[Legacy Guide - More Info]{class="badge informative" title="Legacy Guide"}

Know the Web Editor features id176NC500V5Z

This section walks you through the various features that are available in the Web Editor. We can divide the Web Editor into the following sections or areas:

The following subsection cover in details the various sections of the Web Editor.

Main toolbar id2051EA0G05Z

The main toolbar is at the top of the Web Editor’s interface and it provides file-level features and various authoring modes available in the Web Editor. Features available in the top toolbar are explained as follows:

Save All -

Saves the changes you have made in all opened topics. If you have multiple topics opened in the Web Editor, clicking Save All or using the Crtl+S shortcut keys saves all documents in one click. You do not have to individually save each document.

Save As New Version -

Saves the changes you have made in your topic and also creates a new version of your topic. If you are working on a newly created topic, the version information is shown as none.

The version number changes with every new version that is created for the topic or map file.

When you choose to save a topic or map using Save As New Version, the following dialog appears:

Enter comments and version labels to identify the changes and click Save to create a new version of your file.

When you choose the Save As New Version, the first version of the topic is created in DAM, which also becomes the currently active version of your topic. Later, if you revert to an older version of the topic, then that becomes your current active version of the topic.

If your administrator has pre-configured version labels, then you will see those labels in a drop-down list. You can choose a label from the list of available labels and save your document.

At the time of saving a topic, you can add a comment specifying the changes that you have made in the topic. This comment is shown in the topic’s Version History.

If your topic is under review, your reviewers will get a notification saying that a newer version of the topic is available. They can easily access the latest revision of your document and continue reviewing the latest version of your topic.

When you hover your pointer over a topic’s title, you are shown the file path and the version number.

Undo and Redo - /

Undo or Redo the last action.

Delete Element -

Deletes the currently selected element or the element where the cursor is placed.

Find and Replace -

The Find and Replace feature is available in Author and Source view modes. The Find and Replace text bar appears at the bottom of the topic editing area. You can use the shortcut keys CTRL+F to invoke the Find and Replace bar.

Using the settings icon ( ), you can toggle the Ignore Case and Whole Word Only search options. To perform the case-insensitive search, turn on (or select) the Ignore Case option. Else, if you want to perform the case-sensitive search, turn off (or deselect) the Ignore Case option. You can also choose to search a whole word.

The search is instantaneous, which means that as you type the search phrase or word in the Find field, the term is immediately searched and selected in the topic. Similarly, for replacing a text in your topic, enter the search term and its replacement in the respective fields and click the Replace or Replace All button.

In the Source view, the Find and Replace is extremely useful for searching for a specific element or attribute. For example, if you want to replace the value of the @product attribute, it can be easily done from the Source view. The Author view does not allow you to search on the basis of an attribute or element. However, you must use caution while using the Replace All feature, as it might overwrite the XML code.

Editor Settings -

The Editor Settings are only available to administrative users. Using the preferences, an administrator can configure the following settings:

Panels: This setting controls the panels that are shown in the left panel of the editor. You can toggle the switch to show or hide the desired panel.

In the above screenshot, the b element has been given a label of Bold, codeblock is given a label of Code Block along with some other elements. If you select the Use Only Above Elements option, then only the valid elements (at current insertion point) from this list will be shown in the Insert Element pop-up.

In the following screenshot, only 3 out of 4 configured elements from the previous screenshot are shown at the current context:

User preferences -

The User preferences are available to all authors. Using the preferences, an author can configure the following settings:

Author, Source, and Preview modes

For details about the various authoring and document viewing modes, see Web Editor views.

Secondary toolbar id2051EA0J0Y4

The secondary toolbar appears when you open a topic for editing in the Web Editor. Features available in the secondary toolbar are explained as follows:

Insert Element -

Inserts a valid element at the current or next valid location. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Enter to open the Insert Element pop-up. For example, you are editing a paragraph, then in the Insert Element pop-up, a list of elements appears that can be inserted in the paragraph. Select the element that you want to insert. You can use the keyboard to scroll through the list of elements and press Enter to insert the required element.

