Map Editor features

Last update: March 26, 2025

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The toolbar in the Map Editor is similar to the topic Editor. The basic operations like toggling the left panel, saving map, creating a new version of map, undo/redo last operation, and delete the selected elements are common in both editors. For detail about how these operations work, view Know the Editor features section.

The options that you view in the editor toolbar are based on the Map Editor view. There are four views that are available in the Map Editor:

The following sections cover the toolbar options available in the different views of the Map Editor:

Layout view

When you open a map for editing it opens the Layout view of the Map Editor. The Layout view displays the map hierarchy in a tree view and allows you to organize the topics in a map.

NOTE
The Layout view only displays the references present in a map. If any references are broken, then a small cross symbol is displayed on the left of the reference

The following options are available on the toolbar in the Layout view:

Topic reference -

Displays the topic search dialog. Navigate to the topic/map file that you want to insert and choose Select to add it to the map.

Topic group –

Insert the topicgroup element. For more information about grouping topics, view the topicgroup documentation in OASIS DITA Language Specification.

Key definition –

Displays the Insert Keydef dialog. Use this dialog to define any key definition that you want to use in the map.

Insert Before/Insert After – /

Displays the Insert Element dialog. Select the element that you want to insert in the map. Depending on the operation, the new element is inserted before or after the current element in the map.

Insert Front matter -

This icon is displayed when you open a bookmap for editing. You can insert components in the beginning of the book like a Table of contents, an Index, and a List of Tables.

Insert Back matter -

This icon is displayed when you open a bookmap for editing. You can insert components for at the end of the book like an Index, a Glossary, and a List of Figures.

Move the selected item left/right - /

Select the left arrow to move the topic towards the left side in the hierarchy. This essentially promotes the respective topic one level up in the hierarchy. For example, selecting the left arrow while a child topic is selected, make it the sibling of the topic above it. Similarly, if you select the right arrow, the topic is pushed towards the right side making it the child of the topic above it.

Move the selected item up/down - /

Select the up or down arrow icons’ to move the topic up or down in the hierarchy.

NOTE
You can also drag-and-drop the references to move them in a map.

Lock/Unlock

Gets a lock on the map file and release the lock. If you have unsaved changes in your map file, then at the time of releasing the lock, you are prompted to save the map file. The changes are saved in the current version of the map file.

Merge -

For more details about merging content from a different version of the same or a different file, view Merge in the Editor.

Version history -

Check the available versions and labels on your active topic, and revert to any version from the editor itself.

Version label -

Displays the version label management dialog. Select a version from the dropdown list. Choose the label you want to apply to the selected version and select Add label to add it.

Show filename

Shows the filename of the titles of the topics.

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

Show line numbers

Shows or hides the line number for each topic. The line numbers are shown depending on the level in the hierarchy.

Show checkbox

Shows or hides a checkbox for each topic. You can use the checkbox to select the topic(s) and perform various tasks using the Options menu.

Options menu in the layout view

In addition to organizing topics in the map file, you can also perform the following actions using the Options menu that appears on hovering over a file or right-clicking within the editor in the layout view:

  • Add: You can choose to add a new topic or an empty reference from the Map Editor:

    • Empty reference: This option allows you to add an empty reference in your DITA map. You can double-click the inserted empty reference later and add the Topic details.
    • New topic: When you choose to create a new topic from the menu, you get the New topic dialog box. In the New topic dialog box, provide the required details and select Create.

  • Move: You can choose to move a topic up/down/right/left in the hierarchy. You can also drag-and-drop a topic or a map from the repository panel to the map opened in the Map Editor.

  • Undo: Undo the last operation in the Layout view.

  • Redo: Redo the last operation in the Layout view.

  • Copy: Copy the selected reference from the map file.

    NOTE
    You can show and then select the checkboxes to copy multiple references.

  • Paste: Paste the copied references at the current location in the hierarchy.

  • Delete: Delete the selected references from the map file.

    NOTE
    You can show and then select the checkboxes to delete multiple references.

View topics based on conditional filters

If you have applied any conditions on a topic, a filter icon is displayed on the right of the topic. When you hover your pointer over a filter icon, you are shown the applied condition and its attribute value.

Author view

The Author view allows you to edit your DITA map in the Editor. This shows the WYSIWYG view of the Map Editor and some of the icons displayed in Author view are same as the Layout view.

In addition, you can view the following icons and perform the related tasks from the Author view:

Insert before/Insert after - /

Displays the **Insert element before or **Insert element after dialog box. Select the element that you want to insert in the map. Depending on the operation, the new element is inserted before or after the current element in the map.

Element -

Displays the Insert element dialog box. 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. Alternatively, you can select the element to insert it in the map.

Reusable content -

Displays the Reuse content dialog box. Use this dialog to insert the content that you want to reuse in your map.

Refresh navigation title attribute -

Synchronizes the title element of a referenced file in a map with the value specified in its @navtitle attribute. You can add different types of reference files in a map, for example topic, reference, task, (sub) maps, and so on. Most of these files support the @navtitle attribute. If a file contains the @navtitle attribute, then the @navtitle attribute for the same file in map is updated. In case the @navtitle attribute is not present, then the @navtitle attribute is added to that reference file and its title is also updated to display the @navtitle.

NOTE
Your administrator can configure auto-adding @navtitle attribute to every reference file that you add to a map. For more details about configuring auto-adding @navtitle attribute, view Include @navtitle attribute by default in Install and configure Adobe Experience Manager Guides as a Cloud Service.

