MadCap Feedback Explorer Changelog

What's new in MadCap Feedback Explorer 4.0.0

Dec 17, 2014

Administrator and Reviewer Roles Merged/Customize Email Notifications
In previous versions there were two types of individuals using Feedback Explorer—administrators and reviewers. The main difference between these two roles was that administrators could receive certain kinds of email notifications and reviewers could receive others. However, email notifications are now much more customizable. Therefore, the reviewer role has been removed and there are only administrators, who can now do everything reviewers once did, and more. In addition, email notification options can now be set per administrator rather than per project. See About Administrators, Adding Administrators, and Editing Administrator Settings.
Note: If you have set up administrators and reviewers in previous versions, your settings (including email notification settings) will be retained in this version. The only difference is that all reviewers will now be listed as administrators.
Browser Statistics—Grouped with Major/Minor Version Numbers
Browsers are now grouped by their name with the major/minor version numbers, allowing you to see in more detail how your content is being accessed. See Viewing Browser Statistics.
Browser/Operating System Statistics—Reset
The Browser Statistics and Operating System Statistics window panes now have an option to reset the statistics. This clears out all previous data, allowing you to track new data going forward. See Resetting Browser Statistics and Resetting Operating System Statistics.
In previous versions the browser and operating system statistics were reset automatically when you reset the topic views. This is no longer the case now that you can reset browser and operating statistics independently.
Charts—Colors
In the past only one color was used in charts for every type of data shown. Starting with this version, you can set custom colors for charts, allowing you to more easily view and analyze the information in them. Using the new Chart Options dialog, you can add multiple rows, assigning different colors to each. When a chart is displayed, the first data item uses the color of the first row, the second item uses the color of the second row, and so on. If you have more items in the chart than you have custom colors, the default color will be used on later items after the custom colors have all been designated. See Setting Colors for Charts.
You can remove a row or edit its color anytime. See Editing Colors for Charts.
Charts—Information Option in Local Toolbar
In previous versions you used the Options dialog to choose the type of information to be included in a chart. This option has been moved to a drop-down field in the local toolbar of the window pane and can be seen when viewing the following types of information.
Viewing Browser Statistics
Viewing Context-Sensitive Help Topics Opened by Users
Viewing Operating System Statistics
Viewing Searches Without Results
Viewing Topics Opened by Users
Viewing Used Search Phrases
In most types of charts this information is displayed on the left side of the chart.
Charts—Legend Option in Local Toolbar
You can now select which column will be used in the chart legend when viewing data in certain window panes. The columns available for selection in the legend depend on which window pane is open. For example, if viewing the Topics window pane, you can select either "Path" or "Title" for inclusion in the legend.
In most types of charts this information is displayed at the bottom of the chart, or in a legend box.
Following is a list of window panes with the columns that can be selected for use in the legend.
Window Pane Columns Available for Legend See This Topic
Browser Statistics window pane
Browser Name
Viewing Browser Statistics
Context-Sensitive Help Calls window pane
CSH ID
Path
Title
Viewing Context-Sensitive Help Topics Opened by Users
Operating Systems window pane
Operating System
Viewing Operating System Statistics
Search Phrases window pane
Search Query
Viewing Used Search Phrases
Search Phrases with No Results window pane
Search Query
Viewing Searches Without Results
Topic Views window pane
Path
Title
Viewing Topics Opened by Users
Comments—Edit
From the Comments window pane you can now 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.
Comments—Hide After Specified Time
In addition to enabling anonymous comments and requiring new comments to be reviewed, you can now use the Feedback Admin to specify that comments should be hidden after a certain number of days. After that time expires, you will still be able to view these comments in Feedback Explorer, but they will no longer be visible to anyone in the output. You might use this feature, for example, if you frequently make updates to your output and all comments associated with the previous version therefore become outdated. See Hiding Comments.
Comments—Preview Area
A preview area has been added to the Topic View and Comments window panes. This allows you to more easily see all of the text for a comment, as well as the text for the comment it may have been a reply to. See Viewing Topic Comments.
Email Notifications—Comment Reply