You can view two types of valid elements:

For example, if you are within the inline <b> element, you can insert elements like <u>, <xref>, <i> at the current location. In contrast, you can insert elements like <table> and <topic> outside the current location.

You can also type a character or string in the search box and search for the elements that begin with it.

Enter ‘t’ to search for all valid elements that begin with ‘t’.

If you are working inside a block element like a note, then use the Insert Element icon to insert a new element after the note element. In the following screenshot a note element has been inserted inside the p (paragraph) element:

If you press Enter in the note element, a new paragraph is created within the note element itself. To insert a new element outside note, click the p element (highlighted in screenshot) in the elements breadcrumb and click on the Insert Element icon or press Alt+Enter to open the Insert Element pop-up. Then, select the desired element and press Enter to insert the selected element after the note element.

You can also add an element between two elements when a blinking block cursor appears.

For example, if you are working on a DITA topic, and the block cursor is blinking between the short description and the body, you can add prolog element and then add copyright, author, and other details.

Another way of entering new element is by using the context menu. Right-click at any place in your document to invoke the context menu. From this menu choose Insert Element to display the Insert Element dialog box and choose the element that you want to insert.

Insert Paragraph -

Insert paragraph element at the current or next valid location.

Insert/Remove Numbered List -

Creates a numbered list at the current or next valid location. If you are on a numbered list and click this icon, the item is converted into a normal paragraph.

Insert/Remove Bulleted List -

Creates a bulleted list at the current or next valid location. If you are on a bulleted list and click this icon, the item is converted into a normal paragraph.

Insert Table -

Inserts a table at the current or next valid location. Click the Insert Table icon to open the insert Table dialog:

You can specify the number of rows and columns required in the table. If you want to keep the first row as table header, select the Set First Row As Header option. To add a title to your table, enter it in the Title field.

Once a table is inserted, you can modify table using the context menu.

Using the table’s context menu, you can:

You can also define attributes on multiple cells, entire row, or column of a table. For example, to align table cell, drag and select the required cell. In the Content Properties panel (on the right), the property Type changes to Multiple Entry.

Insert Image -

Inserts an image at the current or next valid location. Click the Insert Image icon to open the Insert Image dialog and then search and select the image you want to insert.

You can add image/Figure Title and Alternate Text for the image in the Insert Image dialog.

You can search for the required image file by entering the file name in the Type to Search bar at the top and also filter the search results by Path (to search in), Collections, File Type, and Tags. Once you have found the required image file, select the file and click Select to insert the image in your document. You can insert various formats of image files, such as .png, .svg, .gif, .jpg, .eps, .ai, .psd, and more.

Once you have inserted an image, you can change the height, width, placement, and attributes from the Content Properties panel. Click on an image file and then make changes in the Content Properties panel in the right rail.

The Source field displays the UUID of the inserted image file. You can find the complete path of the inserted image file by hovering the mouse pointer over the Source field. The path is displayed in the tooltip.

You can resize an image by providing either Height or Width value for the image file. The aspect ratio of the image is maintained automatically. If you want, you can also choose not to maintain the aspect ratio of the image file by clicking the lock icon (of Maintain Aspect Ratio) and providing Height and Width values.

You can also specify the Placement setting for the image as Inline or Break. In case you choose to use the Break placement option, you can then choose where to align the image (Left, Center, or Right).

You can also add other properties for an image file by selecting the required properties in the Attributes field.

Context menu for image or media files

You can also perform some common operations for images and media files using the context menu. Right-click at any place on your image to invoke the context menu.

The context menu provides options to cut, copy, or paste the image or media. You can insert an element before or after the selected element. You also have the option to rename or unwrap an element. You can locate the selected image or media in the repository or view the preview of the file in Assets UI.

