Format your content

In the Author toolbar, select Contents. The Contents panel opens.

In the Contents panel, double-click a topic to open it. You can view the Properties panel on the right side of the screen.

In the Properties panel, the General tab is selected by default. 

In your topic, click or select an element to view its type in the Type field. For example, selecting a topic title displays h1 (Heading 1) as the type and a paragraph displays p as the type.

For a selected element displayed in the Type field:

• You can edit the formatting, and then apply the same formatting to all elements of the same nature across your project, and update the style sheet. To do so, click the Update Style icon next to the Type field. 
  For example, the default font (according to the style sheet) of a topic title is Arial 20 points. You changed the font to Adobe Clean 24 points. To apply Adobe Clean 24 points font to all topic titles in your project, and update the style sheet, click Update Style.

• You can clear the current formatting by selecting the text and clicking  next to the Type field or choosing Edit > Clear Formatting.
  For example, the default font of a topic title (according to the style sheet), was Arial 20 points. You changed the font to Adobe Clean 24 points but did not update the style sheet. To restore the default font to Arial 20 points (according to the style sheet), select the text and click .

To format text, click the Font drop-down section. This panel has the following options:

• Font Family Use the drop-down list to select your desired font type.
• Font Style Use the drop-down list to select your desired font style such as italic, oblique, and more.
• Font Size Enter your desired font size or use the increment and decrement buttons to automatically change the current size by .5 units. From the units drop-down list, you can choose the unit as pixel, percentage, and more. 
• Color Click  to choose your preferred font color. You can also enter the color code in this field. Black is the default text color.
• Text Transform Use the options in the drop-down list to easily capitalize, change upper or lowercases, and more.
• Inline formatting options Select the content and click the icons to apply inline formatting such as strikethrough, underline, bold, italics, superscript, and subscript.
• Character Spacing Enter your desired character spacing or use the increment and decrement buttons to automatically increment the current spacing by .5 units. From the units drop-down list, you can choose the unit as pixel, percentage, and more.

To change the alignment of content, click the Alignment drop-down section. This panel has the following options:

• Alignment options Align your content left, center, right, or justify.
• Line Height Use the drop-down list to choose a line height.
• Decrease/Increase Indent Use the respective buttons to change the distance between margin and content.

To add and edit borders to your content, click the Border drop-down section. This panel has the following options:

• Border Style Use the drop-down list to select your preferred border style. You can find options such as dotted, dashed, double, and more.
• Color Click  to select the preferred border color or specify RGB codes.
• Width Enter the numerical value for the width of your border and choose the unit from the Unit drop-down list.

Use the following icons to apply the border to specific content edges:

 Applies border to all four edges.

 Applies border only to the top edge.

 Applies border only to the right edge.

 Applies border only to the bottom edge.

 Applies border only to the left edge.

To format the layout of your content, click the Layout drop-down section. This panel has the following options:

• Height Specify the height of the content. You can also use the Increment and Decrement buttons to increase and decrease the height. Select the unit from the Unit drop-down list.
• Width Specify the width of the content. You can also use the Increment and Decrement buttons to increase and decrease the width. Select the unit from the Unit drop-down list.
• Margin 
  • Select the unit of the margin from the Unit drop-down list. 
  • You can also specify values for the top, bottom, left, and right margins, and use the Increment and Decrement buttons to increase and decrease each of the four margin values. 
  • To link all four margin values so that updating the value of one margin syncs all margin values, click . 
  • To keep four different margin values so that updating the value of one margin does not sync all margin values, click .
• Padding 
  • Select the unit of the padding from the Unit drop-down list. 
  • You can also specify top, bottom, left, and right padding values, and use the Increment and Decrement buttons to increase and decrease each of the four padding values. 
  • To link all four padding values so that updating the value of one padding syncs all padding values, click . 
  • To keep four different padding values so that updating the value of one padding does not sync all padding values, click . 
• Float Used for positioning and layout on web pages. Select a float value from the drop-down list:
  • inherit Indicates that the element inherits the float value of its parent
  • none Indicates that the element does not float (is displayed where it occurs in the text)
  • left and right Indicate the direction of the container to which the content floats
• Clear Specifies which elements can float beside the cleared element and on which side. Select a clear value from the drop-down list:
  • inherit Indicates that the element inherits the clear value of its parent
  • both Indicates that no floating elements are allowed on either left or right side
  • none Indicates that floating elements are allowed on both the left and right sides
  • left and right Indicate that no floating elements are allowed on the left or the right side

To format your content background, click the Background drop-down section. This panel has the following options:

• Shading Click  to choose your preferred background color. You can also enter the color code in this field. Black is the default background color.
• Image Insert a background image by browsing through your computer.
• Width Specify the width of the background image.
• Maintain aspect ratio icon Click to maintain the aspect ratio of the background image. If you change one component (width/height) of the image, the other component (height/width) is automatically changed according to aspect ratio.
• Height Specify the height of the background image.
• Reset to default icon Click to reset to the original height and width of the background image.

