Author-it 5.0.11.625 (13-Feb-2008)

Upgrading to Author-it 5.0.11.625

This is a full installation and update package. Provided your current version is 5.0.10.510 you can install 5.0.11.625 without needing to uninstall your current version first.

1. Ensure all users are logged out of your library, then backup all your libraries, graphics, templates, and any other supporting files before you begin. If using SQL Server you can backup your library by exporting it to JET provided the library is under 2GB, otherwise have your SQL Server administrator back it up for you.
2. Run the Author-it Setup program to begin the installation process and follow the steps.

Detailed installation instructions, should you need them, can be found in the Knowledge Center.

The following enhancements have been made in this build:

• Improved Table Functionality

  A lot of focus has been given to improving table support, and new functionality now gives you the ability to:

  • Insert preformatted quick tables to quickly insert "standard" tables in your documentation. [Read More]

    Preformatted quick tables enable you to quickly insert "standard" tables in your documentation.

    A quick table is a topic containing a preformatted table, with or without standard text. If you use a number of standard tables throughout your documentation you can create a separate topic for each quick table, and then store all the topics in a single folder. To insert a table in a topic, select the Quick Tables option (in the Editor choose Edit > Tables > Table) and choose the quick table you want from the preview.

    Creating the Quick Tables:

    1. Create a folder to store your Quick Tables.
    2. Create a new topic in the folder (using any standard topic template).
    3. Open the topic and insert a new table with the required number of columns and rows. Resize the table as required, then apply border, cell, style, and text formatting to the table cells. You can also add standard text such as row or column headings (and any standard text outside the table if needed).
    4. Save the topic.

    After creating the quick tables you need to tell Author-it which folder they are stored in.

    Assigning the Quick Tables Folder:

    1. Under Edit > Tables > Table > Quick Table choose Change Folder for Quick Tables...
    2. Select the folder from the list and choose OK.

       

    Once the folder has been assigned you are ready to insert the tables into your topics.

    Inserting a Table Using Quick Tables:

    1. Move the cursor to the location where you want to insert the table.
    2. Choose Edit > Tables > Table > Quick Table. A preview of each table is displayed.

       

    3. Click on a table from the preview to insert it in your topic.
    4. Add content to your table, then save the changes to the topic.
  • Resize rows and columns using exact measurements. [Read More]

    You can specify the exact height used by a row, or width used by a column, using the cell size measurement selectors. You can use the setting to apply the new measurement to a single row or column, or multi-select rows or columns to quickly apply uniform sizing to a table. Measurement units used by the selectors are based on the unit type in the User Option's General tab.

    The Layout tab is available in the command ribbon when you click inside any cell in a table.

    To Resize a Column to an Exact Width:

    1. Click in a table cell, or select multiple columns.
    2. Go to Layout > Cell Size > Width and:
       • Type the new measurement in the Width selector and press ENTER on your keyboard to apply the measurement

         -or-

       • Use the arrow buttons to select the new measurement. The column resizes after each unit change.
    3. Save the changes to the topic.

    To Resize a Row to an Exact Height:

    1. Click in a table cell, or select multiple rows.
    2. Go to Layout > Cell Size > Height and:
       • Type the new measurement in the Height selector and press ENTER on your keyboard to apply the measurement

         -or-

       • Use the arrow buttons to select the new measurement. The row resizes after each unit change.
    3. Save the changes to the topic.

  • Distribute rows and columns evenly. [Read More]

    The Distribution commands are used to evenly resize columns or rows in a table. When you select the entire table the command automatically calculates the total width or height of the table and applies a uniform measurement to all columns or rows. If you select specific columns or rows the command calculates the total width or height of the selected cells and makes the adjustments.

    To Evenly Distribute All Columns in a Table:

    1. Click in any table cell.
    2. Select Layout > Cell Size > Distribute Columns. All columns are evenly distributed across the table width.

    To Evenly Distribute All Rows in a Table:

    1. Click in any table cell.
    2. Select Layout > Cell Size > Distribute Rows. All rows are evenly distributed across the table height.

