Guide

The outline

The outline lists every section and block in your document in one place, by name, so you can find "the billing address block" without scrolling through the pages looking for it.

Where it is

The left panel has two tabs: Blocks, for adding things, and Outline, for finding what is already there. The editor remembers which one you last used. When the left panel is folded down to its narrow icon strip, the Outline icon opens it again on the Outline tab — a list of names needs the room.

What it lists

Each section, then its header, its body blocks and its footer, with blocks inside rows, stacks and repeaters indented under the block that holds them. A row shows the name you gave the block, followed by its type in lighter text — "Billing address", then "Stack". A block without a name shows its type, followed by the start of its text — "Text", then "Acme Ltd".

A place for blocks that has nothing in it says so. An empty column of a row reads "Column 2 — empty", and a stack, repeater or ruled form with no blocks inside reads "Stack — empty" (a ruled form's lines still print; "empty" means no block has been put in it). A faint vertical line runs down from each row, stack or section through everything inside it and stops at the last thing it holds, so the row after an empty column — one step further left — is plainly not inside that column. To put a block into an empty container, use Move into on the block's row (below). The Contents list in the side panel says the same of a row's empty column: its heading reads "Column 2 — empty".

Two rows can look alike — every row has a "Column 1", and two blocks can share a name. A screen reader hears where such a row sits as well, so no two rows sound the same: "Column 1 of Row 'Parties'", "Totals Stack — 2nd of 2 in Section 1". A container without a name is told apart by its place ("Column 1 of the 2nd Row"). A short pause, written as a dash, comes before those words wherever they could run on from what the row shows — a count of blocks or a block's first words: "Row 2 blocks — 1st of 2", "Text Page 1 of 3 — in Header of Section 1". The screen still shows just "Column 1"; the indent already says where it is. The side panel's Remove buttons follow the same rule: each says what it takes away and, where there is more than one list, from where — "Remove the 2nd Text from Column 1", "Remove Stack 'Totals' from header" — and a List's items and a table's rows say their number ("Remove item 2", "Delete item 2", "Remove row 3"), never their text. So do the other buttons on those rows: "Move the 2nd Text in Column 1 up", "Move item 2 down", "Indent item 3", and a row's own button that shows the same as another says its place after what it shows, with the same pause ("Totals 1 block — 2nd of 2"). A screen reader also says how deep each row is and where it sits among the rows beside it: the second block in a stack of two is "2 of 2". It says which rows are selected, and several can be: Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on a Mac) blocks on the page and each of their rows is selected here too. A column, a header or a footer is a place, not something you select, so it is never announced as selected or not selected — and moving through the rows never selects anything.

A repeating section's contents are listed once, as its item design, with how many records your sample data has ("Item design · 3 records in sample") — not once per record, because you edit the design, not the copies.

A header or footer that is left off some pages says so ("Not on page 1"). That is information, not a warning: it still prints everywhere else.

Finding something

Type in Find by name or text at the top. The list narrows to the blocks whose name, type or text contains what you typed, and keeps the sections and containers above each one so you can see where it lives. Capitals and accents are ignored. Conditions and field names are not searched — searching "total" finds the block called Total, not every block that mentions a total.

Going to it

Click a row, or press Enter on it, and the block is selected — the same as clicking it on the page — and the page scrolls to it. Clicking a section scrolls to its first page. For a block inside a repeating section, the page scrolls to its first copy.

Content a condition is hiding

A block or section hidden by its "Only show when…" condition has nothing on the page to click, so the outline is how you get back to it. It stays in the list, marked Hidden, with the reason:

• "Hidden: its condition is false" — its own condition says no, for your current sample data;
• "Hidden: condition error (…)" — its condition cannot be worked out, so it fails safe and hides;
• "Hidden because 'Payment summary' is hidden" — something that contains it is hidden, so changing its own condition would not bring it back;
• "Hidden because section 'Terms' is hidden" — the same, for a whole section.

Inside a repeating section you may see "Shown for 2 of 3 records" (its condition depends on the record) or "No records" (the sample data has nothing to repeat).

Selecting a hidden block still selects it, so its settings — including the condition — open in the inspector; selecting a hidden section makes it the section the inspector's Section tab shows, which is where a section's condition lives. Instead of scrolling, a note under the row says why the page did not move and where to make the change. The outline never changes what prints: hidden content stays hidden in the document until you change its condition or your data.

Showing hidden content on the canvas

Under the search box, Show hidden content on the canvas puts a marker on the page wherever hidden content sits, and the line under it says how much a condition is hiding ("2 items are hidden by their condition"). It counts what you would switch back on — a hidden section counts once, not once for every block inside it.

With it on:

• A hidden block gets a dashed line with a label — "Hidden: VIP note" — on the edge of the visible block it follows (or the one it comes before, or at the top of the block or page that holds it). Several hidden blocks in a row share one marker: "Hidden: VIP note and 1 more".
• A hidden block with a fixed position on the page is outlined, hatched, at that position.
• A hidden section gets a band between the pages around it: "Section 'Terms' is hidden — its pages are not in the output".
• A banner across the top of the canvas says "Showing hidden content — markers are not part of the document", with Stop showing hidden content beside it.