Select the Refresh Navigation Title Attribute icon to synchronize the title element’s and @navtitle attribute’s values.

Tags

Shows or hides the XML tags. The tags serve as visual cues indicating an element’s boundary. In this mode, if you want to insert a topic/map reference, then drag-and-drop the desired file before or after the tag. The horizontal bar is not shown in the Tags View mode.

Track changes -

You can keep a track of all updates made in the map file by enabling the Track Changes mode. After enabling the track changes, all insertions and deletions are captured in the document. For more details, view Track changes in the Editor.

Create review task -

You can create a review task of the current topic or map file directly from the Editor. Open the file for which you want to create the review task and select Create review task to initiate the review creation process. Follow the instructions given in the Introduction to review for more details.

Source view

This view allows you to edit content in its raw format, providing full control over the structure and formatting.

In this view, the toolbar provides basic content editing and insertion options available under the Menu dropdown including Cut, Copy, Undo, Redo, Delete, Find and replace, Version label, Merge, Save as new version, Lock and Unlock.

Preview

The Preview mode renders the content as it will appear in the final output, enabling you to review the layout and formatting before publishing it.

In addition to be able to view the position of each topic file within a map, it is desirable to view the map content in one consecutive flow. The Preview map feature allows you to view the entire content of the map file in a single click. You don’t have to generate an output of the map file to view how the entire map will look like once published. You can simply access the map’s preview and all topics and sub-maps are rendered in the form of a book.

NOTE
No content editing or insertion options are available in the toolbar in the Preview mode. You can not edit the content in this view. However, you can use the Save as new version and Lock or Unlock features.

You can perform the following additional tasks in the preview mode:

  • Right-click on a topic, and select Edit to open the topic for editing in a new tab.

    NOTE
    If you don’t have editing rights, then the topic will open in read-only mode.

  • Jump to the desired topic by selecting the topic title in the map tree (in left panel).

  • The current topic in map preview is also highlighted in the map tree.

Other ways to preview a map file

You can access a map’s preview from:

  • Assets UI: In the Assets UI, navigate to the map location, select the map file, and choose Preview Map in the Toolbar. The map’s preview is shown in a new tab. You can view the content of all topics in the preview mode. In this view, you cannot edit any topic.

    NOTE
    If the Preview Map option is not visible in the main toolbar, it might have moved under the More toolbar menu.

  • Map Editor: In the Map Editor, select Preview from the options menu to view the preview of the current map.

    The preview of the map is displayed in a pop-up box.

Map properties

Displays the Map Properties dialog wherein you can set the attributes and metadata information for the map.

Edit topics through DITA map

Editing an individual topic doesn’t give the complete context to the author. An author would have no information about where a topic is placed in a DITA map. Without this contextual information, it becomes a bit difficult for authors to create content.

Experience Manager Guides allows authors to open a DITA map in the Editor and view the placement of topics within the map. This helps authors to know exactly where the topic is placed within the map and create more relevant content. Also, if there are multiple authors working on a project, they can know what all topics are available in the map and reuse content, wherever required.

To edit topics through a DITA map, perform the following steps:

  1. In the Repository panel, navigate to and open the DITA map file that you to want to edit.

    The map file opens in the Map view.

NOTE
You can also use the Assets UI to open a DITA map file. Navigate to the DITA map file that contains the topics you want to edit and select Edit Topics in the main toolbar to launch the Editor.

  1. Select any topic link to open it in the Editor for editing.

    You can open multiple topics in the editor and each topic is opened in a new tab in the editor. Even if your DITA map contains sub-maps, topics from the sub-maps are also opened in a new tab for editing. If you want to view the topics under a sub-map, you can select and expand the sub-map.

    If you select a map file, the map is opened in a new tab of the Editor.

  2. Once you have finished editing the topics, you can do the following:

    • You can save them individually. If you close without saving your topics, you will view a dialog box prompting you to save the unsaved topics:

      You can choose to save all selected topics or deselect the topics that you do not want to save.

    • You can unlock the topic using the Save as new version option. When you save a version of the topic, a new version is created and the lock is also released.

      It’s recommended to save your changes before unlocking the files. When you save the changes, the XML file is validated.

    • You can also view the progress of the topics from the Save as new version dialog box. A success message is shown when the files are unlocked.

    • If your administrator has enabled the option of unlocking files on close, then you will be shown a prompt to save files whenever the locked files are closed. With this option enabled, when you close the editor with changed files, you are shown the list of locked files that need to be saved. The locked files are shown with a lock icon:

Right panel in the Map Editor

The right panel displays the Content Properties and the Map Properties in the Layout view of the Map Editor.

Content properties

The Content properties panel contains information about the type of currently selected topic in the map, its link URL, and its attributes. For more details, view Content Properties in the Editor.

  • Other Attributes If your administrator has created a profile for attributes, then you’ll get those attributes along with their configured values. Using the content properties panel, you can choose those attributes and assign them to relevant content in your topic. You can also assign attributes configured by your administrator under the Display attributes tab in the editor settings. The attributes defined for an element are displayed in the Layout and the Outline view. This helps you to have a quick look at all the topics in a map for which a particular attribute is defined. For example, all topics which have the audience attribute are defined as US.

    layout view

    For more details, view the Display attributes within the Settings feature description in the Editor.

  • Metadata Using the metadata , you can set the metadata information. You can define the Nav Title, Link Text, Short Description, and Keywords.

For more information about the standard topic attributes and metadata, view the topicref documentation in OASIS DITA Language Specification.

Parent topic: Introduction to the Map Editor

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