The other options in the context menu allow you to copy path, edit an image map, create a snippet, or generate IDs for the selected element.

Insert Multimedia -

Inserts different types of multimedia files. Click the Insert Multimedia icon and choose the type of file you want to insert. The supported multimedia formats are:

On selecting the Audio or Video file option, you are shown the repository view to browse and select the desired file. If you choose YouTube or Vimeo, then you get the Insert Multimedia dialog. Paste the link of the video file in the Web Link field and click Insert to add the video at the current or next valid location in your document.

You can also add the Audio or Video File from the Insert Multimedia dialog. Select the Audio/Video File option and click the browse icon to launch the repository view. Select the audio or video file from the repository and click Select to add the link of the file in the Audio/Video File field. In case you choose a video file, then a preview of the file is also shown in the Preview area. You can play the video file to see its preview.

Insert Cross Reference -

Insert references of type — Content Reference, Content Key Reference, Key Reference, File Reference, Web Link, or Email Link.

Click the Select File icon (for Content Reference and File Reference) or Select Map icon (for Content Key Reference and Key Reference) and select the desired file or content to link to.

A link of the selected reference is added in the document. The context menu on the link gives you the options to:

You can also search using the UUID of the file that you want to reference. For Content and Key Reference links, enter the UUID of the file that you want to link to, and the file is automatically searched and displayed in the Preview section. When you specify the UUID of the file, you need not explicitly mention the file extension for .xml files. The .xml extension is auto-appended to the UUID.

If your administrator has enabled the UUIDs option in XMLEditorConfig, then you will see the UUID of the referenced content in the Link property.

Filter Search

You can search for some text in the files present on the selected path of the AEM repository. For example, ‘general’ is searched in the below given screenshot. You can also narrow down your search using enhanced filters. You can look for all DITA Files like DITA Topics and DITA Maps present on the selected path.

You can search for Non-DITA Files like the Image Files, Multimedia, and documents in the selected path. You can also search for specific values in the attributes of DITA elements. You can also look for files which are checked out by the specified user.

The list of filtered files which contain the searched text is displayed. For example, in the above screenshot the files containing the text ‘general’ are listed. You can also preview the content of the file.

Insert Reusable Content -

Reuse content that exists within any other document in your project. You can insert content by directly linking to the content in a file or by using a key reference, see Resolve key references. When you click the Insert Reusable Content icon, you get the Reuse Content dialog:

In the Reuse Content dialog, select DITA file for file references or the DITA map file that contains the key references. Once selected, the topic or key references are shown in the dialog. You can select the ID/key of the topic that you want to insert and click Done to insert the content within your topic.

For inserting Content Reference, you can also enter the UUID of the file and the reusable content from that file is listed in the Preview section.

Based on the setting for inserting links, you could either see the UUID of the inserted content or the relative path in the Properties panel or the Source code view. The link is always created using the UUID of the referenced content. See Configure UUID-based links in the Install and configure Adobe Experience Manager Guides as a Cloud Service.

You can also embed the referred content within the topic by right-clicking on the referred content and choosing Replace Reference With Content from the context menu.

Insert Special Characters -

Inserts special characters in your topic. Click the Insert Special Character icon to open the Insert Special Character dialog.

In the Insert Special Character dialog, you can search for a special character using its name. All special characters are stored under various categories. Use the Select Category drop-down list and select a category. The special characters available within the selected category are displayed. You can navigate the list of special character using the arrow keys or click on the desired character that you want to insert. The Name and Hex Code of the selected special character are displayed below the list. Click Insert to insert the selected character in your document.

Insert Keyword -

Insert keyword defined in your DITA map. Click the Insert Keyword icon to open the Key Reference dialog.

The keywords are listed in alphabetical order and you can also search keyword(s) by typing a search string in the Search box. The search result will return the keywords containing the string in ID or Value. The keywords defined in your DITA map are listed in this dialog. Choose the keyword that you want to insert and click Insert.