Hover a marker to read why it is hidden and where it is marked. Click it to select what it stands for — its settings and its condition open in the inspector, so you can change its text, its settings or its condition without making it show first. Clicking a row in the outline for something hidden now scrolls the page to its marker, and the note under the row says it is marked but not printed.

A marker shows roughly where hidden content sits, not where it would end up: its real position depends on the data it is shown for, and everything after it moves when it appears. To see it in place, change your sample data so its condition is true. Markers are never part of the document — they do not print, export or save — and the view switches off when you reload the editor. The markers themselves are not tab stops on the page; from the keyboard, reach hidden content through the outline.

Naming a block

Press F2 on a row, or double-click its name, to give it a name; Enter keeps it, Escape leaves it as it was, and clearing the name removes it. Clicking away keeps what you typed. It is the same name as the Name field at the top of the inspector, and a section's name is the one on the Section tab. Names are for you and your team: they never appear in the document that comes out.

Moving a block

Each block's row has a menu: point at the row and click ⋮ at its end, right-click the row, or press Shift+F10 (or the Menu key) on it. The menu moves the block in the document — the outline follows:

• Move up and Move down move it one place, among the blocks around it: inside a Stack, Row column or Repeater it stays in that container; at the top level it moves through its section.
• Move out of Stack (or Row, Repeater…), on a block inside a container, takes it back out to the top level of its section, straight after the outermost container it was in.
• Move into lists the other containers in the same section — by name if you gave them one — then where inside the one you choose: at the top, after a particular block, or at the end. An empty container takes it straight away. A block with a fixed position on the page that you move into a container joins the flow there.

Each move is one step: Undo puts it back. Moving a block up or down leaves the selection as it was; moving it into or out of a container selects it.

A move that cannot happen stays in the menu, greyed, with the reason under it — for example "Already at the top of its section.", or, for a Ruled form that would end up inside another one, the same reason the page gives. In particular:

• blocks in a header or footer cannot be moved with this menu yet — the block menu on the page does not offer it for them either;
• a block with a fixed position on the page (anchored) has a position rather than a place in the order, so it cannot move up, down or out — drag it on the page, or Unanchor it first;
• a block can only move into a container in its own section. To move content to another section, or between a header, the body and a footer, cut and paste it.

Sections themselves are reordered from the inspector's Section tab, not from the outline.

Keyboard

Tab reaches the outline as one stop, and lands on the row that is selected — a block you clicked on the page, or the section you are on when no block is — even if you had been moving through other rows before you left. Then:

Key	What it does
↑ / ↓	Previous or next row
→	Open a row's contents, then step into them
←	Close a row, then step out to the row that holds it
Home / End	First or last row
A letter	Jump to the next row starting with it; type quickly to spell more of the name
Enter or Space	Select it and scroll the page to it — you stay in the outline
F2	Rename
Shift+F10 or the Menu key	Open the row's menu: Move up, Move down, Move into
/	Go to the search box
Escape	In the search box: clear it. In the list: go back to the page

From the search box, ↓ goes to the first result, so you can type a name, press ↓ and then Enter.

In the row's menu, ↑ and ↓ step through the moves, Enter chooses one, ← goes back from the list of containers or positions, and Escape closes the menu and puts you back on the row.

While you are in the outline, the keys that act on the selected block — Delete, the arrow keys, copy, paste and duplicate — do nothing to your document: the row you are on is not necessarily the block that is selected. Save, Preview, Undo and Redo still work.

Not in this version

Dragging rows to move blocks: use the row's menu instead.

Content hidden in only some records of a repeating section is already on the page in the others, so it gets no marker; nor does a repeating section with no records, which is a matter of data, not a condition.

A worked example: find the notice a rule is hiding

Your invoice has a "Reverse charge" notice that only appears for customers abroad, and it is not on the page you are looking at.

1. Open the Outline tab. The notice is still listed, marked Hidden, with the reason: its own condition is false for the sample data on screen.
2. Select it. The Visibility control opens in the side panel, with a line saying Hidden and why.
3. To see it, change the sample (a customer abroad in Manage data, or a test scenario), or turn on Show hidden content on the canvas to see a marker where it sits.

If something looks wrong

• A block I placed is not in the outline. The outline lists what the document contains, by section. A very long outline can be searched with the box at the top.
• Everything inside a section says Hidden. The section's own rule is false; the block names which section. Change the rule on the Section tab.
• A block will not move up or down in the outline. A block with a fixed position has a place on the page, not in the order. Drag it on the page, or Unanchor it.
• The marker for hidden content shows on the canvas but not in the PDF. Right: the markers are an editing aid; the generated document leaves hidden content out.