Menus

Opens the New Document dialog, which you can use to create a new topic, document, stylesheet, or page layout. See Creating New Documents.

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

Closes the active file.

Saves changes to the active file.

Opens the Save As dialog, which lets you save the active file under a different name and/or file type and to a particular location. The new file is then displayed in the editor.

Opens the Save As dialog, which lets you save the active file under a different name and/or file type and to a particular location. The new file is not automatically displayed in the editor.

Saves changes to all of the open files.

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.

Opens the Print dialog, which lets you send a file to a printer. Make sure that the item that you want to print is selected. For example, if you want to print a topic from the online Help, first click somewhere inside the topic so that it is the active element in the interface.

Opens the Print Preview dialog, which lets you see how a document looks before you send it to a printer. Make sure that the item that you want to preview is selected. For example, if you want to preview a topic from the online Help, first click somewhere inside the topic so that it is the active element in the interface.

Opens the Properties dialog for the selected item.

Displays a list of recently opened files. You can select one from the list to open it. You can also remove files from the list of recently opened files, which lets you keep the list shorter and more manageable. When you use this feature, the file is merely removed from the list, but the actual file is not deleted.

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.

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.

Selects all content in the file.

Opens a submenu, which lets you choose an option.

• Quick Find Opens the Quick Find widget in the upper-right corner of the open document. This lets you search for text in that document. See Using the Quick Find and Replace Widgets.
• Quick Replace Opens the Quick Replace widget in the upper-right corner of the open document. This is the same as the Quick Find widget, except that it opens with the replace fields already in view. It lets you search for and replace text in that document. See Using the Quick Find and Replace Widgets.
• Find and Replace in Files Opens the Find and Replace in Files window pane, which lets you search for and replace text in multiple documents. .See Finding and Replacing Text.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select a toolbar to open or close:

• Standard Opens or closes the Standard toolbar. Tools in the Standard toolbar let you perform basic functions, such as Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, and Redo. To see this toolbar you can select View > Toolbars > Standard.
• Text Format Opens or closes the Text Format Toolbar. The Text Format toolbar lets you quickly apply formatting to content in your topics and other files. To see this toolbar, select View > Toolbars > Text Format.
• Review Opens or closes the Review toolbar. The Review toolbar lets you quickly perform tasks that are part of the review workflow. This includes inserting and working with annotations, as well as tracking changes. To see this toolbar select View > Toolbars > Review.

Opens the External Resources window pane, where you can select and maintain groups of external files in one place. You might use this feature if there are certain reference files that are related to the documents you are working on in MadCap Contributor. See External Resources Window Pane.

Opens the SharePoint Explorer window pane, where you can connect to a SharePoint server to access and manage files on that server. See Connecting to a SharePoint Server.

Opens the Messages window pane, which displays important information as you work. For example, if a necessary file is missing, this window pane lets you know.

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

Opens or closes the status bar at the bottom of the program window.

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.

This window pane is used to set attributes for a tag. Attributes let you provide additional information about tagged content and how that content should behave. See Attributes Window Pane.

Opens the Styles window pane, which displays styles contained in the stylesheets that are associated with the current topic. The styles that are shown depend on the positioning of your cursor in the topic. For example, if the cursor is highlighting multiple paragraphs or is simply placed somewhere within a paragraph, the paragraph styles are shown in the Styles window pane. If the cursor is highlighting a portion of a paragraph, the character styles are shown. For more information see Styles and Stylesheets and Applying Styles to Content.

Opens the Formatting window pane, which has two tabs. The Style Inspector tab lets you see the style details for selected content in the open file (e.g., topic, snippet), and even edit those styles if necessary, without having to open the full stylesheet. The Local Properties tab displays local formatting for the selected content in a topic. See Using the Style Inspector and Local Formatting.

Opens the Frame Contents window pane, which lets you add content to the selected frame in a page layout.

Shows or hides the span bars representing inline tags. These bars are displayed at the top of the content area.

See Structure Bars.

Shows or hides the tag block bars. These bars are displayed to the left of the content area. They show the different tags for your chunks of content (i.e., block-level tags), as well as the overall tag structure.

See Structure Bars.

Shows or hides a measurement ruler vertically at the left of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.

Shows or hides a measurement ruler horizontally at the top of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.

Opens a submenu that lets you select from the following layout options for the XML Editor.

• Web Layout This is useful for seeing how the topic or document will look online. It displays your content without showing any headers or footers from a page layout. See Layout Modes.