You can also change the attributes of the inserted keyword by right-clicking on the keyword and selecting the Attributes option. The Attributes for Keyword dialog opens:

You can change the keyword’s attributes or add a new attribute to the keyword.

Insert Snippet -

Insert a snippet at the current or next valid location. For this feature to work, you must have snippets defined in your system. For more information about adding a snippet, see the Snippet feature description in the Left Panel section.

When you click the Insert Snippet icon, you are shown the Insert Snippet catalog. The catalog is context-sensitive, which indicates that it will show the snippets only if they are allowed at the current location.

The following example shows two pre-configured snippets - Warning and Error that can be inserted at the current location in the document.

When you choose a snippet from the list, it gets inserted at the current or next valid location in the document. The following screenshot shows the Error snippet inserted in the document:

Insert/Edit Image Map -

Inserts an image map on the selected image. An image with clickable areas that link to topics or web pages is called an image map.

Select an image in the current topic and click the Insert/Edit Image Map icon to open the insert Image Map dialog.

Choose the preferred shape Rectangle , Circle , or Polygon to define an area over an image that you want to use as a link. After defining an area, the Reference dialog appears wherein you need to specify the link to internal or external content:

If areas overlap, you can bring the shape forward or send it backward by clicking on the respective icon in the toolbar. You can also remove an area by selecting it and clicking the Delete icon. Double-clicking on an area opens the Reference dialog wherein you can change the destination link. Once you have marked the required areas on your image, save the changes by clicking Done.

Check out/Check in - /

Checks out or checks in the current file. Checking out a file gives the user exclusive write access to the file. When the file is checked-in, the changes are saved in the current version of the file.

If you are in the Map View and you expand the parent map, you can check out all files in the map with a single click. Simply expand the parent map file and select the parent file, which results in selecting all files within the map. Then you can select Check out to get the lock on all files within the map.

The tooltip for Check in/Check out is determined by the title property in the ui_config.json file.

For more details, view Configure the title for Check in and Check out icons in the On-premise Installation and configuration Guide.

Toggle Tags View -

Tags are visual cues indicating an element’s boundaries. An element boundary marks the beginning and end of an element. You can then use these boundaries as a visual cue to place the insertion point or select the text within a boundary. If you want to insert another element before or after an element in the document, you can place the insertion point before or after the opening or closing boundary of the element.

The following screenshot shows a document with Tags View on:

The following operations can be performed in a document with Tags View on:

Enable/Disable Track Changes

You can keep a track of all updates made on a document by enabling the Track Changes mode. After enabling the track changes, all insertions and deletions are captured in the document. All deleted content is highlighted using Strikethrough and all insertions are highlighted in green color text. In addition, you also get the change bars at the edge of the topic page. Again, a red bar is shown for deleted content and green bar is shown for added content. In case there is addition and deletion on the same line, then both green and red bars are shown.

The following screenshot highlights the deleted and inserted content along with the change bars:

A typical use case for tracking changes in a document can be for doing peer review. You can enable track changes and share your document for review, the reviewer then makes changes with track changes ON. When you receive the document, you should then have a mechanism to view the suggested updates along with a convenient way to accept or reject changes.

AEM Guides provides the Tracked Changes feature that contains information about the updates made in the document. The Tracked Changes feature provides information about what updates were made, who made them, and at what time. Using the Tracked Changes feature, you can also easily accept or reject the suggested updates in the document.

To access the feature, click the Tracked Changes icon in the right panel.

Clicking on a change selects the changed content in the document. You can accept a change by selecting the Accept Change icon or reject it by selecting the Reject Change.

If you want to accept or reject all changes with a single click, select Accept All or Reject All.

Merge -

When you work in a multi-author environment, it becomes difficult to track what changes the other authors have made in a topic or map. The Merge feature gives you more control over not only viewing the changes, but also what changes are retained in the latest version of the document.

