ASSEMBLER USER GUIDE. Developed and published by Expedience Software Copyright Expedience Software

Transcription

1 ASSEMBLER USER GUIDE Developed and published by Expedience Software Copyright Expedience Software

2 User Guide Contents About this Guide... 1 The User Guide 1 Install Expedience Ribbons... 2 Open the Expedience Ribbon 2 Switch between Ribbons 2 User Ribbon... 3 Overview 3 Open Blueprint... 4 Blueprints 4 Blueprint Tags 6 Inspect Tags... 7 RUN Steps to Running the 11 Advanced Topics 12 Help Resources Online Help 13 Customized Help 14 About Expedience Ribbon Information 15 Ribbon Management 17 Appendix Set Word Permissions 19

3 About this Guide About this Guide The User Guide The User Guide contains descriptions of the features of the Expedience Ribbon. Other Expedience Guides can be found at the Expedience Website by going to the Help Menu on any Expedience Ribbon. The following symbols appear to highlight topics of special interest: Tip Troubleshooting User Guide The User Guide 1

4 Install Expedience Ribbons Open the Expedience Ribbon Install Expedience Ribbons Expedience Ribbons are Word Templates (.dotm files) that can be stored and accessed from anywhere on your personal computer or from any network location. You open an Expedience Ribbon in the same way you open any other Word file. Using Word s File menu, simply click Open and browse for the file. The file will have a.dotm extension. The will install automatically. NOTE: Your Ribbons may have different names. Switch between Ribbons The Ribbon works in conjunction with Content Portfolio Ribbons. Although there is only one Ribbon, you may have multiple Content Portfolio Ribbons. Once a Content Portfolio Ribbon has been opened, it will appear on the Recently Used list. If you have multiple Content Portfolio Ribbons you can use the dropdown to switch between them easily. This is convenient if you have multiple Blueprints that map to different Content Portfolios NOTE: Only ONE Content Portfolio Ribbon can be open at a time. Setting Trust Levels. Because Expedience Ribbons are based on Word Macro files, you may receive warnings while using the product to ensure you are aware you are using Macros. To avoid these messages, you can set Word s options to trust Expedience Ribbons. To do this see the instructions in Appendix 1. User Guide Open the Expedience Ribbon 2

5 User Ribbon User Ribbon Overview The Expedience Proposal is a Microsoft Word based tool that assembles Sales and Proposal documents from Word templates called Blueprints containing Checkboxes or Tags mapped to Content Items in an Expedience Content Portfolio. Like the other tools in the Expedience Proposal Suite, the is composed of a Ribbon that is integrated directly on Microsoft Word: Blueprint Content Portfolio Assemble Automate The Works with Blueprints The is the tool that performs the document assembly process based on Blueprints that contain the customized instructions that the follows. Blueprints are Word templates. They are Word files that end in either a.dotx or.dotm extension. These files can be saved and accessed in the same way as other Word files, including the Expedience Ribbons. Your Expedience administrator will determine how many Blueprints are created and where they will be stored. The Works with Content Portfolios The draws its content from Content Portfolios that are mapped to the Blueprint, therefore the specific mapped Content Portfolio must also be available and open before a Blueprint can be assembled. Your Expedience administrator will determine how many Content Portfolios will be created and how you will access them. For more information on how to use the Content Portfolios, refer to the Content Portfolio User Guide. The can be Extended through Automation The supports Placeholder automation and customizable Workflow functions. Specific Blueprints may also be extended with unique functions customized for your company s specific needs. Your Expedience administrator will determine which of these functions to use and communicate to you as appropriate. User Guide Overview 3

6 Open Blueprint Open Blueprint Blueprints Common Template Elements Blueprints are special automated templates. Like other Expedience templates they will typically contain at least some of the following elements: Custom Styles Corporate Branding Automated Placeholders Cover Page Cover Letter Table of Contents Headers Footers Blueprints also contain special Assembly elements called Tags. These Tags map to Items in Content Portfolios. When a Blueprint is assembled, content from the corresponding Content Portfolio replaces each Tag in the document. The result is a quickly generated and beautifully formatted document with the most up to date content. Accessing Blueprints Once your administrator has made the Blueprints available to you, you may open them as you would other Word files, either through Windows Explorer or Microsoft Word. The will automatically create a copy before it runs the Assembly process, but as a precaution you should always open a new document based on the Blueprint, and not edit the Blueprint directly. For convenience, you may also access the Blueprints through a menu on the Ribbon: The Open Blueprint menu is a list of recently opened Blueprints. Clicking on a Blueprint from the menu will open it as a document copy, not as the Blueprint itself. You must open the Blueprint through the Browse function in order for it to appear in the list. User Guide Blueprints 4