• Print Layout This lets you see how the pages will look with a page layout applied to it. In other words, it lets you see how the page will look when you generate printed output. This means that you will be able to view the actual page size and orientation, as well as the margins and any header or footer content. See Page Layouts and Layout Modes.

• Edit Page Layout Document This opens the page layout associated with the topic or document so that you can edit it in the Page Layout Editor. See Editing Pages and Frames.

• Edit Stylesheet This opens the stylesheet associated with the topic or document so that you can edit it in the Stylesheet Editor. See Editing Styles.

Opens a submenu for inserting special characters or symbols into the editor. See Inserting Characters and Symbols.

• Insert Quick Character Inserts the quick character. You can also do this by clicking the by pressing F11 on the keyboard.
• Non-breaking Space Inserts a non-breaking space. This is a special space character that prevents an automatic line break (line wrap) at its position. Also known as a hard space or fixed space, it can be used to create multiple spaces in a row in systems like HTML that reduce sequences of normal spaces to a single space. You can also insert a non-breaking space by pressing SHIFT+SPACE on your keyboard.
• Non-breaking Hyphen Inserts a non-breaking hyphen. You can also insert a non-breaking hyphen by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+- on your keyboard.
• Favorites Displays and lets you select any of the characters and symbols from your favorites list.
• Recently Used Displays and lets you select any of your most recently used characters and symbols.
• More characters Opens the new Character dialog. See Character Dialog.

Opens a dialog that lets you insert an image at the location of the cursor. See Inserting Images.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for inserting multimedia (audio and video). See Insert Multimedia Dialog.

• Flash Movie Opens the Insert Multimedia dialog, with tabs designed specifically for inserting Adobe Flash files.
• Windows Media Player Opens the Insert Multimedia dialog, with tabs designed specifically for inserting Windows Media files.
• Quicktime Movie Opens the Insert Multimedia dialog, with tabs designed specifically for inserting Quicktime files.
• YouTube/Vimeo Opens the Insert Multimedia dialog, with tabs designed specifically for inserting YouTube and Vimeo movies.

Opens the Screen Capture dialog, which lets you insert a screen capture image into a topic. You must have MadCap Capture installed on your computer in order to use this feature. See Inserting Screen Capture Images.

Opens the Equation Editor, which lets you insert a mathematical equation into a document or topic. See Inserting Equations.

Opens the Insert QR Code dialog, which lets you create and insert a QR code into a document or topic. See Inserting QR Codes.

Inserts a slideshow element into a document or topic. You can use a slideshow as an alternative way to display content, using navigation controls to move from slide to slide to view different content. You can place most kinds of content into a slideshow, including snippets, text, tables, and more. See Inserting and Navigating in Slideshows and Slideshows.

Opens the Insert Rule dialog, which lets you insert a rule (horizontal line) into a document or topic. See Inserting Horizontal Rules.

Inserts a manual page break into a document or topic. Placing a page break on a style may be the preferred method in many cases, but there may be times when you find that it makes more sense to use an independent page break directly in the content file. This might be the case, for example, if you need a page break to occur after a paragraph and just before a heading, but only in some outputs. After inserting the page break, you can set conditions on it if necessary so that it is used in some outputs but not others.

Opens the Code Editor, which lets you insert a code snippet. The syntax is automatically highlighted according to the language, similar to text editors such as Sublime Text and Notepad++. In HTML5 output, users can click a Copy button, then paste the code into a third-party editor. See Creating and Inserting Code Snippets.

Opens the Insert Hyperlink dialog, which lets you insert a text hyperlink into a topic. See Inserting Text Hyperlinks.

Opens the Manage Bookmarks dialog, which lets you insert a bookmark into a topic. See Inserting Bookmarks.

Opens the Named Destination dialog, where you can name and insert a named destination for use in Adobe PDF output. This allows you point to a specific place in a PDF from the selected location. See Creating Named Destinations.

Opens the Insert Cross-Reference dialog, which lets you insert a cross-reference into a document or topic. See Inserting Cross-References.

Opens the Insert Snippet Link dialog, which lets you insert a snippet into a document or topic. See Inserting Snippets.

Opens the Variables dialog, which lets you insert a variable. See Inserting Variables.

Opens the Insert Text Box dialog, which lets you insert a box into a topic (using a <div> tag) so that you can add content to it. A text box can be positioned in a variety of places on a page (e.g., aligned left on the page, outside frame, center of column). See Text Boxes.

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

Opens the Paragraph Properties dialog, which lets you edit the paragraph properties for topic content directly. This includes the ability to apply page breaks, column breaks, and widow/orphan control to a paragraph directly. See Paragraph Formatting.

