are made in Flare Online, need to synchronize their remote and local repositories. See Source Control.

  • Flare Online side Content is authored and committed to the project in Flare Online.

  • Flare Desktop side To interact with updated content in Flare Desktop, use source control to pull changes from the remote repository and sync it to the local repository.

If two authors are editing the same file, at the same time, but one is working in Flare Desktop and the other is working in Flare Online, there is an auto-merge feature that detects external commits. See Auto-Merging Files With External Commits.

Note Keep the following in mind when loading files:

  • The file size limit is 5 MB. This limitation helps prevent issues.

  • If changes approach the limit, a message warns you.

  • If edits exceed the size limit (or if the file starts out already over the limit), an error displays. If you are on the Content tab, the error is triggered when you attempt to commit the changes or switch to the Code tab.

  • If you are on the Content tab and see the error message, you can make edits to reduce the file size and then commit the changes.

  • If you are on the Code tab and see the error message, you can still edit the file and commit the changes, but you cannot switch to the Content tab.