    To Evenly Distribute Selected Columns:

    1. Select at least one cell in each of the columns you want to resize.
    2. Select Layout > Cell Size > Distribute Columns. The selected columns are evenly resized.

    To Evenly Distribute Selected Rows:

    1. Select at least one cell in each of the rows you want to resize.
    2. Select Layout > Cell Size > Distribute Rows. The selected rows are evenly resized.
  • Lock the table layout to avoid accidentally resizing a table while working in a topic. [Read More]

    You can select Lock Layout option on the Layout tab to avoid accidentally resizing table columns or rows while you are working in a topic. While Lock Layout is selected you can continue to edit the table's content.

    Select a cell in the table then choose Layout > Table > Lock Layout to toggle the command on or off.

  • Change the text direction in a table cell. [Read More]

    You can change the direction of text in the selected cell(s) using the Text Direction command. The text directions are: left-to-right, top-to-bottom, or bottom-to-top. The three Cell Allignment commands are used to place the text at the top, center, or bottom of the cell when the left-to-right direction is applied, or left, center, or right sides of the cell when the top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top directions are applied.

    

    To Change the Text Direction in a Table Cell:

    1. Select the cells where you want to change the text direction.
    2. Choose Layout > Advanced > Text Direction. Continue to select the command to cycle through the direction options.

       Note: You may need to change the Cell Alignment commands to re-align the text within the cells, or adjust column width or row height.

    3. Save the changes.
  • Move entire rows up or down in a table. [Read More]

    You can move an entire table row further up in the table or further down in the table using the Move Row Up or Move Row Down commands.

    

    To Move a Row in the Table:

    1. Put the cursor in any cell in the row you want to move.
    2. Choose Layout > Rows & Columns > Move, then:
       • Choose Move Row Up to move the entire row up one row in the table. Continue selecting the option to move the row further up in the table.
       • Choose Move Row Down to move the entire row down one row in the table. Continue selecting the option to move the row further down in the table.

    Note: The commands are used with individual rows, you cannot multi-select rows to move several rows in a single action.

  • Allow table rows to break across a page. [Read More]

    Using the Allow Row Break command you can control where a long table is broken across pages in your printed output. If the table contains rows that have multiple lines of text you can decide if the row will be kept together (breaking the table between rows) or if the row will be broken (breaking the table at some point within the row and continuing its content on the following page). The following examples show a row with the Allow Row Break applied, and then the same row without the option applied.

    

    To Allow a Row to Break Across Pages:

    1. Put the cursor in any cell in the row you want to allow to break across pages.
    2. Choose Layout > Allow Row Break. When the cursor is in this row the option is highlighted on the tab.
    3. Save your changes.
  • Improved copy and paste behavior. [Read More]

    When you are working with tables you will sometimes want to copy and paste content rather than retyping it. Options for copying and pasting in tables include:

    • Copying a row and pasting the content into an existing row over the current content or into an empty row.
    • Copying a column and pasting the content into an existing column over the current content or into an empty column.
    • Pasting a row into an empty line before or after the table (this action appends the row to the table).
    • Copying content and pasting it into a cell.

    To Paste Content into a Row:

    1. Select and copy the content from an existing table row.
    2. Select the cells in another table row and paste the content. If you paste the content into an existing row that has content the pasted content replaces the existing content.

    To Paste Content into a Column:

    1. Select and copy the content from an existing table column.
    2. Select the cells in another column and paste the content. If you paste the content into an existing column that has content the pasted content replaces the existing content.

    To Append a Row to a Table:

    1. Select and copy the content from an existing table row.
    2. Put your cursor in an empty line immediately before or after a table and paste the content. A new row is created and attached to the table.

    To Paste Content into a Cell:

    1. Select and copy the content from an existing cell, or from normal topic content (such as a paragraph).
    2. Select a cell and paste the content.
• Addition of a Recently Used Styles List

  Styles that you have applied to text using the character or paragraph drop-down lists are displayed in the recently used list (which is displayed during the current session, and cleared when you close Author-it).