Opens the Condition tags dialog, which lets you apply condition tags to content. See Applying Conditions to Content.

Opens the Select Language dialog, which lets you choose a language for the selected content.

Opens the Create Style dialog, which lets you create a new style for the content selected in the content file. See Creating Selectors.

Opens the floating Style Picker, which lets you select and apply a style to the selected content.

Opens the Create Snippet dialog, which lets you create a new snippet from the content selected in the topic. See Creating New Snippets From Content.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select a list action, such as restarting numbering, applying bulleted or numbered lists, and indenting content. See Lists.

• List Actions Opens a submenu, which lets you apply miscellaneous actions to the selected content in a list.
• 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.
• 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.)

• Outdent Items Lets you shift indented content to the left, thus "outdenting" it.
• Indent Items Lets you shift selected content to the right, thus "indenting" it.

Opens the Create Group dialog, which lets you create a group from selected content and apply one of the following tags to it: <blockquote>, <div>, <fieldset>, <form>. See Creating Tag Groups.

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.

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.

Opens the Update Cross-References dialog, which lets you update the cross-references that you have added to topics or documents. By updating the cross-references, you can ensure that they reflect any changes that might affect them.

Updating cross-references is not a mandatory step. When you generate output, all of your cross-references will be updated automatically.

Opens the style sheet in the Stylesheet Editor. See Styles and Stylesheets.

Opens the Stylesheet Links dialog, which lets you apply one or more stylesheets to the active content file. See Associating Stylesheets Locally With Specific Files.

Opens the page layout in the Page Layout Editor. See Page Layouts.

Lets you link an external page layout to a document. If the external page layout that is linked to the document is updated, the page layout will be updated in the document as well.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for creating index keywords.

• Index Window Opens the Index window pane, which is used to create index keywords and insert them into topics. See Inserting Index Keywords.
• Index Keyword Creates and inserts an index keyword at the location in your topic or document where text is selected. To enable this option, you must first select the text in the topic or document that you want to use as the index keyword.
• Index Entry Mode Activates the "Index Entry Mode," which turns your cursor to a small "i" and is a quick way to insert index keywords. Use this method to accomplish the same thing as the Index window pane method. The difference is that, with this method, you do not need to move your cursor from the topic or document to the Index window pane. You simply click at the spot in the text where you want to insert the keyword and start typing. The words you type are added directly into the Index window pane. This is a good method to use if you plan to do a lot of indexing all at once, without performing any other tasks in the topic or document.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for creating concept keywords.

• Concept Window Opens the Concept window pane, which is used to create concepts and insert them into topics. See Inserting Concepts.
• Concept Entry Mode Activates the "Concept Entry Mode," which turns your cursor to a small "c" and is a quick way to insert concepts. Use this method to accomplish the same thing as the Concept window pane method. The difference is that, with this method, you do not need to move your cursor from the topic or document to the Concept window pane. You simply click at the spot in the text where you want to insert the marker and start typing. The words you type are added directly into the Concept window pane.

Opens the Thesaurus window pane, which lets you quickly view and select words related to those in an open topic or snippet. See Thesaurus.

Activates a feature that lets you check your spelling as you type in your topics. Questionable words are underlined with a jagged red line. You can take action with the word by right-clicking on it. See Spell Checking While Typing.

Opens the Spell Check window pane, which lets you perform spell checking manually.

Opens the Hyphenation window pane, which lets you add custom hyphenation rules for words so that they are hyphenated at the end of lines after specific letters. See Setting Hyphenation.

Opens the Open Hyphenation Document dialog, which lets you edit custom hyphenation rules that you have previously created. See Setting Hyphenation.

Opens the Footnotes window pane, which lets you see all of the footnotes that have been added in the active topic.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for inserting a table, rows, and columns.

• Table Opens the Insert Table dialog, which lets you configure and insert a new table into a topic. See Inserting Tables.
• Columns to the Left Inserts a new column in a table. The new column is inserted to the left of the area where the cursor is inserted.
• Columns to the Right Inserts a new column in a table. The new column is inserted to the right of the area where the cursor is inserted.
• Rows Above Inserts a new row in a table. The new row is inserted above the area where the cursor is inserted.
• Rows Below Inserts a new row in a table. The new row is inserted below the area where the cursor is inserted.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select an option for deleting.

• Delete Table Deletes the entire table.
• Delete Rows Deletes the selected row(s) in a table.
• Delete Columns Deletes the selected column(s) in a table.

Opens a submenu, which lets you choose options for selecting the following.

