Getting Set Up with MadCap Feedback

Important Feedback is deprecated in Flare, which means that it is slated to be removed in a future version.

Getting set up to use MadCap Feedback involves the following basic steps.

Basic Setup Steps

Install MadCap Feedback Server Provide your system administrator (or other responsible individual) with the instructions that are necessary for installing the software and other components. See Installing MadCap Feedback Server.
Configure Feedback Server Admin Provide your system administrator (or other responsible individual) with the instructions that are necessary for configuring the MadCap Feedback Server Admin. This includes the ability to require a password for Feedback Explorer access, test settings, set up an SMTP server for email notifications, specify redirection web pages for end users who register, and schedule automatic backups of the database and transaction log. See Configuring MadCap Feedback Server Admin.
Install Feedback Explorer Feedback Explorer provides an interface that is used to view and track all reader activity in your online output. This is a standalone application that is separate from Flare. It displays user activity for the most recently opened Feedback file (which is associated with a target/license combination in Flare). For more information see the online Help provided with MadCap Feedback Explorer. Each user on your team who plans to use Feedback Explorer to view user comments and statistics can install this software locally. This includes managers who do not use Flare but want to be kept informed about user activity on the published Help output. If some individuals (such as managers) do not want to install and use Feedback Explorer, another individual (perhaps an author) can add them as administrators in his copy of the application, and set them up to receive manifest emails automatically; these emails contain summaries of user activity in a Flare target. For more information, see the online Help in Feedback Explorer.
Obtain Feedback License(s) You need a separate Feedback license for each Flare target that you want to track. After you purchase MadCap Feedback Server, you will be issued the appropriate Feedback license(s) from MadCap Software.

Example You have three authors and a manager on your team. You have a total of five different Flare projects, and from each of those projects, you and the other authors are generating two online targets. So as a team, you are producing a total of ten online outputs (two targets each from five projects). How many Feedback licenses are needed so that the authors and manager can track the user activity for all of those targets? In this case, you would need ten licenses (one for each output that you want to track).

Note It is possible to use the same Feedback license for different targets. However, you must keep in mind that the statistics for the various targets will then become merged when you view them in Feedback Explorer. You will not be able to determine which statistics resulted from which targets.
Enable Feedback After obtaining the necessary Feedback license(s), you need to enable the Feedback functionality in Flare. This is done on the Analytics tab in the targets. See Enabling Feedback in Flare.
Configure Target with Feedback Explorer After you enable Feedback for the target, you can launch Feedback Explorer, configuring and loading it with the information provided in the Target Editor. When you configure a target with Feedback Explorer, an FBCONF file is created and automatically stored in a folder called "My Feedback Admin" located in your Documents folder (or in some operating systems, the "My Documents" folder). The external Feedback Explorer can be opened independently outside of Flare; if you do that, then you need to open the appropriate FBCONF file from within Feedback Explorer in order to view the activity or change the configuration for that target. See Configuring a Target With Feedback Explorer. Also, see the online Help provided with Feedback Explorer.

Note It is also possible to initiate the configuration of the Flare target (and create the necessary FBCONF file) from within Feedback Explorer. Although it is easiest to perform this task from within Flare, some individuals may want to do it 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 Help files. For more information see the online Help provided with Feedback Explorer.

Example Any authors on your team who want to track user activity for a particular Flare target would enter the same license in that target (if they have a copy of the Flare project on their local drive). They can then click the button in the Target Editor labeled Configure with Feedback Explorer Application. The Feedback Explorer will then launch and open a file that is configured with the Flare target. This file is used to display the user activity for that target.

However, because the manager on your team will not be using Flare, he can create a Feedback file in Feedback Explorer, entering the same license that you entered in Flare. For each target that the manager wants to track, he would create a new Feedback file in Feedback Explorer and enter the appropriate license. Alternatively, that manager can simply receive periodic manifest emails.
(Optional) Disable Comments in the Skin If you want end users to be able to enter Feedback comments in the online output, you need to make sure comments are enabled. This is done by default in the skin. If you do not want to include comments, you can open the skin that is associated with the target, select the Community tab, and click Display topic comments at the end of each topic to remove the check mark. See Displaying Comments at the End of Topics for Feedback.
(Optional) Display Email Notifications for Users You can specify in a skin whether end users can see, and therefore select, various email notification options when submitting a comment for the first time or editing their profile. See Displaying Feedback Notification Options to Users.