To copy the formatting of selected content, choose Edit > Copy Formatting. Then, select the content to which you want to apply the copied formatting.

To remove the formatting of selected content, choose Edit > Clear Formatting. The selected content displays the default formatting.

To save the changes, click the Save All icon  in the standard toolbar.

Select the desired text and do one of the following:

• To create a bulleted list, click Bulleted List Styles  in the standard toolbar and choose a style from the drop-down list. 
• To create a numbered list, click Numbered List Styles  in the standard toolbar and choose a style from the drop-down list.
• To create a numbered or bulleted list containing multiple levels, do the following:
  1. Click Multilevel List Styles  in the standard toolbar and choose a style from the drop-down list.
  2. To create a sublevel list, select the text and press Tab. Or, from the Properties panel > General tab > Alignment drop-down section, click the Increase Indent icon.

To remove list formatting, click , , or  in the standard toolbar, and select the None style.

In an open topic, place the cursor at the desired location and click Insert Table  in the standard toolbar.

To select the required number of rows and columns, drag your cursor over the drop-down table grid. The selected rows and columns are highlighted in blue. Click to insert the selected rows and columns in your topic.

Right-click the table to use the following options:

• Cell To insert, delete, merge, and split cells. 
• Row To insert and delete rows.
• Column To insert and delete columns.    
• Delete Table To delete the table.
• Select Table To select all the cells that have content. Empty cells are not selected.
• Table Properties To view table properties inside the Properties panel > General tab. You can specify, increase, or decrease the width and height of the table, column, and row. You can also choose to add a caption above or below the table.
• Apply Condition Tags Click to apply condition tags to the table. In the left pane of the Apply Condition Tags dialog box, select the condition tags you want to apply. The selected tags are removed from the left pane and appear in the right pane. You can click  against a tag to remove it from the right pane. Click Apply.

In an open topic, select the text you want to expand, and then click Create Expanding Text  in the standard toolbar.

The selected text becomes the title of the expanding text. A placeholder for the content appears.

In the placeholder, specify the content of the expanding text.

Manage expanding texts in the following ways:

• Toggle the display of the boundary of all expanding text placeholders in your topic: Choose View > Show > Expanding/Drop-down Text Boundary.
• Toggle the display of a specific expanding text placeholder: Right-click the text header and click Show Expanding Text or Hide Expanding Text. 
• Remove an expanding text: Right-click the text header and click Remove Expanding Text. 
• Collapse or expand an expanding text: Double-click the text header.
• Collapse or expand all expanding texts in your topic: Right-click any expanding text header and click Collapse All Text or Expand All Text.
• Set separate text for the title of an expanding text in collapsed state: Click the expanding text. In the Properties panel > General tab > Text when collapsed field, type the new title. As expanding texts are collapsed by default, in your output, the new title is displayed in the collapsed state. On expanding the text, the original text on which the expanding text was created is displayed.
• Add twisty images.

Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.

In an open topic, select the text you want to drop down, and then click Create Drop-down Text  in the standard toolbar.

The selected text becomes the title of the drop-down text. A placeholder for the content appears below the selected text.

In the placeholder, specify the content of the drop-down text.

Manage drop-down texts in the following ways:

• Toggle the display of the boundary of all drop-down text placeholders in your topic: Choose View > Show > Expanding/Drop-down Text Boundary.
• Toggle the display of a specific drop-down text placeholder: Right-click the text header and click Show Drop-down Text or Hide Drop-down Text. 
• Remove a drop-down text: Right-click the text header and click Remove Drop-down Text. 
• Collapse or expand an drop-down text: Double-click the text header.
• Collapse or expand all drop-down texts in your topic: Right-click any drop-down text header and click Collapse All Text or Expand All Text.
• Set separate text for the title of a drop-down text in collapsed state: Click the drop-down text. In the Properties panel > General tab > Text when collapsed field, type the new title. As drop-down texts are collapsed by default, in your output, the new title is displayed in the collapsed state. On expanding the text, the original text on which the drop-down text was created is displayed.
• Add twisty images.

Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.

In an open topic, click an expanding or drop-down text, or the word Caption in a topic TOC.

In the Properties panel > Styles tab, select Hyperlink Styles from the drop-down list.

From the list of hyperlink styles displayed, click a style to apply it to the selected item. If the applied style has the twisty feature set, the twisty images are displayed in the preview and output.

Do one of the following:

• Click  against the applied style to edit it.
  In the Styles panel of the style sheet editor, in Hyperlink Styles, the applied style opens for editing.
• From the Contents panel, expand assets > css. From the list of style sheets displayed, double-click one or click  against it. Then, expand the Hyperlink Styles and click the applied style.

In the Properties panel of the style sheet editor, expand Twisties.

Against the Image when expanded and Image when collapsed fields, click  to select and insert the required images.

Click  to place images at the start of text (default) or  to place images at the end of text. 

Click the Save All icon  at the left side of the standard toolbar.