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.

Option

Description

Lets you apply a 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.

Tip It is likely that you will have certain styles that you tend to use more than others. You can pin these styles in various places of the Flare Desktop interface so that they are always easily accessible. See Pinning Styles.

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.

Bold text with local formatting.

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).

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. See Removing Local 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. 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.

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. For more information see Working With Paragraph and Simple List Items.

If you click on the face of the button, the Insert Table dialog opens, which lets you insert a table and specify various settings for it.

If you click the down arrow, you can use a grid to select the number of rows and columns for a simple table and insert it.

See Inserting Tables.