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Reviewing and Editing Documents

Oxygen XML Web Author provides an intuitive interface for editing various types of XML documents and includes a variety of powerful features and editing actions to help make your tasks as simple and efficient as possible.

The visual editing mode in Oxygen XML Web Author includes a toolbar with actions that are specific to the type of document you are editing, an editing pane where you add and edit the content, and a menu panel on the right side with some helper views.

Reviewing and Editing on Mobile Devices

When you initially open a document on a mobile device, the document is in a read-only review mode. To switch to edit mode, tap the Edit widget (or double-tap anywhere in the editing pane). To switch back to review mode, tap the Review widget.

Main Editing Area

The main editing pane allows you to create, review, and edit structured content in a visual editor that is similar to common word processors. It includes a large variety of user-friendly authoring features to help even novice users work with XML content, including numerous toolbar, contextual menu, and shortcut actions, a powerful Content Completion Assistant, Smart Paste support, and validation features.

Figure 1. Web Author Main Editing Area

Breadcrumb

The main editing pane includes a breadcrumb stripe that shows the hierarchical XML structure of the current document, from the document root to the current element. It is a useful tool that helps you to quickly navigate to specific elements in the document structure and allows you to visualize the XML element structure.

By default, the breadcrumb is displayed at the bottom of the main editing area. You can click the double arrow button () on the right side of the breadcrumb to move it to the top of the editing area (likewise, there is a similar button to move the breadcrumb back to the bottom of the main editing area).

The last element listed in the breadcrumb is the element at the current cursor position. The last element also is highlighted with a blue background for easier identification.

Clicking an element from the breadcrumb selects the entire element in the editor area.

The breadcrumb includes a contextual menu with some common editing actions:
  • Edit Attributes
  • Cut
  • Copy
  • Paste
  • Delete Element
  • Rename Element

The breadcrumb also includes a Tags Display Mode drop-down at the far-left side (before the first element). You can use it to choose the amount of XML tags that will be displayed in the document. You can choose from the following tag modes: Full Tags with Attributes, Full Tags, Block Tags, Inline Tags, Partial Tags, or No Tags.

Left-Side Panes

The area to left side of the editor is reserved for the Outline pane and the DITA Map pane (for DITA documents).

Right-Side Panes

The area to the right side of the editor has some expandable panes that includes useful information and a variety of editing actions. If the side-panes are not displayed, click the arrow button () at the bottom of the side-pane stripe or click on the corresponding icon.

The following default panes can be accessed from the right side of the editor:

Review

Displays the tracked changes and comments that have been added to the document by you or other content authors. Each change or comment includes actions such as Reply, Mark as Done, Accept or Reject changes, and Change or Remove comments. For more information, see How to Perform Common Review Tasks.

Figure 2. Review Pane
Attributes

Displays the attributes of the selected element and their values. You can also add or edit attributes and their values. The Attributes panel also presents attribute values that are imposed by a subject scheme. For more information, see Set an Attribute Value.

Figure 3. Attributes Pane
Validation

Provides information about validation problems and offers proposals for resolving them (if a Quick Fix is available). For more information, see Validating XML Documents.

Figure 4. Validation Pane
Find/Replace

Provides the ability to search the current file and replace the search terms.

Figure 5. Find/Replace Pane
AI Positron Assistant
For on-premise installations, a plugin can be enabled to add the AI Positron Assistant pane. It provides various ways to use ChatGPT while editing or reviewing content. It has a comprehensive set of AI-powered actions to help writers use AI-generated content. For more information, see AI Positron Assistant Pane.
Figure 6. AI Positron Assistant Pane
CSS Inspector

Displays information about the CSS styles that are applied to the currently selected element. To open the CSS Inspector pane, right-click inside the element you want to inspect and select About Element > Inspect Styles.

Figure 7. CSS Inspector Pane