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Import from MadCap Flare

Topicary imports entire MadCap Flare projects — topics, snippets, table of contents, variables, and conditions — preserving your content architecture. Import is available on Pro, Team, and Business plans.

Before you begin

  • You need a Pro, Team, or Business plan

  • You need access to the raw Flare project folder (not a published output)

  • Zip the project directory before importing

Plan your migration

Before importing, assess your Flare project:

  1. Inventory your content. Count topics, snippets, variables, and conditions. Each transfers to its Topicary equivalent.

  2. Identify what won't transfer. Micro content, responsive layouts, multimedia, custom scripts, and print-specific page layouts don't have direct equivalents.

  3. Check snippet usage. Flare snippets become Topicary components. Snippet references are preserved as component references — this is one of the cleanest migrations between the two systems.

  4. Note image locations. Images in Flare project folders are not auto-uploaded. You'll need to re-add them after import.

The Flare snippet-to-Topicary component conversion preserves references, not just content. Topics that referenced a snippet in Flare will reference the corresponding component in Topicary. This means your single-source reuse architecture carries over intact — you do not need to manually re-link anything.

Export from Flare

Locate your Flare project folder. The import uses the raw project files, not a published output. You'll need the project directory zipped.

Import into Topicary

  1. Go to Topics and click Import.

  2. Select the Flare project .zip file.

  3. Topicary auto-detects the Flare project structure.

  4. Preview cards show the topics that will be created.

  5. Click Import.

What's imported

Flare element

Topicary equivalent

Topics (.htm, .html)

Topics

Snippets

Components

Table of contents (.fltoc)

Map with nesting

Variables

Variable sets with key-value pairs

Conditions

Condition dimensions and values

What this means for your workflow

  • Snippets become components — Flare snippet references are converted to Topicary component references, preserving single-source reuse.

  • TOC becomes a map — the Flare table of contents hierarchy maps directly to Topicary's map structure.

  • Variables carry over — Flare variable definitions become Topicary variable sets. Tokens in content are converted to Topicary variable tokens.

  • Conditions carry over — Flare condition tags become Topicary condition dimensions and values. Conditional content in topics is wrapped in conditional blocks.

What's not preserved

  • Micro content — not imported

  • Responsive layouts and multimedia — simplified to static content

  • Custom scripts and JavaScript — removed

  • Print-specific page layouts (page breaks, running headers, crop marks) — not preserved

  • Cross-reference formats (custom xref styles) — converted to plain links

  • Local images — file paths are cleared; re-upload images after import

  • Condition expressions with boolean logic — individual condition tags transfer, but complex boolean expressions (AND/OR/NOT) don't carry over

Images from Flare project folders are not included in the import. All local image paths are cleared. After import, re-upload images from your Flare project's Resources folder and re-link them in the affected topics.

Complex condition expressions using AND/OR/NOT logic do not transfer. Individual condition tags and values are imported, but if your Flare targets rely on boolean condition expressions, you will need to recreate that logic in Topicary's condition profiles.

Post-import checklist

  1. Review topics for formatting accuracy — focus on areas that used Flare-specific features.

  2. Re-upload images from your Flare project's Resources folder.

  3. Check the map hierarchy matches your intended structure.

  4. Verify component references resolve correctly — open a few topics that referenced snippets.

  5. Review imported condition dimensions and values. Create publication targets with the appropriate condition profiles.

  6. Review imported variable sets and verify key-value pairs transferred correctly.

  7. Publish a test target and compare the output against your Flare output.

See also

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