• Select All Cells Selects all of the cells in the table.
• Select Table Selects the entire table.
• Select Row Selects the row where the cursor is placed in a table.
• Select Column Selects the column where the cursor is placed in a table.
• Select Cell Selects the cell where the cursor is placed in a table.

Removes the text from the cells selected in a table.

Turns the selected cells in a table into one big cell. You can merge any number of rows and columns in a table, as long as they are adjacent to one another.

Turns the selected cell in a table into many smaller cells by splitting the cell. When you split a cell, you are essentially inserting a smaller table into that cell.

Opens the Table Cell Content Style dialog, which lets you choose specific table or paragraph styles to use for the selected cells. See Selecting Styles for Table Cell Contents.

Removes local cell formatting in a table. If you have applied local formatting to a table (e.g., applying background shading to cells directly, not through the use of styles), you can easily remove it. This is possible even if the topic was previously saved and closed. The local formatting is removed from the entire table (if you simply placed your cursor within it) or from selected cells. See Resetting Local Cell Formatting.

Converts a table to text. This option is enabled only if you have placed the cursor within an existing table. See Converting Tables to Text.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for sorting table rows (see Sorting Tables).

• Ascending Sorts the selected table rows in ascending order.
• Descending Sorts the selected table rows in descending order.
• Advanced Sorting Options Opens the Advanced Sorting Options dialog. You can sort tables using advanced options, choosing which columns to sort first. In addition, you can sort tables in this manner immediately, at compile time, or both.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for inserting or removing a table caption.

• Above Table Adds a placeholder for you to type a caption above the table.
• Below Table Adds a placeholder for you to type a caption below the table.
• None Removes a caption from the table.

Opens a submenu, which lets you select options for adding, applying, or editing the style associated with the table.

• Add Table Style Opens the Add File dialog, which lets you create a new table stylesheet.
• Edit Style Opens the table style in the Table Style Editor so that you can edit styles in the stylesheet.
• Reset Table Style Applies the table style to the table again.

Opens the Table Properties dialog, which lets you edit properties of the table (e.g., table size, caption, auto-fit behavior, stylesheet). See Editing Table Properties.

Closes all files that you have opened in the workspace.

Closes all files that you have opened in the workspace, with the exception of the document that is currently active.

If you select the Dock option when a window pane is active, the Drag Pane area is shown or hidden in the window pane accordingly. The Drag Pane area lets you move the window pane and dock it elsewhere in the program window.

"Pins" the active window pane or editor to the side of the interface so that you have more room for your workspace. You can show the window pane by hovering over the thin bar on the side of the interface. If you select the pin button at the top-right of the window pane, the window pane returns to its previous state (no longer pinned to the side of the interface).

Converts the active window pane or editor to a floating window, which means it is no longer attached to the interface. This is a good option to use if you want to work on two topics side-by-side. If you do not want a window pane or editor to be floating anymore, you can right-click in the title bar and select Dock.

Opens the Manage Window Layouts dialog, which lets you select or delete an existing layout.

Opens the Help TOC window pane, which lets you locate and access topics in Contributor's online Help.

Opens the Help Index window pane, which lets you search for information using the index in Contributor's online Help.

Opens the Help Search window pane, which lets you search for information in Contributor's online Help.

Opens the Help Favorites window pane, which lets you quickly access your favorite Contributor Help topics.

Opens the Help Glossary window pane, which lets you view glossary terms and definitions in Contributor's online Help.

Opens the Help topic related to the active element in the Contributor interface.

Opens a new instance of a Help topic in another window.

Opens the Dynamic Help window pane, which automatically displays the Help topic related to the active element in the interface.

Lets you manually synchronize the current Help topic with the TOC. In other words, the TOC book containing that topic also opens to show you where the topic resides in the TOC hierarchy.

Automatically synchronizes the current Help topic with the Help TOC. In other words, when a particular Help topic is displayed, the TOC book containing that topic also opens to show you where the topic resides in the TOC hierarchy.

Opens the Index Results window pane, which displays links to related topics after you perform a search in the Help index.

Opens the MadCap Forums website, where you can obtain additional information about Contributor and communicate with other Contributor users.

Opens a Help topic that lets you access one of the printed guides related to Contributor. See PDFs.

Opens the Activate Product Wizard, allowing you to activate or renew the product.

Deactivates the currently used license for the machine running Contributor.

Lets you register your version of Contributor if you have not done so already. This option is enabled only if you are using a trial version of the software.

Opens the New Updates Available dialog, which lets you download Contributor updates from MadCap Software.

Opens your default internet browser to the MadCap Software bug submission web page, where you can report the bug.