MadCap Flare Reviews & Product Details - Page 2

I like that it is user friendly and it is generally pretty simple to navigate; you just follow the given instructions/rules and write. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike that there are frequent IT issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Usability, the many features, prompt customer support and robustness Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some long-existing known bugs that have not been resolved in years Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The features are industry leading. Topic-based authoring, snippets, conditional settings make for a fully customiseable output. Lovely UI to use. The team are really helpful and friendly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Steep learining curve. But if you put in the effort and watch the training videos and read the great documentation, you will get to where you need to be. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

MadCap Flare is a popular authoring and publishing tool for technical writers that offers a wide range of features such as content management, multi-channel publishing, and localization support. Its ability to generate output in multiple formats, including HTML5, PDF, and mobile apps, is highly appreciated by users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Madcap Flare's learning curve and high cost. It has been known to have a relatively steep learning curve, which can be a challenge for some users, especially those who are new to technical writing or the software. As for the cost, MadCap Flare is a professional tool designed for complex documentation projects, and as such, it may have a higher price tag than other authoring tools. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

MadCap Flare's ever-growing feature set allows technical communicators to create a range of outputs, from online help to support sites to manuals to training courses. The application includes a library of templates for new users and features like pre- and post-build event commands, third-party plugin support, and macro recording capabilities for more experienced users who need to customize outputs for their organizations and automate frequent tasks. MadCap provides excellent customer support and implementation services. The company has created a broad user community around its software, including an annual conference, a Slack channel, a LinkedIn group, and local user groups. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

MadCap Flare is on-premise software, which might concern customers looking for a cloud-based solution. However, MadCap does offer a cloud-based solution called Central that can be used with Flare. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Every employer I've had that uses Flare also purchased Platinum Service. Their support is top-notch and helps with all user levels of capability. The software itself is great, but I would always recommend also having a support package. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Learning at least a little bit of code is inevitable, and I've worked with many users that are not up to the challenge of deciphering code. Along those same lines, how all the pieces fit together to get the finished product can be complex. If troubleshooting and trying to figure out what's causing an unexpected result isn't your cup of tea, much like any IT field, using Flare may not be one's best choice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love using Flare for all of my documention needs. I've been using it since Version 6 (so, a very long time), and I don't see any reason to switch to anything else! It is a great tool for online and printed outputs. I've used it at several companies -- both large and small. At my current company, we use it primarily for online documentation, and we manage several different single-sourced outputs. Some of them are translated into a dozen languages, and Flare makes this easy, too. I've never had a documentation problem that Flare couldn't help me solve. I love its snippet and variables functionalities, its built-in analysis capabilities, and its flexible skin editor. All of the new microcontent features are amazing, too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

If I had to pick one thing, it's only that Flare does have a steep learning curve. It's not a pick-up-and-go software tool. Luckily, Madcap provides great training opportunities within the software (tutorials), in the online help (more tutorials and walkthroughs), and through their training department. It might not be quick to learn, but it's worth taking the time to get to know this software so you can fully take advantage of everything it has to offer. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Because Flare works with HTML, the possibilities are almost endless with what you can achieve with your HTML outputs. Advanced HTML content, such as mega-menus, can be added to your outputs as long as you have the HTML knowledge to create them.

From context sensitive in-app help, to regularly updated online help, to static PDFs, Flare can create all the outputs that are typically needed from the same source content with just a quick setup. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

With so many features and options in Flare, it is often hard to find out how to do something without checking the online help or user forums. Luckily there's a great user base that is very helpful when new questions come up. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The flexibility and feature-set of the software. If something is not supported natively in Flare, it's always possible to script it and create features using Javascript or other common web-based tools. Combining Javascript with the native Flare features opens up nearly any possibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The software itself feels old-fashioned and building outputs may take a long time depending on the size of the project and the speed of the computer. In addition, it is only available in Windows with no cloud-based solution. Creating a web-based Flare platform would make the software much more valuable to my organization as most of the company is not using Windows and does not need the entire feature set. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

- Easy to create a modern-looking responsive HTML5 Online Help.

- Great single sourcing tool. Allows you to create multiple outputs with conditions

- Proved great search results with Micro-content

- Snippets are an awesome way to re-use contents

- Easy to use CSS editor - even novice who does not have much experience in coding can create great CSS

- Easy to use Skin editor Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

- Word outputs had some drawbacks, some of them are being solved in the latest releases (for example, bullets and numbering). But there are still a few issues with Word outputs. For example, the cover page (title page) style which I apply using Page Layout shows up fine in the PDF output but not in the Word output. Can this be resolved?

- Can you provide more freedom to the users to edit the skin from the back end? For example, if a UX designer provides a UX prototype for me, I should be able to materialize that from the back end (sig HTML/CSS code)

- Unable to provide separate styles for Online Help and PDF outputs when using Expand & Collapse. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.