7 Open Blueprint Structure of Blueprints Blueprints look very much like other templates except with the addition of Assembly Tags. The Blueprint below includes a formatted header and Executive Summary heading, followed by a series of Tags inside angle brackets: A Blueprint may display its Tags with highlight: It may even display Checkboxes instead of the Tags themselves: User Guide Blueprints 5

8 Open Blueprint Blueprint Tags Structure of Blueprint Tags Blueprints are created from a Content Portfolio, using special Authoring features. This Tag will be replaced by a Content Item named Background from the About Us category in the first gallery of the FC CONTENT PORTFOLIO Ribbon. File Name OR Tab Name Gallery Position 1-8 Category Item Blueprint Checkboxes The Blueprints that you receive may have Checkboxes instead of Tags. A Checkbox may look like this: Although you do not see a Tag, it is being stored with the Checkbox. If you turn on Display Hidden Text or simply Show All you will see the hidden Tag: Checkbox Hidden Tag Static Elements Blueprints may contain static elements that are not affected by the Assembly process, such as Cover Pages, Headers and Footers and other standard content. These static elements may be hidden until after the Assembly is completed. Temporary Elements Blueprints may also contain temporary elements such as instructions and guidelines that are removed by the Assembly process. User Guide Blueprint Tags 6

9 Inspect Tags Inspect Tags The Inspect Tags menu on the Ribbon contains number of methods for reviewing a Blueprint prior to running the Assembly process. Review Blueprint prior to running Assembly Process. Highlight Unfinished Tags Your Blueprints may or may not begin with highlighted Tags. You have the choice to view the Tags with highlight or not. Click the Highlight Tags toggle button to turn highlighting off and on: Check for Unfinished Tags Run Check for Unfinished Tags to quickly check whether a Blueprint has completed successfully. User Guide Blueprint Tags 7

10 Inspect Tags Preview Tag Content To Preview a Content Item for a Tag before running the Assembly process, begin by inserting the cursor inside a Blueprint Tag or Checkbox. Click Preview Tag Content. A Word Preview window will appear with the Content Portfolio location of the Content Item and the complete content itself inside a separate Word Document window. NOTE: The matching Content Portfolio must be open to preview the Tag s content. If it is not, you will be prompted to open the appropriate Content Portfolio. User Guide Blueprint Tags 8

11 Inspect Tags Show All The Show All function is a toggle button that appears on the Microsoft Home tab as well as in a variety of places in the Expedience Ribbons. This function toggles between showing paragraph marks and other hidden formatting symbols including hidden text. This is convenient if you wish to display the hidden Tags on Checkboxes or other non-visible elements of the Blueprint. Outline View Outline View is another shortcut to a built-in Word feature. Clicking Outline View displays a Blueprint as an Outline. This is useful for viewing the order of Tags and Checkboxes. Outline View is a built-in Word Feature. Use Outline View to view the order of Tags and Checkboxes. You can use Outline View to rearrange the order of Tags and Checkboxes but proceed with caution. NOTE: Changing the order of Tags through Outline View may result in formatting and content problems. User Guide Blueprint Tags 9

12 Inspect Tags Update Content Portfolio Label in Tags The checks for a match between the Content Portfolio listed in the Blueprint Tags and the name of the currently loaded Content Portfolio. (NOTE: The will check against both the Content Portfolio file name and tab label.) Although this is usually the desired action, there are occasions in which the correct Content Portfolio has been renamed without the Tags having been updated to match. If this is the case, you can correct the problem by updating the Tags with the correct Content Portfolio name: Replace the current Content Portfolio Name in the Blueprint Tags With the name of the Content Portfolio that is now open. The will replace the Content Portfolio name in all the Tags throughout the Blueprint: User Guide Blueprint Tags 10