Both administrators and end users can reply to comments directly from email notifications that they receive. This means that you no longer need to open the online output, navigate to the correct topic, and click the Reply button. Instead, you can click the reply link in the email message and enter your response to the comment. Your comment is added to that topic. See Replying to Comments.
When administrators use this email feature to reply to new comments, not only is a reply created, but the original comment is also approved at the same time. In previous versions the administrator may have had to perform three tasks—approve the end user's comment, locate and reply to that comment, and approve his own comment. Now the administrator only needs to reply to the comment via the email notification, and both the end user's comment and his reply are automatically approved in the process. See Accepting Pending Comments.
Here is an email notification that an administrator might see.
And here is an email notification that an end user might see.
Note: Even if you are an administrator, you must first be a registered user of the output (even your own output) in order to use this email reply feature. This means that you may need to add your first comment from the output itself, or at least click the Edit User Profile button (if included in the output). You do not need to select the notification check boxes in your user profile if you are also set up as an administrator. See Editing Feedback Profiles.
Email Notifications—Customize
A new Email tab has been added to the Feedback Admin. This lets you customize the email notifications that users receive related to comments. See Customizing Email Notifications.
You can double-click any email in the list to edit its contents in the Customize Email Message dialog.
The Customize Email Message dialog contains three toolbar options—Subject Options, Body Options, and Options.
Subject Options Lists all configurable options that can be added to the email subject. When a subject option is missing from the subject line, it will be active under the Subject Options menu. If a subject option has already been added, it is disabled in the menu. These options are not required.
Body Options Lists all configurable options that can be added to the email body. When a body option is missing from the body text area, it will be active under the Body Options menu. If a body option has already been added, it is disabled from the menu. Some body options are required and will generate errors if they are missing. These errors are displayed in the Issues area at the bottom of the dialog.
Options Provides the ability to restore the email to the default subject and body. The Resolve Issues option will be active if any issues are found with the email body.
Email Notifications—Unsubscribe
Each email notification that users receive now includes a link to a page allowing them to unsubscribe (i.e., modify the email notification settings in their user profile). See Editing Feedback Profiles.
Here is how the email message looks.
And here is the page that opens when the "Unsubscribe" link is clicked.
Email Summary (Manifest) for Administrators
In previous versions the only way to view most Feedback information was to open Feedback Explorer and manually access the many reports in it. Starting with this version you can work with manifests, which are periodic email summaries of various reports. This means that you do not even need to open Feedback Explorer at all; the information automatically comes to you in email format. In order to take advantage of this feature, you must create a manifest in the Feedback Admin, selecting the types of reports you wish it to include. You then create a custom schedule to send the emails at specific intervals (daily, weekly, monthly). You can also use filters to specify the days for which you want information. See Creating Manifests for Administrators and Editing Manifests.
In addition you must make sure you are added as an administrator and that you have subscribed to the manifest. See Adding Administrators and Editing Administrator Settings.
Export Feedback Data—Shortcuts
Previously you needed to use the File>Save To menu option to save Feedback data to CSV and TXT files. Now a shortcut button is available in the local toolbars of several window panes to accomplish this. See Exporting Feedback Data to Microsoft Excel (Using a CSV File) and Exporting Feedback Data to a Tab-Delimited Text File.
Name of Output or Help System
You can now specify the name of the online documentation or Help system that belongs to a specific Feedback key. This name will be included in notification emails sent to administrators, making it easier to discern which output the email pertains to. See Adding a Help System Name.
Printing Reports Include Chart
Previously, when printing reports that include charts (e.g., topic views), the print and print preview features included only the charts. Now those features include both charts and data. See Printing Charts.
Title Column
In the Topics and Context-Sensitive Help Calls window panes, a Title column has been added to the grid. This column shows the properties title for each file. See Viewing Topics Opened by Users and Viewing Context-Sensitive Help Topics Opened by Users.
Additional Feature in Flare—Enable/Disable Email Notifications in Skins