HotDocs Interview Help

The browser window that displays the interview is divided into several distinct areas that provide you with the aids you need to complete the interview. There are also keyboard shortcuts that enable you perform many of the interview functions using your keyboard.

Interview Toolbar

Outline

Interview

Additional Information

Navigation Bar

Interview Keyboard Shortcuts

Interview Toolbar

The interview toolbar displays a row of tabs at the top of the interview (in a standard HotDocs interview, most of these elements are located to the left of the interview in a navigation menu):

Elements	What it Does
Interview tab	Displays the interview.
Document Preview tab	Shows you a preview of how the current document will look when assembled (using any answers entered in response to interview questions, so that you can see the answers in context).
Answer Summary tab	Shows a summarized list of your current answers next to the appropriate interview questions as they appear in the interview.
Help button	Displays this page, to help you understand how to complete an interview.
Interview title	Displays the title of the interview.

Outline

Unless disabled by the creator of the interview, the outline appears to the left of the interview and lists all the available dialogs (groups of questions) in the interview. You can use the outline to quickly move to the dialog you need and to assess the answered status of each dialog. If you need more horizontal space for the interview, you can resize or collapse the outline:

Elements	What it Does
Outline bar	Expands to display the Outline (when collapsed).
Outline title bar (with left arrow button)	Collapses the Outline into the Outline bar.
List of dialogs	Shows the organization of the interview. Clicking a dialog displays its contents in the interview.
Right arrow button	Expands the dialog to show any child dialogs.
Down arrow button	Collapses the dialog to hide any child dialogs.
Dialog status icons	Shows the answered status of questions in each dialog: You have yet to answer any questions in the dialog. You have answered at least one question in the dialog You have answered all required questions in the dialog You have yet to answer at least one required question in the dialog You cannot answer questions in the dialog until you answer required questions in a previous dialog A new repetition of a repeated dialog in which none of the questions are answered

Interview

The interview displays all of the questions you need to answer and any other interview elements the creator of the interview chose to include:

Elements	What it Does
Dialog status icons (if Outline is collapsed or disabled)	Shows the answered status of questions in each dialog (group of questions): You have yet to answer any questions in the dialog. You have answered at least one question in the dialog You have answered all required questions in the dialog You have yet to answer at least one required question in the dialog You cannot answer questions in the dialog until you answer required questions in a previous dialog You have yet to answer any questions in a new repetition of a repeated dialog
Dialog title	Displays the title of the dialog (group of questions).
Actions menu	Opens a list of actions that apply to current dialog: Clear all answers – clears all answers on the current dialog If the current dialog enables you to repeat information, the menu also contains the following actions: New repetition – adds another row to a Spreadsheet dialog, or a new instance of a Series repeated dialog Insert repetition – inserts a new row to a Spreadsheet dialog, or a new instance of a Series repeated dialog above the current instance Move repetition up – moves a row of a Spreadsheet dialog, or an instance of a Series repeated dialog up one position Move repetition down – moves a row of a Spreadsheet dialog, or an instance of a Series repeated dialog down one position Delete repetition – deletes the currently selected row of a Spreadsheet dialog, or an instance of a Series repeated dialog
Prompt text	Displays text to help you know what to type in an answer text box.
Additional Information button	Opens the Additional Information pane to display supplemental help text (or an external URL) to help you answer a question or group of questions.
Answer text boxes	Accepts text as your answer to an interview question.
Answer check boxes or option buttons	Accepts a selection you make using your mouse or space bar as your answer to an interview question.
Date answer text boxes	Accepts a valid date as your answer to an interview question. You can enter the letter T for today’s date or use one of the following formats: 6/3/90, 06/03/1990, or June 3, 1990.
Calendar button	Displays (for date answer text boxes) a calendar so you can choose a date for your answer.
Clear Answer button	For non-textual elements (check boxes, option buttons and drop-down lists), clears your selection and changes the state to unanswered. You can also use the ALT+DELETE keyboard shortcut for this feature and, if you first select a dialog from the outline, this keyboard shortcut clears all answers on a dialog.
Add Another button	Adds another repetition of the dialog or row to the spreadsheet so you can provide more than one answer to an interview question.
Row buttons	Enables you to: Edit a row of answers Insert a new row between existing sets of answers Delete a row of answers Move a row of answers up Move a row of answers down
Nested dialog button	Displays the contents of any nested dialogs (a dialog within a dialog).

Additional Information

Unless disabled by the creator of the interview, the additional information bar or pane appears to the right of the interview and displays supplemental text to help you answer a question or group of questions:

Elements	What it Does
Additional Information bar	When clicked, expands the Additional Information pane (when the Additional Information pane is collapsed).
Additional Information title bar	Collapses the Additional Information pane into the Additional Information bar.
Additional Information content	Supplemental help text (or an external URL) provided by the interview creator. Additional information for individual questions are displayed at the top, followed by any additional information for the dialog (group of questions).

Navigation Bar

At the bottom of the interview, you can access the navigation bar which enables you to move through the interview and click Finish when you are done:

Elements	What it Does
Progress bar	Shows how close you are to finishing the interview.
Next and Previous buttons	Goes to the next or previous dialog in the interview. (You can also press Page Down/Page Up or Alt+N/Alt+P.)
Finish button	Ends the interview. If you did not answer any questions, a message alerts you.

Interview Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	What it Does
PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN	Navigates up and down through the dialogs as arranged in the Outline.
CTRL+A	Selects all of the text in an answer text box.
ALT+DELETE	Clears the answer for the currently selected answer or, if you first select a dialog from the outline, clears all answers on a dialog.
ALT+O	Collapses or expands the Outline.
ALT+I	Collapses or expands Additional Information.
TAB	Navigates to the next answer text box or next button in the tab order.
SHIFT+TAB	Navigates to the previous answer text box or previous button in the tab order.