  

• Performance Improvements for JET Databases

  Significant improvements to performance of JET databases. Tests to date show data access improvement of between 50% and 70% over previous releases of Author-it 5.0.

The following issues have been resolved in this build:

Within Author-it

• When locating an object that lives in a folder which is not expanded the locate function does not expand the folder tree to the selected folder.
• When viewing File images, where the preview of an image is bigger than the available preview area, resizing the window does not trigger the rest of the preview image to draw. You have to close the File and re-open it.
• Using Shift + Left arrow key inside a table does not select the complete word. It selects one letter and then selects the complete cell.
• Table borders were not correctly applied when saving a topic.
• It was not possible to drag multiple topics from one book and drop them into another. Only the first topic was added to the second book.
• Object search was not returning results for topics where the search term was contained in a table.
• Attempting to remove an inherited related topic group caused a recursive error message. The "Remove" button is now disabled when the group is inherited.
• Offline libraries created in earlier versions could fail to import.
• When assigning a Word template to a book or publishing profile, you can now select either a *.dot or *.dotm file (macro enabled template for Word 2007 users).
• It was not possible to assign a different template to an object when viewing the object through the search results.
• If opening a book and then opening a sub book from within the currently open book, the first book lost focus and remained hidden behind the second until the second book was closed.
• When dragging an index entry that had sub entries from one index to another, the levels were incorrectly created.
• If a book or topic was open in the Editor, you could access the book/topic properties via the View tab, but they opened as read only so you could not modify them.
• Selecting the cancel button on deleting multiple objects now brings the user back to the "Yes, No, Yes to All, Cancel" dialog for the item next inline to be deleted.
• Objects created offline were incorrectly being imported as '0 (inactive)' upon check-in.
• Selecting text in a table then applying table formatting (such as cell alignment) was removing the selection.
• The English UK dictionary was incorrect resulting in all words being identified as misspelt.
• If the only change to a topic was removing a file object, Author-it was not recognizing the topic as having been modified and not saving the topic.
• When pasting text from one topic into another more than once, the formatting (and any graphics) was being lost on the second paste.
• Auto login was not being applied if opening a library from the Author-it button.
• Applying vertical alignment to cells in a table was not recognizing the topic as having been modified and not saving the topic.

When Importing

• The Move Up / Move Down buttons were not correctly enabling, meaning the order that import rules were run could not be adjusted.
• Importing word documents could get to 40% and hang.
• When importing FrameMaker documents, some graphics would preview correctly but fail to create file objects.
• Word documents containing tables with merged cells failed to import.
• Invalid hyperlinks were not mapping to the Invalid Hyperlinks object and were causing the import to fail.
• The import profile setting to import into an existing book was ignored, and a new book was created.
• Applying a style mapping rule that searched for specific character formatting and replaced it with an Author-it character style was incorrectly applying the character style to all text - not just the specifically formatted text.
• If importing into a new book where the book template being used included existing content (title page, index, etc) the imported book was not including those elements.
• The default profile used to import is now the profile that appears first in the list (for example, abc word doc profile would be used instead of xyz word doc profile).
• The temporary RTF file created during the import process was not being deleted after import completed.
• When importing XML, Windows Task Manager was incorrectly showing Author-it as not responding and the Author-it progress control was not updating.

When Publishing

• Publishing to XML could fail with a Conversion from String "0.15.0.15" to type 'Double' is not valid error.
• Variables in the Print properties of a book were failing to display in the published title page if the variable was assigned to a publishing profile and set to prompt on publish.
• When an index entry contained several sub-entries, the parent level was unnecessarily repeated for each sub-entry when publishing to HTML.
• Paths defined in a publishing profile to a Plain HTML templates folder are now made relative provided the folder is on the same network drive as the library.

Within Author-it Administrator

• After renaming a folder the old folder name was still displaying in the Folder Action permissions window unless Author-it Administrator was closed and restarted.
• Performance of opening the folder permissions screen in large libraries with complex folder structures has been significantly improved.