Merge topic files

To merge changes in a topic, perform the following steps:

Merge map files

To merge changes in a map file, perform the following steps:

Version History -

The Version History feature in the Web Editor allows you to check the available versions of your DITA files, compare them, and revert to any version from the editor itself.

In the version history, you can compare the content and metadata of the current version (which can also be a working copy) with any previous version of the same file. You can also view the labels and comments for the compared versions.

To access the version history and revert to a specific version of your topic, perform the following steps:

Preview the changes in the different versions of a topic.

When you revert to an earlier version, a visual cue is shown indicating that the version you are currently working on is not the latest version.

Version Label Management -

Labels help you identify the stage in which a particular topic is in the DDLC (Document Development Life Cycle). For example, when you are working on a topic, you could set the label as “Approved”. Once a topic is published and made available to customers, you can assign “Released” label to that topic.

AEM Guides allows you to specify labels in a free-form text format or use a set of predefined labels. The custom label would allow any author in the system to specify a label as per their choice. This gives flexibility; however, it introduces inconsistent labels in the system. To overcome this issue, administrators can configure a set of predefined labels. For more information about configuring predefined labels, see Configure and customize the XML Web Editor in the Install and configure Adobe Experience Manager Guides as a Cloud Service.

These labels are shown in the form of a drop-down list to authors wherever they need to specify a label. This ensures that only predefined, consistent labels are used in the system.

There are different methods through which you can apply labels to your topics - Version History panel in Assets UI, Baselines UI, and Web Editor. The Version Label feature in the Web Editor gives authors quick and easy way to assign labels to their topics.

To add labels to your topic from the Web Editor, perform the following steps:

Create Review Task -

You can create a review task of the current topic or map file directly from the Web Editor. Open the file for which you want to create the review task and click Create Review Task to initiate the review creation process.

Follow the instructions given in the Review topics or maps for more details.

Left panel id2051EA0M0HS

The left panel is a persistent panel. You can expand or collapse it by clicking the Expand Sidebar icon ( ). In the expanded view, it displays the names of the icons which appear as tooltips in the collapsed view.

The left panel gives you access to the following features:

Favorites -

If you work on a set of files or folders, you can add them to your favorite list to access them quickly. The Favorite list shows the list of documents that you have added and other publicly accessible list of favorite documents from the other users.

By default, you can view the files by titles. As you hover over a file, you can view the file title and the file path as a tooltip.

To create a favorite list or collection, click the + icon next to Favorites panel to bring up the New Collection dia log:

Enter a title and description for the favorite collection that you want to create. If you select Public, then this favorite is shown to other users as well.

To add a file to your favorite collection, use any of the following methods:

Options menu for Favroties collection
You can also perform many actions using the Options menu available for a Favorites collection:

Repository View -

When you click the Repository View icon, you get a list of files and folders available in DAM. By default, you can view the files by titles. As you hover over a file, you can view the file title and the file name as a tooltip.

75 files are loaded at a time. Each time you click Load more… 75 files are loaded, and the button stops being displayed when all the files have been listed. This batch loading is efficient, and you can access the files faster in comparison to loading all the files existing in a folder.

You can easily navigate to the required file within DAM and open it in the Web Editor. If you have the required access to edit the file, then you can do so.

You can also click and play an audio or video file in the Web Editor. You can change the volume or
the view of the video. In the shortcut menu you also have the options to download, change playback
speed, or view picture in picture.

Select a map and press Enter or double-click to open it in the Map View. For more details, see the Map View feature description in the Left Panel section. Select a topic and press Enter or double-click to open it in the Content editing area. Being able to navigate and open a file directly from the Web Editor saves time and increases productivity.

Filter Search

The Web Editor provides enhanced filters for searching text. You can search and filter for a text in the files present on the selected path of the Adobe Experience Manager repository. It searches in the title, filename, and content in the files.

Apply filters to search for the files containing the text general purpose.

Select the Filter Search ( ) icon to open the Filter by pop-up.