Reference Topic

HotDocs Composer

HotDocs Composer is the editor you use for answer intakes and plain text templates, just as Microsoft Word is the editor for DOCX templates.

You can open Composer from Workspace Explorer by opening an answer intake or plain text template to edit.

Common Tasks

Among others, HotDocs Composer enables you to perform the following common tasks:

• Create a custom interview computation for an answer intake
• Create HotDocs fields in a plain text template
• Test an answer intake or plain text template

Quick Access Toolbar

Button	What it Does
Save	Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template.
Undo/Redo	Enables you to undo and redo the changes you make in Composer.

You can change the position of the Quick Access toolbar by right-clicking on the toolbar itself and clicking Show Access Toolbar Below/Above the Ribbon

Composer Ribbon

Composer's basic interface consists of the File and Home tabs.

File tab

The File tab contains the following options:

Button	What it Does
Open	Enables you to open another existing answer intake or plain text template. The selected template opens in a new Composer window.
Save	Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template.
Close	Closes the current HotDocs Composer window.

Home tab

The Home tab contains the following groups with the following buttons:

Clipboard Group

Button	What it Does
Paste	Pastes any content currently on the clipboard via Copy (Ctrl+C or Copy button).
Cut	Removes any selected content from its original position and places it on the clipboard.
Copy	Creates a duplicate of any selected content and places it on the clipboard.

Template Group

Button	What it Does
Test	Displays an interview for the answer intake or plain text template; for plain text templates, clicking Finish at the end of the interview also assembles a document.
Template Properties	Opens the Template Properties dialog where you can edit general, interview behavior, and assembly behavior options for the current answer intake or plain text template.

View Group

Button	What it Does
Component Studio	Opens Component Studio where you can create, edit, delete, rename, and copy components.
Field Editor	Opens or closes the HotDocs Field Editor pane.

Author Group

Button	What it Does
Go To Workspace	Opens Workspace Explorer (or if it is already open, brings it to the front).
Help	Opens a menu of options: View Help – launches a browser displaying the documentation for HotDocs Author Suggest Features – launches the HotDocs User Suggestions website that enables you to suggest new features you want added to HotDocs and to comment on and vote for suggestions made by other HotDocs users About HotDocs Composer – shows information about the installed version of HotDocs Composer

Composer Editor Interfaces

The rest of the Composer window provides an editing environment for:

• Answer intakes – provides an interview computation editor
• Plain text templates – provides an editor for plain text and the field editor pane

Composer - Answer Intakes

When you open an Answer Intake for editing, Composer's user interface changes to account for the different commands and functions you need to edit answer intakes.

Quick Access Toolbar

Button	What it Does
Save	Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template.

Composer Ribbon

Composer's basic interface consists of the File and Home tabs.

File tab

The File tab contains the following options:

Button	What it Does
Open	Enables you to open another existing answer intake or plain text template. The selected template opens in a new Composer window.
Save	Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template.
Close	Closes the current HotDocs Composer window.

Home tab

The Home tab contains the following groups with the following buttons:

Template Group

Button	What it Does
Test	Displays an interview for the answer intake.
Template Properties	Opens the Template Properties dialog where you can edit general, interview behavior, and assembly behavior options for the current answer intake.

View Group

Button	What it Does
Component Studio	Opens Component Studio and the interview computation (or if Component Studio is already open, brings it to focus).
Arrange	Returns Composer (and Component Studio) to the original, full screen docked configuration.

Author Group

Button	What it Does
Go To Workspace	Opens Workspace Explorer (or if it is already open, brings it to the front).
Help	Opens a menu of options: View Help: Launches a browser displaying the documentation for HotDocs Author About HotDocs Composer: Shows information about the installed version of HotDocs Composer

Answer Intake Defined By

The Answer intake defined by section contains the following actions:

Element	What it Does
.cmp link	Displays the component file the answer intake "points to" (where the components of the answer intake are stored).
(Reassign) .cmp	Opens the Template Properties Dialog Box General tab so you can change the component file the answer intake "points to" (where the components of the answer intake are stored).
Interview computation link	Opens Component Studio (if not already open) to enable you to edit the interview computation.
(Reassign) interview	Opens the Template Properties Interview Behavior tab so you can change the interview computation the answer intake uses.

 Component Studio (Docked)

When editing an answer intake, Composer displays a "docked" version of Component Studio with the interview computation opened so you can edit the interview computation that the answer intake is based on. You can move, resize, or close this window as you wish. If you want to return Component Studio to its original, full-screen, docked configuration, click the Arrange button in the Composer ribbon View group.

The "docked" version of Component Studio functions the same as Component Studio in any other context.