13 RUN 3 Steps to Running the RUN 1. Open a Blueprint When you click the RUN button, the first confirms that the current document is a Blueprint. If it is not, you will be prompted to open one: Make sure you have a Blueprint ready before running the. 2. Attach the Content Portfolio Before the will begin the Assembly process it will verify that the correct Content Portfolio is open. If it is not, you will be prompted to open it when you click the RUN button. Make sure the correct Content Portfolio is open. 3. RUN Once you have the Blueprint open and the Content Portfolio open, you are ready to click RUN : Confirmation of a successful Assembly! User Guide 3 Steps to Running the 11

14 RUN Advanced Topics Usually the is as simple as the three steps listed above. Occasionally there can be other issues that add some complexity to the process. Multiple Content Portfolios Typically, only one Content Portfolio is used in a Blueprint. However, it is possible that a Blueprint is mapped to multiple Content Portfolios. In that case, after all Tags for the first Content Portfolio are completed, the Assembly will pause and prompt you to open the next Content Portfolio. You can then resume by clicking RUN a second time. Tags for the 1st Content Portfolio complete. Tags for the 2nd Content Portfolio remain. Missing Content Items The will verify that the correct Content Portfolio is open before attempting to assemble a Blueprint. However, it is possible that a Content Item has been deleted or renamed, making it impossible for the to locate it. If a Content Item cannot be located the will alert you immediately, highlight the faulty Tag and terminate the Assembly: If a Content Item is missing from the Portfolio the will: 1. Alert you of the Error 2. Highlight the Tag 3. Terminate Assembly User Guide Advanced Topics 12

15 Help Resources Help Resources Online Help From the Help Menu, you can access several online resources: The Expedience Help site contains User Guides, FAQ s, and access to the online Help Desk: You can also access the Expedience Blog, that contain many articles on using Microsoft Word and Excel, and proposal best practices. User Guide Online Help 13

16 Help Resources Customized Help Like the Content Portfolio Galleries, the Help menu can also contain a Gallery of content loaded for your specific company. If your Ribbon Administrators choose to do so they can load a variety of background information or proposal instructions into the custom Help Gallery: Unlike a regular Content Gallery, when a Help Gallery item is clicked it is displayed in a separate pop-up Preview Window. User Guide Customized Help 14

17 About Expedience About Expedience The final button on the Ribbon is the menu is the About Expedience dropdown menu. This menu provides general Ribbon information and management tools. Information Management Ribbon Information About Expedience About Expedience displays an information screen on the Ribbon Software Version: User Guide Ribbon Information 15

18 About Expedience About Software Version Pathname can be copy & pasted User Guide Ribbon Information 16

19 About Expedience Ribbon Management Author Registration If you have received an Expedience Author License you can register as an Author from the About Expedience menu from any Expedience Ribbon. Enter your company and contact information. The product code will be generated automatically. Click Register and a Registration ID will be ed to you. Copy the ID into the ID box and click Save. Enter your information and click Register. Paste in ID from and click Save. Close Ribbon Close Ribbon uninstalls the Current Ribbon without requiring Word to be closed. User Guide Ribbon Management 17

20 About Expedience Save Ribbon Shortcut in Start-up Folder If you would like the current Ribbon to load automatically every time Microsoft Word is opened, you can save a short-cut to the Ribbon in Word s Start-up folder. Because locating the Start-up folder can be difficult, the About menu includes functions to add the Ribbon short-cut to the Start-up folder for you and to find and display the Start-up folder. To save the current Ribbon to the Start-up folder, click on Save Shortcut in Start-up Folder. Once the Shortcut has been saved you will receive the following confirmation: Show Word Start-up Folder Click Show Word Start-up Folder to view the folder. You will find a Shortcut to the current Ribbon: NOTE: Because it is Shortcut, not the original Ribbon, you can remove the shortcut even if the Ribbon is open. User Guide Ribbon Management 18

21 Appendix 1 Appendix 1 Set Word Permissions 1. Open Microsoft Word Options Trust Center In Word, Select Trust Center and Trust Center Settings : 2. Set Macro Access Select Macro Settings and check Trust Access to VBA Project. User Guide Set Word Permissions 19

22 Appendix 1 3. Set Folder as Trusted Select Trusted Locations and click on Add new location button. (If the folder resides on a network, check Allow Trusted Locations on my Network. ) Browse for the folder that contains your Expedience automated templates. Make sure that you check the Subfolders checkbox and click OK. User Guide Set Word Permissions 20