Key Features

Feedback files are the primary files that allow you to view how people are using your output.

• Creating and opening Feedback files One of the first tasks that must be performed in Feedback Explorer is to create or open a file that is configured with a target in MadCap Flare. You can initialize this task from Feedback Explorer or from within Flare. It is easiest to create and open the initial Feedback file from within Flare. The reason for this is that you only need to enter your Feedback license once. After entering the license key in Flare's Target Editor, simply click the button labeled Configure with Feedback Explorer Application.

  However, some individuals may want to perform this task from Feedback Explorer. For example, some people (such as managers) may not work in MadCap Flare, but want to track user activity in the author's online documentation files.

  After the configured Feedback file is open, there are several things you can do to view and track user activity for a Flare target.

  For information about performing this task within Flare, see the Flare online Help. For information about performing this task in Feedback Explorer, see Creating a Configured Feedback File or Opening a Configured Feedback File.

You can specify individuals, called administrators, who should be emailed when events such as the following take place: users submit new comments that require acceptance before they are published , the status for a comment is changed, searches are performed with no results, topics are rated, and context-sensitive Help (CSH) calls are made. Administrators can also be subscribed to an email manifest, which automatically emails summaries of Feedback activity periodically. An administrator might be a writer on the documentation team, or even an individual such as a manager or documentation leader who will not necessarily take action on user activity but still needs to be kept informed. Each administrator can be set up to receive different types of emails. See Adding Administrators.

Note: It is not mandatory that you add administrators. It is simply an activity that helps speed the process of accepting new comments and performing other tasks, because it notifies the appropriate individuals when action may need to be taken. Anyone who has Feedback Explorer installed with the appropriate Feedback license key will be able to take action, such as accepting pending comments, even if they are not added to the administrator notification list.

You can view lists of all topics opened by end users, as well as topics associated with context-sensitive Help IDs.

• Viewing topics visited You can use the Topics window pane to view a list of all the topics that users have opened in your output. This includes a count of how many times each topic has been opened, as well as its average rating from users and the number of comments that have been submitted. See Viewing Topics Opened by Users.
• Viewing topics visited (CSH calls) You can view all of the topics that users have opened through context-sensitive Help (CSH) calls that you integrated into your output. This includes each CSH ID, the topic it points to, and the number of times it has been accessed. See Viewing Context-Sensitive Help Topics Opened by Users.

With MadCap Feedback, users can give a rating to a topic, selecting from one to five stars. You can then view these ratings (which are displayed as a numerical score from 0 to 100) and make adjustments to the topics as necessary.

• Rating topics (users) Learn how users submit ratings for topics in your online output. See How End Users Submit Topic Ratings.
• Viewing topic ratings After users enter ratings for topics, you can view them in Feedback Explorer. See Viewing Topic Ratings.

Users can enter comments on your online topics. These comments may be viewed (and replied to) by all other users viewing the output.

• Controlling which comments are added to the output As the author, you have control over whether new user comments should be reviewed before they are displayed in the online output. If you specify that all incoming comments require review, those comments will have Pending status until you take action on them (e.g., accepting, discarding, hiding). If you specify that reviewing comments is not necessary, all incoming comments will automatically move to Accepted status and become immediately visible in your online output. You can always change the status of a comment, thereby affecting whether it is visible and to whom. See Specifying Whether New Comments Need to be Reviewed.
• Enabling anonymous comments When users submit comments, they may be required to register, providing information such as user name, email address, and more. However, you can set up a Feedback file so that anonymous users will be accepted. In that case, users will not need to register; instead, they simply enter any user name when submitting a comment. See Enabling Anonymous Comments.
• Entering comments (users) Learn how users submit these types of comments from your online output. See How End Users Submit Comments.
• Viewing all comments After users enter comments, you can view them in Feedback Explorer. This can be done from the Comments window pane, which can be accessed by selecting View>Comments. Initially all comments are displayed. However, you can use the filter drop-down in the local toolbar to narrow which types of comments are shown (e.g., Accepted, Pending, Hidden). See Viewing Topic Comments.
• Accepting pending comments If you set up MadCap Feedback so that new comments require approval before being added to the online output, those comments move to Pending status by default. Therefore, you must accept a comment before it is added to the online output to be viewed by everyone. Even after you accept a comment, you can later change your mind and assign a different status to it (Hidden, Pending Review) or discard it any time you want. See Accepting Pending Comments.
• Hiding comments If you do not want a comment to be visible to all users in the community, but you also do not want to delete it from the system, you can change its status to Hidden. That way, you can continue to access the comment in Feedback Explorer, but end users will not see it in the online output. You can assign a different status to it (Accepted, Pending Review) or discard it any time you want. See Hiding Comments.
• Editing comments From the Comments window pane you can modify a comment's subject, status, and text. For example, you might use this feature if you misspell a word in your reply to a reader's comment. This allows you to correct your mistake after the fact. See Editing Comments.
• Setting comments to Pending status If you set up MadCap Feedback so that new comments require approval before being added to the online output, those comments move to Pending status by default. This means that the comment is visible only to you and the end user until you accept it. If at any time the comment has a different status than Pending (i.e., Hidden, Accepted), you can apply the Pending Review status to it. See Setting Comments to Pending Status.
• Discarding comments If you do not want to keep a comment in the system, you can permanently delete it at any time. After you do this, you will no longer be able to access the comment. See Discarding Comments.
• Replying to comments After you receive comments from users, you can reply to them. You can either obtain the individual's email address and send a private response, or you can reply to the user from the online output so that everyone in the community sees your response. When you reply in the output, you can do so in two different ways. The easy way is to reply from a notification email you receive. Otherwise, you need to navigate in the output to the correct topic and reply from there. If you reply to new comments from an email notification that you receive, you do not need to go through the process of accepting that comment, or your own comment for that matter. When you reply to a comment from the email link, not only is a reply created, but the original comment and your reply comment are approved at the same time. See Replying to Comments.
• Viewing active users You can view a list of active users for your online output. In other words, the list shows the users who have registered and submitted at least one comment. See Viewing Active Users.

