How to Format a Document

Once you have created a document, you can select options to format its display, such as the document's color theme and the fonts and colors of the document's objects. For descriptions of the formatting options, see the following:

• Selecting the display theme for a document

  Choose from the Light or Dark themes to quickly change the overall look and feel of your document. You can also apply custom themes, if they have been created.

• Selecting a display theme for an object

  You can apply a theme to specific object, such as a report or a selector.

• Creating custom display themes

  You can create a custom theme to format documents. A custom theme can apply formatting to specific object types such as text and selectors, while allowing other object types, such as panel stacks and rectangles, to use default formatting.

• Defining default formatting for objects on the document

  When you add a new object to a document, its initial formatting is determined by the default formatting for that type of object. Each object type (text, image, rectangle, and so on) has a default set of formatting (called a control default). For example, you can create control defaults to select the font used to display all text in the document, the font used for the titles of all panel stacks, and the background color and border used for all report containers (a report container displays the report within it).

  For information on control defaults, including how to apply them and how to change them, see the Document Creation Help.

• Formatting a specific object

  You can change the formatting of each object as desired. You can determine a document's appearance by formatting either its objects (text, lines, sections, and so on) or the entire document.

  • For steps to format a specific object, see Properties and Formatting Dialog Box: Format Options and the Document Creation Help.
  • For steps to add a watermark to a document, see Properties Dialog Box, Document Properties, Watermark. Watermarks are faint designs or text appearing in the background of the document, typically to identify or decorate pages.
  • For steps to format the border or background of a document or layout, see Properties Dialog Box, Layout Properties, Color and Borders.

Selecting the display theme for a document

The Light and Dark display themes quickly change the overall look and feel of your documents. Every theme contains a set of formats for the different types of objects on a document. For example, a theme contains formatting options for reports, selectors, text, and so on. For each object, the theme can apply any formatting setting, such as font color, background color, borders, and so on, that applies to the type of object.

To select the display theme for your document

1. Edit the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode.

   • To edit a document in Design Mode, from a folder, right-click the document and select Edit. If the document is open in Presentation Mode, click the menu icon on the right, and select Edit.
   • To edit a document in Editable Mode, from a folder, right-click the document, point to Run as, and select Editable.
2. From the Format menu, select Apply Document Theme.
3. Select the theme and click OK.

Selecting a display theme for an object

The Light and Dark themes quickly change the overall look and feel of the selected object. You can also apply custom themes to an object. For steps to create custom themes, see Creating custom display themes.

1. Edit the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode.

   • To edit a document in Design Mode, from a folder, right-click the document and select Edit. If the document is open in Presentation Mode, click the menu icon on the right, and select Edit.
   • To edit a document in Editable Mode, from a folder, right-click the document, point to Run as, and select Editable.
2. Right-click the object to be formatted and select Properties and Formatting.
3. From the left, select Theme.
4. Select a theme from the Apply Format from Theme.

5. Select one of the following:

   • To copy the formatting of the theme to the object, select Copy Formatting. If the formats in the theme are changed, the object's formatting does not change.
   • To link the theme's formatting to the object, select Link to Theme. If the formats in the theme are changed, the object's formatting changes.
6. Click OK.

Creating custom display themes

You can create a custom theme to format documents. A custom theme can apply formatting to specific object types such as text and selectors, while allowing other object types, such as panel stacks and rectangles, to use default formatting.

To create a theme, format an object of each type that you want the theme to include, and then set that formatting as the default format for that object (referred to as a control default). For example, select a red background and white font for a panel stack, and set that formatting as the control default for all panel stacks in the document. Select 10-point Arial font for a text field, and define a 2-point black border around the text field. Set that formatting as the control default for all text fields in the document.

1. Edit the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode.

   • To edit a document in Design Mode, from a folder, right-click the document and select Edit. If the document is open in Presentation Mode, click the menu icon on the right, and select Edit.
   • To edit a document in Editable Mode, from a folder, right-click the document, point to Run as, and select Editable.

2. For each object type that you want to format in the theme, complete the following steps:

   1. Format an object as you want the default formatting for this object type to look. For example, you can select a red background and white font for a panel stack. For steps, see Properties and Formatting Dialog Box: Format Options and the Document Creation Help.
   2. Right-click the formatted object and select Set Control Defaults. All new objects of that object type are formatted using the specified default formatting.
3. After you have formatted all the object types that you want, from the Format menu, select Save Defaults as Theme.
4. Click OK on the message reminding you that only formatting options set as control defaults are saved into the theme.
5. Type a name for the theme and click Save.