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 clicking the Clear Formatting icon next to the Type field.
  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), click Clear Formatting.

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.
• Border 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 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 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 sublevel list, select the desired 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 None.

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 header 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.

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 header 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.

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