Note: If you want end users to be able to enter Feedback comments in the online output, you need to enable comments. This is done by opening the skin in Flare that is associated with the target, selecting the Feedback tab, and clicking Display topic comments at the end of each topic. For more information, see the online Help in Flare.

With MadCap Feedback, you can determine how readers are using search in your online output. This helps you answer questions such as: What are they looking for? What are they finding? And more importantly, what are they unable to find? You can use Feedback Explorer to view all used search phrases, as well as searches where no results were returned to the user.

• Viewing used search phrases You can see statistics on all search phrases used, including the number of searches performed for each term and the number of results returned for users each time. This lets you know the information that users are seeking most often. You can then make the necessary adjustments to your project, such as adding more details to the appropriate topics. See Viewing Used Search Phrases.
• Viewing searches without results You can see statistics on the search phrases for which users did not find results, including the number of searches performed for each term. See Viewing Searches Without Results.

• Creating synonyms If users enter search phrases in your online output and those phrases are not returning results, this does not need to be the end of the story. You can make improvements to your output so that, in the future, users are able to find the search results they need. One way to make an enhancement is to add the information that your users are looking for (if that information does not yet exist in your Flare project). Another way to enhance your output is to create synonyms for search phrases. See Creating Synonyms to Enhance Search Results.

  You can create synonyms within the Flare project or within Feedback Explorer. It is not mandatory that you have Feedback in order to use synonyms in Flare output, but using Feedback makes it much easier to determine which words require synonyms based on the search results of your users. Using Feedback Explorer to create synonyms is appealing because the synonyms become immediately available for users searching in your output (without needing to republish the output). Be aware, however, that creating synonyms in Feedback Explorer works for the Feedback output as long as you continue to publish output to the same server. If you create synonyms in Feedback Explorer, it is recommended that you also create those synonyms at the source (i.e., within the Flare project), in case you ever publish to a different server. The easiest way to do this is to export your synonyms to that Flare project. See Exporting Synonyms.

  example

  Let's say that you view search keyword results from your users and find that many are entering the search term "sofa." Unfortunately, you have not used that word in your project, so users are unable to find the topics that they need. However, you have used a similar word, "couch." Therefore, in the Synonyms Editor, you enter "couch" as a synonym for "sofa." The next time a reader enters "sofa" as a search keyword, topics containing the word "couch" will be returned in the results.

  Note: This feature is available if you are generating DotNet Help, WebHelp, or WebHelp Plus output formats only. It is not available for HTML Help output.

You can export data in the following ways.

• Exporting data to Microsoft Excel (using a CSV file) AfAfter you accumulate data in Feedback Explorer, you can export it to a comma-separated value (CSV) file. You can then open the file in Microsoft Excel. See Exporting Feedback Data to Microsoft Excel (Using a CSV File).
• Exporting data to a tab-delimited text (TXT) file After you accumulate data in Feedback Explorer, you can export it to a tab-delimited text (TXT) file. See Exporting Feedback Data to a Tab-Delimited Text File.
• Exporting synonyms After creating synonyms in Feedback Explorer, you may want to export the synonyms file (MCSYNS) to another location. Those synonyms can then be added to the Flare project associated with the Feedback file, or even a different Flare project. See Exporting Synonyms.