Local Formatting

Sometimes called “inline formatting,” local formatting is a way to change the look and feel of content directly so that the changes are applied only to that specific content (as opposed to applying the changes throughout your project via the use of styles).

Local formatting can be very attractive because it is quick and easy. However, it is recommended that you use styles instead of local formatting whenever possible. Although local formatting is very convenient in the short-term, using styles is much more efficient and can save you a great deal of time in the long-term.

Local formatting tools are available in the following areas.

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Home Ribbon

The Home ribbon lets you quickly apply formatting to content in your topics and other files. You can also perform tasks such as find and replace. To see this toolbar, select Home at the top of the workspace when working in ribbon view.

Option	Description
	Pastes the selection from the clipboard to the place where the cursor is inserted.
	Cuts the selection and sends it to the clipboard.
	Copies the selection and sends it to the clipboard.
	Deletes the selection.
	Lets you select a font type (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman), applying it to the content selected in the topic.
	Lets you select a font size, applying it to the content selected in the topic.
	Applies bold typeface to the content selected in the topic.
	Applies italic typeface to the content selected in the topic.
	Underlines the content selected in the topic.
	Raises the selected content in the topic above the normal line of text (e.g., X²).
	Lowers the selected content in the topic below the normal line of text (e.g., X₂).
	Removes local formatting in a selection or even an entire topic. See Removing Local Formatting. Note Clicking this button also removes any <span> tags in the selection.
	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. See Setting the Background Color for Text.
	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.
(at bottom of Font section)	Opens the Font Properties dialog, which lets you edit the font properties for topic content directly.
	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.
	Removes the group tag from a paragraph, thus "outdenting" it.
	Lets you use a group tag such as <div> to indent content. Another method for indenting content is through the use of margin or padding settings on a style. See Indenting Paragraphs. Note If you click inside a paragraph (rather than at the very beginning) and press Tab or click in the Home ribbon or Text Format toolabar, you will notice that the paragraph is not indented, but rather the Create Group dialog opens, allowing you to select different types of block styles. These styles let you create block-level content in a unique "container" for different purposes. See Creating Divs and Other Tag Groups.
	Lets you apply miscellaneous actions to 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. For more information see Working With Paragraph and Simple List Items.
	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 Divs and Other Tag Groups.
	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.
(at bottom of Paragraph section)	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 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.
	Opens the Formatting window pane, which displays style properties for the selected content in a topic. You can then "overrule" the style settings for that specific content, without changing the style settings globally.
	Lets you select a style from a style sheet, applying that style to the content selected in the topic. You can also select a style class for content from the Styles window pane. For more information see Styles and Stylesheets.
	Opens the Create Style dialog, which lets you create a new style for the content selected in the topic. See Creating Selectors.
	Opens the Stylesheet Links dialog, which lets you apply one or more stylesheets to the active topic. See Associating Stylesheets Locally With Specific Files.
	Opens the Create Snippet dialog, which lets you create a new snippet from the content selected in the topic. See Creating Snippets From Existing Content.
	Opens the Attributes window pane, which 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 Condition tags dialog, which lets you apply condition tags to content in the topic. See Applying Conditions to Content.
	Opens the Select Language dialog, which lets you choose a language for the selected content.
	Opens the Manage Named Elements, which you can use to name content when creating togglers. See Inserting Togglers.
	Opens a submenu, which lets you choose from various options. 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. Find Results 1 Opens the Find Results 1 window pane, which is used to display results from a search in the Find in and Replace in Files window pane. Find Results 2 Opens the Find Results 2 window pane, which is used to display results from a search in the Find in and Replace in Files window pane. Find Elements Opens the Find Elements window pane, which is used for finding files containing particular elements—custom tags, MadCap-specific features (e.g., drop-down text, concepts, equations), markup, inline styles, and style classes. You have the flexibility to look in all files in the project or only in the open documents. The results of the search are displayed in either the Find Results 1 window pane or in the Find Results 2 window pane, depending on your selection. See Finding and Replacing Elements.
	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.
	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.
	Opens the Find Elements window pane, where you can search for specific elements, tags, styles, and markup in the open document or the entire project. See Finding and Replacing Elements.
	Opens the Properties dialog for the selected item.

Formatting Window Pane

The Local Style Properties tab of the Formatting window pane displays style properties for the selected content in a topic. You can then “overrule” the style settings for that specific content, without changing the style settings globally.

Example You have a stylesheet that you are using for all topics in your project s. In this stylesheet, you have set the font color for the h2 style to blue. So every time you apply this style class to content in any of your topics, the font is blue. Now let's say that you have a topic called "Contact Our Company." In this topic, you have one instance where you are using the <h2> tag. You click on that line of text, and in the Formatting window pane, you change the font color to red. The line with the <h2> tag in that topic changes to red, but all other instances of an <h2> tag still use blue (unless they too have been overruled).

How to Use the Formatting Window Pane

Open your topic.
Do one of the following, depending on the part of the user interface you are using:
- Ribbon Select Home > Formatting Window.
- Keyboard Shortcut Press CTRL+F12.
The Formatting window pane opens to the right, with two tabs.
Select the Local Style Properties tab. The style class name for the selected content displayed at the top-left of the tab.
In the topic, select the content for which you want to change the style settings.
In the Formatting window pane, you can view style properties by group or alphabetically.

If the window pane is showing properties by group, you should see the button in the local toolbar. If the window pane is showing properties alphabetically, you should see the button in the local toolbar.

Click this toggle button to switch from one view to the other. If you are in the grouped view, expand the group you need to edit.

Example If you want to change the font color, you would expand the Font property group.

You can also click to select the parent style in the content file.

Example You have applied bold to a word in your topic. If the cursor is located on that word and you click this button, the content in the parent tag (e.g., <p>) will be selected. If you click the button yet again, the content in the <body> tag will be highlighted. And if you click the button once more, the content in the <html> tag will be selected.

You can also use the filter field to limit the properties that are shown below in the window pane.
- Set (Locally) Properties Displays properties that have been set explicitly in the stylesheet. An "Add Property" field is also shown at the top of the properties. You can use this field to quickly add another property to the list so you can edit it.
- Assorted Relevant Properties Displays the properties that are used most often for the selected style type.
- All Properties Displays all available properties.
Click in the field next to the property (e.g., color) to enter or select the new setting. The setting for the selected content changes.
Click to save your work.

Font Properties Dialog

The Font Properties dialog lets you apply multiple kinds of font formatting to the selected content in a topic all at once. In the Font Properties dialog, you can set the font type, size, style, color, and background color. You can also apply effects such as overline, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, and smallcaps. Finally, there are advanced formatting settings, such as expanded or condensed letter and word spacing, as well as capitalization options.

To open the Font Properties dialog, do one of the following, depending on the part of the interface you are using.

Ribbon Select Home > (at the bottom of the Font section).
Keyboard Shortcut Press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

Paragraph Properties Dialog

The Paragraph Properties dialog lets you apply multiple kinds of paragraph formatting to the selected content in a topic all at once. In the Paragraph Properties dialog, you can set the paragraph alignment, indentation, and spacing.

To open the Paragraph Properties dialog, do one of the following, depending on the part of the interface you are using.

Ribbon Select Home > (at the bottom of the Paragraph section).
Keyboard Shortcut Press CTRL+ALT+B.

For more information see Paragraph Formatting.