Global Toolbars

Opens the Start Page, which provides links to high-level tasks and information. See Start Page.

Opens the New Document dialog, which you can use to create a new document. See Creating New Documents.

Opens a dialog, which lets you open any type of file supported by Contributor.

Saves changes to the active file.

Opens a submenu, which lets you open the active file in another application, attach it to an email, or open the Windows folder where it is stored.

Cuts the selection and sends it to the clipboard.

Copies the selection and sends it to the clipboard.

Pastes the selection from the clipboard to the place where the cursor is inserted.

Deletes the selection.

Lets you reverse the most recent action in a file. The undo and redo functions are enhanced in the following ways.

• Unlimited You can undo or redo an unlimited number of times, back to the last time you opened the file, even after you have saved the document.
• Multiple Buffers Each document in the interface has its own Undo/Redo buffer. This means that you can undo actions in one document and then switch to another document and undo actions specific to that file.

Lets you repeat the most recent action that you reversed in a file.

Lets you apply a style to the content selected in the topic or document.

Lets you select a font type (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman), applying it to the content selected in the topic or document.

Lets you select a font size, applying it to the content selected in the topic or document.

Applies bold typeface to the content selected in the topic or document.

Applies italic typeface to the content selected in the topic or document.

Underlines the content selected in the topic or document.

Raises the selected content in the topic or document above the normal line of text (e.g., X²).

Lowers the selected content in the topic or document below the normal line of text (e.g., X₂).

Opens the Font Properties dialog, which lets you edit the font properties for topic content directly.

Removes local formatting in a selection or even an entire topic or document. See Removing Inline Formatting.

Lets you choose and apply a color to the selected content.

Lets you choose and apply a color to the background of the selected content.

You can set redacted text on any kind of content (e.g., characters, paragraphs, images, tables). You can do this locally at the font level by highlighting each piece of content, or you can specify redaction on a style and then apply that style to content whenever necessary. It is recommended that you use styles whenever possible.Redaction occurs when content is permanently eliminated from a printed or electronic document. In place of that content, end users will see black rectangles that indicate where the original content was found. See Redacted Text and Setting Redacted Text on Content.

Aligns the selected content to the left.

Aligns the selected content in the center.

Aligns the selected content to the right.

Spaces the selected content so that both the left and right sides are aligned.

Resets the alignment of the selected text to the default (inherited) setting.

Lets you select one of several kinds of bullet or numbered lists, applying it to the selected content.

• Bullet List Applies a bulleted list to the selected content.
• Circle Bullet List Applies a bulleted list to the selected content. The bullets are circles.
• Square Bullet List Applies a bulleted list to the selected content. The bullets are squares.
• Numbered List Applies a numbered list to the selected content.
• Lower-alpha Numbered List Applies a numbered list to the selected content where lowercase alpha characters are used (a., b., c., d., etc.)
• Upper-alpha Numbered List Applies a numbered list to the selected content where uppercase alpha characters are used (A., B., C., D., etc.)
• Lower-Roman Numbered List Applies a numbered list to the selected content where lowercase Roman numerals are used (i., ii., iii., iv., etc.)
• Upper-Roman Numbered List Applies a numbered list to the selected content where uppercase Roman numerals are used (I., II., III., IV., etc.)

• Definition List A definition list is used to create a group of terms and definitions. It is also sometimes referred to as a description list, and although it is called a "list," it does not have bullets or numbers. Instead, it is similar to a table that doesn't have borders (although it can have borders, shading, etc. if you edit the necessary styles).

• Custom Format Opens a custom list format that lets you create a uniquely styled list up to 10 levels deep. You can also select an existing custom format from this submenu to apply it to the selected content in your topic or snippet. At this time, custom list formats are supported only in PDF output. After browsers begin to support the CSS3 marker element that makes custom list formats possible, this feature will automatically be supported in browser-based outputs as well. Until then, if you want to generate a browser-based output, you should use the standard method for creating lists instead. See Creating Custom List Formats.

Lets you shift indented content to the left, thus "outdenting" it.

Lets you shift selected content to the right, thus "indenting" it.

Lets you apply miscellaneous actions to selected content in a list. These actions are as follows:

• Merge With Previous List Combines a list with another list immediately before it.
• Merge With Next List Combines a list with another list immediately following it.
• Sort List Reorders the items in the list alphabetically.
• Reverse List Reorders the items in the list so that they appear in reverse order (i.e., first item is last, last item is first).
• Unbind List Removes the list designation from the content so that it displays as regular text.

• Continue Sequence Ensures that the next list you create in the topic starts with the next number in the sequence of the list above (even if the two lists are separated by other content).

  Example You have a numbered list from 1 to 10 at the top of your topic and you add a few regular paragraphs (not in a list) after it. If you start another numbered list and select this option, the new list will start at 11.

• List Start Number Lets you specify a number to start a numbered list.

• Item Number Lets you specify a number to start a selected item in a numbered list.

  Example You have a numbered list from 1 to 10. If you click in the paragraph with the number 7 and then use this option to start numbering at 23, your list would change so the numbering displayed as 1 to 6, and then 23 to 26.

• Move Up Moves the selected item in the list above the item before it.
• Move Down Moves the selected item in the list below the item after it.
• Make Simple Item(s) Lets you return a line in a list from a paragraph item to a simple item (an <li> tag without a <p> tag following it). Paragraph items can be used in numbered or bulleted lists, for example, to add comments without disrupting the flow of the list.
• Make Paragraph Item(s) Lets you add a <p> tag after the <li> tag in a numbered or bulleted list. You can then add more lines after a list item without adding numbers or bullets to those lines. Paragraph items can be used in numbered or bulleted lists, for example, to add comments without disrupting the flow of the list.

Adds an annotation rectangle, extended to a sidebar to the right, with a line pointing to the selected content. This rectangle will hold annotation text after you type it. Also, the selected content is shaded, indicating that the annotation refers to that text. However, the shading will not be displayed in the output; it is for internal use only. See Inserting Annotations.

Opens the Review Packages window pane, which displays all of the topic files contained in a review package received from an author. From this window pane you can open the topics to review and edit them. See Review Workflow and Review Packages Window Pane.

Enables or disables the track changes feature. See Enabling Track Changes.

Opens a sidebar and displays any tracked changes or annotations (notes) that have been attached to any content in the topic. See Hiding and Showing Changes and Annotations.

Navigates to the previous change or annotation. See Finding Changes.

Navigates to the next change or annotation. See Finding Changes.

Accepts tracked changes or annotations in the active document, making them part of that document. You can click the down arrow to accept a single change or all of them. See Accepting or Rejecting Tracked Changes.